KCKidsFun

I took my two kids, one nephew, one husband, 6 power bars and 24 Charms Blow Pops to St. Louis last week.  We had such a great time and really enjoyed our long weekend!  It was great to get away and we are fortunate enough to have lots of family and friends there.  We stayed in an inexpensive hotel one night (because that’s what vacation is all about; a place with an indoor pool and an elevator and electronic key cards!) and the next two nights we stayed with family.

We had a pretty packed weekend and didn’t have much down time.  We headed to St. Louis on Friday and met up for dinner with my brother and his darling new bride.  We ate at Fitz’s, a kid-friendly restaurant in University City– a fun, busy college-town kind of place.  Fitz’s makes root beer on site and serves a ridiculously big root beer float!  The kids had a great time. Saturday (the hottest, most humid day of the year to date) found us at the Zoo in Forest Park.  Naturally, we had to hit the zoo on the day the heat index hit 112!! I have to say–it was totally worth it.  Admission to the zoo is FREE, which is unbelievable for a zoo of this caliber. You do have to pay to see some of the shows/exhibits/train, but they are optional so you can get out for not a ton of money.

The highlight of the zoo was Stingray Cove–an exhibit with a limited run through September.  It was so cool!  The kids loved it. There was a 17000 gallon tank that was about 3 feet deep and full of stingrays and horseshoe crabs.  They were just zipping around the tank like it was a racetrack and we could all lay on our stomachs on the ledge, extend an arm into the water, and pet the rays as they zoomed by.  The kids couldn’t believe it!

The next day we went up to the top of the Gateway Arch.  Another incredible experience!  If you go, take a backpack with crayons, a book or some other entertainment–we had to wait nearly 90 minutes from the time we purchased our tickets until our appointed time to take the cars to the top. The views of the city were amazing!

Magic House St. Louis Children’s Museum was another terrific stop.  This was an amazing place and perfect for any age–from 2 to 92. There aren’t too many places like that; where everyone in the family agrees, “That was awesome!”  Magic House is full of exhibits and experiments, all with a science and discovery theme.  I learned that the Magic House was the home where A.G. Edwards (of the brokerage firm) raised his family in the early 1900’s and that he was the director of the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis and planned much of it from that house!

Last stop on our weekend away– the famous Ted Drewes custard stand. You can’t visit St. Louis without eating a concrete from Ted Drewes!  When we pulled up to the stand, it appeared that we were one of about 100 people in line.  But that place is a well-oiled machine– we ordered and had concretes in hand within 5 minutes.

We had a wonderful weekend and it was the perfect end to our summer. Enjoy this last bit of summer, readers.  (We’d love to hear about your family adventures, too!  Feel free to leave a comment here or on our Facebook page.)

June 26, 2010 marks the date of something that could be a unique, educational activity for your entire family!  There will be events that day in St. Joseph, MO tying in with the National Pony Express Association Re-Ride.  The Re-Ride marks the 150th Anniversary of the Pony Express ride!  Did you know that the route covered 1966 miles and twisted from Sacramento, California through Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas and ended in St. Joseph, Missouri???

Riders will partake in a river crossing, and there will be a parade through downtown St. Joseph.  Don’t forget about the Pony Express Monument and the Patee House Museum/Pony Express Headquarters, either!

In conjunction with the Pony Express anniversary activities, The St Joseph Museums, Inc.  has self-published Bustin’ at the Seams, a children’s view of St Joseph in 1860. It is written and illustrated by Amy Grier.  The book’s main character is Amelia, age 8, the daughter of one of St Joseph’s blacksmiths. Her brother, Andrew, age 14, wants to ride for the Pony Express, and he happens to be a friend of  Johnny Fry. We learn details of the Express through their friendship. The chapter book is written to appeal to both girls and boys in grades second through fifth. It is available for $8 from the St Joseph Museums.

There’s an interesting back-story here.  The Museum has a doll club that formed a couple of years ago. The girls in the club, generally ages 6-12, use the American Girl doll stories as inspiration to learn more about history. Amy Grier is the education coordinator at the musuem and she puts together enriching programs for the club, which meets about once a month. Last summer the girls had a camp where they studied the depression era doll, Kit. In the American Girl books Kit is a huge fan of Amelia Earhart. Wanting to incorporate some local history, they studied Earhart and ended the camp with a field trip to Atchison for the Amelia Earhart festival. Back at the museum that evening, relaxing over milk shakes, a book concept emerged!

The girls wanted to know why the museum couldn’t create a unique doll, based on St Joseph history, and write stories for her. So the girls began writing and drawing ideas for a book. They determined time frame, characters, items that would accesorize the stories, what crafts and recipes were needed, etc.  Knowing the 150th anniversay of the Pony Express was only nine months away, the girls picked that time frame.

