Beilmans Out & About in St. Louis

We had so much fun enjoying the St. Louis Zoo with Grandma Pat & Grandpa Dan!  The sea lion show was fantastic! However, my favorite stop was the penguin house because it was ice cold in there.  The heat & humidity of Missouri in the Summer never ceases to make me crazy, so I could have stayed in that smelly penguin exhibit all day.  Plus, those little guys are cute!

 All the Beilmans waiting to go visit the penguins.

 

Davis doing his best penguin impersonation.

 Sean & his folks.

 Davis cooling off at Uncle Marc & Aunt Cindy's pool!  We celebrated our niece Brooke's college graduation but unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures with her.  So disappointed about that, but we were very glad to be able to spend time with her and the rest of the family.  Such a great day!

 

 Carter jumping in with the big turtle.

Relaxing in the shade with this cutie. :-)

Back at home, Davis loved watching Grandma Pat play the piano.

Stop #2, The Lou

We drove to St. Louis for our second leg of the Midwestern Adventure.  (After a stop in Columbia to see my dear friend, Stephanie, for some girl time.)  We took the boys to the Magic House in Kirkwood for one of our favorite stops.  This place is amazing!  

 Davis climbing the three-story plant.

 Davis dressed as a construction worker.

 Carter digging.

 Carter warming up his seat in the oval office.

 Mary Anne's daughter, Kathryn, and Carter holding court. 

 Fun with pokey thingys.

 She's going to kill me for posting this...Mary Anne swinging like Tarzan.  :-)  LOVE it!!!

 Carter building with giant Lincoln logs.

 Davis floating his contraption.

BFFs.  Love her!

Summer Road Trip, Stop #1

Since Fall has started, I decided I needed to get back on track with the blog!  So...I'm starting with our annual Summer road trip to the Midwest.  First stop, Lawrence, to visit Grandad & Grandma Nancy.  I posted lots of pics from this stop on Facebook back in July so I won't duplicate them here.  We had a great time exploring downtown via the bus from Grandma & Grandad's house!  The boys loved that and spending time with cousin Marcus.  They all had a blast!  It was a short visit there since we had already planned to see Grandad & Grandma again in Estes Park the following week. 

Everyone waiting for the bus.

Leaving the cool toy store on Mass.  We were good & didn't buy much!

The boys loved playing with all the vintage toys Grandma Nancy has saved.

Mimi's Back in Town

Sean was in Atlanta for work last month, so my mom flew out to take care of the boys while I worked.  It was so nice to not have to use PTO (since I'm still on Weekend Plan at work).  Thanks, Mimi!  You always take such good care of the boys for us.  We treated her to dinner out on the last night before she flew home. We owed her that much, at least! 

But, that's not all...

Mom & I got to have a girls' night out with Sister on Friday...we went downtown to see "Wicked"!  Mimi had never seen it & it had been years since Christy & I had been.  We all had a great time, it's such an amazing show. One of the best parts was stopping for a dinner of small plates at the Four Seasons hotel beforehand. Delish!!!

Heritage Square (...while it's there)

The boys & I drove to Heritage Square with some friends a few weeks ago.  I hadn't been there since I was a kid and rumors have been circling that the place is going to close the end of the year.  (For the record, part of the park will remain open.  But, the Alpine Slide & some of the other attractions will be closing.) Anyway, I figured it was something my boys needed to see!  I will say, this day was not cheap.  The prices are kind of steep up there so be prepared for that. All in all, it was a fun time for the boys & I'm glad we did it for the memories.  But...I don't think it's a repeatable outing.

 All four boys just getting started.  We spent about FIVE hours there--yikes!

  Rollin', rollin', rollin'...

 The big air-filled balls allow you to walk on water.  Pretty cool!

 Davis preferred taking it easy.

 Jumping like crazy!

Woo-hoo!

Estes Park Awesomeness

 I love Estes Park.  This was our second year at "Trail's End" cabin at YMCA of the Rockies.  We took off right after school on the boys' last day & spent three nights getting up-close-and-personal with nature. (With indoor plumbing, my favorite combo!)  There is just so much beauty there and it's very peaceful, even though the camp itself is huge.  We like the cabin because of the amazing views, wildlife sightings and marshmallow roasting ability in the fireplace, among other things.

 Mimi & Grampy shucking corn for dinner.

 Carter scoping out the scenery from our front deck.

 Firing up the marshmallows for S'mores!

 Sister & Davis getting in on the S'mores action. 

 Breakfast at the big table.

 Carter & Davis climbing the BIG rock.

 The tire swing was a huge hit.

 On our daily hike from our cabin to the Craft Center.

 The boys did some classes & got to dig for "fossils".  Anything involving dirt is usually a hit with these two!

 Heading to the Craft Center with Grampy. (You should see the mug he painted this year--wow!)

 This deer trio got really friendly with us after dinner one night.

 Sister has a special touch with the wildlife.

 I think the deer could smell the blood on Grampy's hands from his many years of hunting, because they backed up instantly when he came outside.

 The boys were amazed to be this close.

We're heading back up to the park at the end of July with Grandad & Grandma Nancy.  Can't wait!!!

Last Day of Preschool/Mom Meltdown Day

I know this will come as no surprise to most of you, but my baby isn't a baby anymore.  Davis is headed to Kindergarten in the Fall (actually, next month!!!) and it hit me a little hard on the last day of Preschool.  I think the photos are a little blurry because I was crying so much I didn't notice.  Yep, I'm that mom.  I even had Ms LaDonna crying, too!  She's had a Beilman boy in Preschool for the past four years, so we've gotten pretty close.  We'll miss those days of Play Plans, centers and 2 1/2 hour school days (well, maybe not that last part). Our sweet little boy is growing up & we couldn't be more proud.  Love you, Davis!  

 Davis got his diploma a day early since we left for Estes Park instead of going to the last day of school.

 This was when the waterworks started...

 He was so proud of himself. 

 We took a field trip around the neighborhood afterwards & had a little play time in the park.  Bear Blankie got to come along which was a huge deal!

 Big Man on Campus

Mimi & I had to leave early for an appointment, so Grampy accompanied Davis on the second half of the field trip.  Go Grampy!  He & Davis both did well! ;-)