A date with Sienna (and some beaver poop)

Today, Ryan and I met my friend Chrissy and her daughter Sienna at Powder Valley Conservation Center (near I-270 and I-44). I haven't been there since I did a 6th grade science report on it in 1991. As you can imagine, it's changed quite a bit since then.

If you have kids in the STL area, it's a great (free!) place to spend some time watching fish in a giant aquarium, observing a working bee colony, gazing at deer roaming just outside the window and listening to birds chirping all around. (And there's an area where kids can learn about animal skins, tracks, and yes, even poop.) When the weather warms, they also have a few miles of trails as well.

Neither of us brought our cameras, so the trusty old blackberry filled in -- so pardon the low res images. Here's a few shots from our visit.

Ryan and Sienna pose in a bubble window overlooking an exhibit. Of course, Ryan's trying to escape. He didn't stay still for more than 3 seconds the entire time we were there. I pretty much chased him around the place. Boys will be boys, eh?

Here's Ryan checking out some beaver poop. Not real poop, of course - but gross, nonetheless.

There's a cute area with puppets that you can stick through holes in a mural -- although Ryan chose to try and climb through the holes, of course:

Here's Ryan checking out the big fish in the aquarium.

It was a fun way to get out of the house without spending any $$$ and staying warm (although maybe a little too warm - they could conserve some serious energy by lowering their thermostat about 15 degrees and people would still be comfortable). We even got a sticker of a "green stink bug" when we left as well as a calendar -- talk about a great deal! If your kids love nature, it's worth a trip!

Happy Mardi Gras!

Happy Fat Tuesday! Here's a little Mardi Gras greeting from our house to yours. :)

Stephen and I celebrated this past weekend in Soulard for the parade, including tossing beads to the masses from the Beggin' Strips float:

Ryan is celebrating today via the beads mommy and daddy brought home (and loving it):

Here's proof. Each time we put on a strand, Ryan asked for "mo?" Here he is wearing every strand we have...22 in total. :)

Happy Mardi Gras!

Curious Ryan

Ryan's little brain is working in overdrive in recent weeks. He's starting to repeat words and sounds more frequently, and he notices EVERYTHING. Every beep of the microwave, phone ring, airplane overhead, or bird chirp yields an "uh oh" or even better, an extremely serious face and an "oh no."

We went to our first Gymboree music class this week and Ryan spent most of the class exploring the classroom, trying to open every cabinet (and successfully finding one without a lock, of course), trying to pull out toys and supplies that weren't for our class, and trying to look out the classroom door to see what the kids in the lobby were doing.

The kid can now climb, open, and empty just about anything -- which means we've found him in some interesting places already, such as Nana and Papa's liquor cabinet (yikes), pushing buttons on our printer and trying to jam a baseball bat into the paper output tray, and pulling a kleenex box down so that he can "wipe" his nose and mouth about a thousand times (with a fresh tissue each time, of course).

I'll admit, his curiosity tests my patience every single day -- but it can also be so much fun to watch him explore and discover his surroundings. Enjoy a short clip of one of his new favorite morning activities -- checking out the sunlight that's reflected through our front door glass onto our walls. :)

Happy Saturday

It's a busy weekend at the Trammell house. Tomorrow is the Purina Beggin' Pet Parade in Soulard -- an event that Stephen's been putting together since this past summer. Today the whole family went to the Des Peres Schnucks to check out a live radio promotion to get people excited about and preregistered for the event.

First of all, that Schnucks is amazing. If you live in St. Louis and haven't been there, you should go -- to check out the walk-in wine and cheese cooler if nothing else. :) Go on a Tuesday evening if you can, apparently they have live music to entertain you. And no, I'm not kidding.

Second of all, it might as well have been a carnival for all Ryan knew or cared. He got to ride in (or should I say steer) a shopping cart shaped like a rocket and he even got a red helium balloon. But best of all, he met daddy's beloved "Hamlet," -- the dog on the Beggin' Strips package. Ryan was smiling, poking and waving without any hesitation...and we even grabbed a shot:


Tomorrow, nana and papa will be watching Ryan while Stephen and I staff/attend the parade, including riding the Beggin' float. We'll also be riding the same float in the big Mardi Gras parade next Saturday to toss out beads at the masses. If you're in town and looking for something fun to do tomorrow, bundle up and come enjoy hundreds of dogs in costumes walking through Soulard. :)

Cheers!