There are plans for more books to follow.  The Museum also hopes to have a resource book to go along with the set. The resource book would explain what is happening in St Joseph during the late 1850’s and early ’60’s in more depth than a chapter book can.

You can call Amy at the museum for more info, 816-232-8471.  Currently the museum is hosting a special display, “Riders of the Pony Express”, running through Dec 15, 2010.  Make it a day in St. Joseph and brush up on your Pony Express history!  Sounds like lots of fun.

It sounded like a good idea at the time. Of course, I am slightly crazy. Which may explain why it sounded like a good idea. I took my four kids – ages 7, 6, 2 and 2 – to Omaha for a few days by myself. For fun.

“Trip to Omaha” had been on our List of Fun Things to Do This Summer since school got out. We had worked our way down the list and just a few items remained, including the trip from Kansas City to Omaha. Baseball and softball were finally over. High School Musical dance camp and golf lessons were done. All the out-of-town grandparents had come and gone. And my husband got a new job – meaning lots of long hours at the office.

So, I bit the bullet and announced to the kids that we were going on our Omaha adventure. They were beyond thrilled. And then they asked me if Omaha was in the United States, if we needed to pack silverware and “do they speak English there?” We don’t travel much. Heh. My daughter packed five bags for a two day trip.

I booked two nights at a hotel and we set off. The drive, three hours up I-29, was an easy one. I timed it to coincide with naptime for the toddlers and let the older kids watch a movie. We checked into the hotel and settled into our room. I booked a suite about 10 minutes west of downtown Omaha (Doubletree Suites on 72nd St.). I could have found someplace cheaper and closer to downtown – but I wanted a suite so that I could put my 2-year-olds to bed in the bedroom and then let the older kids watch a movie in the evenings in the living room. Everyone loved it. (There is an Embassy Suites in the Old Market area downtown but they didn’t have anything available by the time I made my reservations.)

After we got settled and checked out the room completely, we headed to Omaha’s Old Market area, parked and walked around a bit before deciding to eat dinner at Zio’s Pizzeria. The kids were each given a ball of dough to play with while we waited for our pizza to cook. They had fun and the pizza was delicious. We walked over to Maggie Moo’s for ice cream afterwards.

The Old Market area is very quaint with its brick streets and old buildings. I enjoyed it and I think the kids did too.

The next morning, we took advantage of the free breakfast buffet at our hotel, then headed out to the Henry Doorly Zoo. Thankfully, I reserved the entire day for the zoo. We spent SEVEN hours there! Admission for me and the older two kids was $27; the little two still got in free (2 and under).

We saw penguins, giraffes, rhinos, elephants, monkeys, lions, tigers, gorillas, polar bears, orangutans and more. I checked out a map of the zoo beforehand and planned to see the outdoor exhibits in the morning and the indoor exhibits in the afternoon when the sun got hot. We loved the gorilla exhibit, the monkeys and koi fish, the big cats and the giraffes.

The Scott Aquarium was not all that large but very engaging. We especially loved the penguins (great exhibit allowing you to see how they swim) and the sharks in the tunnel aquarium tank.

And we also loved the desert dome. A desert environment is perfectly replicated underneath a huge geodesic dome. A great surprise was the extensive exhibit of nocturnal animals beneath the desert display. My son LOVED the bats and snakes and alligators and beavers. My daughter was a little freaked out. My toddlers were asleep in the stroller by that point.

While at the zoo, we also took advantage of the train ride and the carousel. Which were pretty standard but still fun. So, a big thumbs up for the Henry Doorly Zoo. It was worth the trip (and we still didn’t even see all of it!)

That night, we had dinner at the hotel and swam at the indoor pool there. We capped our evening off with a hotel room showing of Monsters vs. Aliens.

The next morning, we did hotel breakfast again and checked out. We headed to the Omaha Children’s Museum, planning to spend about two hours. Three hours later, we staggered out at my insistence – the kids could have stayed all day.

The Omaha Children’s Museum reminded me quite a bit of Wonderscope here in the Kansas City area, just on a larger and newer scale. But most of the activities were very similar in nature to those offered at Wonderscope and at Science City. It was a blast and I dragged them in order to get lunch and get back on the road home.

Between the zoo, the hotel and the children’s museum, my kids were sufficiently impressed and entertained for the entire two-and-a-half day adventure. They were all very good. I was exhausted but pleased.

I recommend Omaha for a fun family getaway from Kansas City without reservation! While I splurged on the hotel room, you could definitely find cheaper digs. You can also pack your own lunch to take to the zoo to avoid the pricey concession stands. If anyone else has tips for fun things to do in Omaha with the family, please share them in the comments!!