Yeah, it's close enough

Easter is still a couple of weeks away, but it's close enough for an egg hunt, right? We had eight this past Sunday at Ruby's house. The formula is pretty simple: adults hide eggs in plain sight. Preschoolers look for them. Repeat.

Ben eventually grew tired of the predictabitility of it all -- Ruby and I weren't very original with subsequent hiding spots. But Jack, Mary and Ava were in it for the long haul. It was a competition, and eggs with Starburst (versus those without) were in high demand. 

 

I edited this photo below in Instragram. Again, it's the spitting image of Ruby Jane, circa 1984.



Spring Training Day

We started Spring Training for T-ball this past weekend. I meant to bring my big lens, but instead only managed to remember my phone. Thank goodness for the iPhone.



The ground was a little wet from storms this past week, so the teams opted just to throw and catch. Batting practice comes later. Which is fine, really, because sometimes I think Jack is really just there to socialize.  

I caught this after we came home. Ben was waking up from a nap, but singing on John's shoulder.

Afternoon with the Fagels

Our "almost" family -- the Fagels -- were in town a couple of weekends ago for Spring Break. They are "almost" family because they are Ruby's in-laws. And good thing, considering Jack thinks he's going to marry Chloe. We spent the afternoon in the bouncy, on bikes and eventually in a pillow fight. 

This made us all laugh. Chloe, ever in charge, told the kids they were playing school and she was the teacher. Everyone (including Ben) got into circle time and followed her instructions. Until the pillow fight ensued. (turn the music off below to watch.)

St. Louis: The City Museum

 These are the last of my St. Louis photos. Our trip to the City Museum -- this bizarre urban museum in downtown St. Louis -- was both exhilerating and exhausting. I had planned on skipping this, after deciding it was a little to "old" for Jack and Ben. Then, we drove by this giant airplane and the school bus dangling from the roof, and we were done.

Jack and John climbed some of these wire bridges, but I didn't make it. What's with this town and heights? Ben and I went to the toddler room while Jack and John kept climbing upward.

This is more my speed. But the inside had its own sets of adventures -- namely tiny mazes built for older kids that my 2-year-old insisted on navigating. I can't decide if I was scared he'd get stuck or that someone would take him. Either way, I followed him into all these spots, crawling and crouching through dark places.

But really, we had a blast, and the boys especially liked this 10-story -- yes, I said STORY -- slide. Ben liked it so much that he tried to climb right back up it.

St. Louis: Anheuser Busch Brewery Tour

One of our favorite parts of discovering St. Louis last week was our trip to the Anheuser Busch Brewery, where we took an hour-long tour of the Clydesdale stables, brewery and even packaging floor.

                

Yes, we took the kids. And yes, they had fun. (Thanks to our friend Kristy for passing on the tip that kids were welcome). Some cool things the nerd in me learned on our tour, in no particular order:

1. The brewery was one of the few that lasted through prohibition, largely because it found other things to make during the time. (John and I are a little obsessed with Boardwalk Empire on HBO, and I'm fascinated with the Prohibition period.) The brewery made things like ice cream and baker's yeast during the dry spell, and reopened its doors as a brewery the day Prohibition ended. 

2. There's a lot to learn about hops, barley and yeast. Oh, and fermentation. 

3. Anheuser Busch cares deeply about its image -- and I'm in the image business now, so I was really impressed.

 

See what I mean? Really fancy stables. 

 

This picture made me laugh a little when I found it. John is sort of in awe, you think?
                        

The packaging floor, where we watched them label and package bottles and cans.

  

At the end of the tour, shuttles took us to a hospitality room, where we got to sample two beers. I tried two I'd never had before: Shock Top Belgian White (right) and Wild Blue Blueberry beer. The Shock Top was great. Wild Blue, not so much. 

They also had soda and pretzels for the kids, so my boys were happy to sit and wait on John and me and finish. 

St. Louis: A Room with a View

I'm still working through my St. Louis photos, and came across these pics. Our hotel during the trip -- the one I started off my conference in -- was built for lots of business folks in conferences, which meant we were without a pool. The boys took it pretty well, and instead spent their downtime perched on our window ledge watching the cars below. 

 

And playing on my iPhone ...

 

 

 

St. Louis, Part 2

We lucked up with great St. Louis weather last week -- sunny in the low-80s. So we made the best of it, hitting the free zoo first. Ben is obsessed with turtles these days, so we found lots of them.