By February I always wish we had something planned for Spring Break and we went back and forth on where to take a quick trip and thanks to my Facebook friends I decided on making a plan for a quick trip to St. Louis in between Mike’s travels for work. I am so glad that we did! It was an awesome trip with so much to do and we packed it all in for just a few days.

We left on a Wednesday and our boys were incredible car riders – just needed something to watch the whole way there. We didn’t even have to stop….for them…just for me. We found a delicious place downtown next to Ball Park Village called Salt and Smoke for lunch. I had a yummy brisket sandwich.

Then we headed to the Gateway Arch National Park to see The Arch. I’ve actually never been to St. Louis, but Mike had. I had heard it was difficult to get tickets for the tram to ride up the arch so I bought them ahead of time knowing it was the first thing we could do after arriving and eating lunch before checking in to our hotel. The ride up was worth it – but if you are claustrophobic or scared of heights – then I would NOT go up in the tram. Our boys loved being at the top but then also seeing the Mississippi River down at the bottom and realizing how high up that we truly were. We relaxed and walked around Riverfront Park to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Then we ventured to our hotel, Drury Inn Union Station to get checked in and settled in. We quickly learned that they offered free hot breakfast, free hot dinner, free popcorn and pop from 4-8 pm and 3 free drinks at the bar for adults from 5:30-7 each night as well. What?! I was impressed with the hotel and also in love with how old and vintage everything looked. Of course we had to start with a hotel swim because that’s all the boys could talk about – checking out the pool. On the way there I realized I forgot the Puddle Jumper for Brooks and goggles for the boys. Also, I forgot a sippy cup and we had already lost one pacifier for Brooks and I panicked that we’d lose the other and be really screwed. Texted my sister who reminded me of good ole Walmart delivery and ordered it all to be delivered as we arrived at the hotel. We really lucked out on that deal because instead of delivering us one Puddle Jumper they sent 4 and we only paid for one – so who needs a Puddle Jumper? I’ll make you a deal! After swimming and checking out the hotel dinner (meh) it was early to bed for a big day on Thursday.

Thursday we woke up to rain and storms so we decided we better do some indoor activities because the storms could be popping up all day. First, we started with the hotel breakfast which had biscuits and gravy, sausage, eggs, waffle bar, yogurt, fruit, cereals, and toasts. It was quite the spread and perfect to start our day. Downside – no coffee creamer but thank goodness for Starbucks and DoorDash because mama can’t start her day without coffee.

Then we walked over with umbrellas to Union Station and – WOW! Highly recommend hitting up Union Station when the weather is nice and you’re in St. Louis. We were really excited to come back and see/do those things when it wasn’t raining. We went inside to the St. Louis Aquarium which is attached to Union Station. The boys, especially Brooks, loved all the fish but I probably wouldn’t do it again. I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t in the “top things to do with kids” website lists I had seen and then realized quickly why that was. Not much to the aquarium. If you’ve ever been to Newport Aquarium in Cincinnati then this most definitely doesn’t compare. I’d skip it if it were me! Then we took a ride on The Wheel which was nestled right between our hotel and Union Station.

We took off to find Fitz’s Rootbeer for lunch after a few recommendations. Easton and I are both big rootbeer fans and I loved seeing them bottle the rootbeer in a side room as we ate. They had tons of flavor options and the bottomless mug of rootbeer icy cold was incredible. The food was awesome too. After that we took off back to downtown St. Louis for City Museum. Of course it was top of our list and we’d heard so many great things about this place. We’d also heard that we should prepare to lose our kids and be okay with it. Someone else had recommended flashlights. I put the boys in neon shirts so they’d be easy to spot in a large crowd and that helped a lot. I also saw families witih walkie talkies and that seemed like a great idea for next time. Thank GOODNESS Brooks decided to take a nap because it was definitely not a place for toddlers – more of a place for kids aged 5-12. Amazing place with lots to discover and explore. We told the big boys to stick together and we kept an eye on them as best we could outside of the tunnels and caves they were climbing in. I’ve never seen anything like it and honestly it’s quite hard to explain. It use to be a shoe factory and I’d love to know more on the history of how it became what it is. Unfortunately we went on a day they were trying to set a Guinness World Record so it was extra crowded – another reason I was so glad Brooks was passed out in the stroller.

I’m sure that bigger kids could handle 5-6 hours at the City Museum but our boys were wore out after 3-4 hours so we headed back to the hotel to relax and have some popcorn before dinner. Friends recommended Mamas on The Hill and it was such incredible food I’d definitely go back. I had Pollo Piccata and Mike enjoyed the lobster ravioli. Amazing authentic Italian food. I’d love to visit The Hill area again during the day to walk around.

We started Friday morning with breakfast at the hotel and another DoorDash win from Starbucks. Our goal was to hit up the St. Louis Zoo first but as we left the hotel we realized it was really chilly and cloudy so we changed plans and headed to the Magic House which is their Children Museum. If we lived in St. Louis we would definitely have a membership here. It was very reasonably priced ($14 per kid) but so much to do and explore. I’m sure we didn’t do it all because we had intentions of also hitting the zoo up in the afternoon. This place was amazing for all ages, but especially Brooks. Easton and Wyatt both said this was their favorite place of the trip.

On this day we decided to skip lunch and eat some snacks at the zoo. We arrived to a beautiful entrance. It was in the 60’s that afternoon and not a lot of animals were out due to the chill in the area. The zoo is FREE which is amazing and you only pay $15-20 for parking right outside the entrance. The St. Louis Zoo is nestled inside Forest Park which is a 7 mile park, bigger than Central Park in New York. How cool would it be to walk through the park for an exercise and swing through the zoo each day? What a neat thing for St. Louis natives. We did go ahead and purchase an Adventure Pass because not everything is free at the Zoo. This allowed us to do the train, carousel, the 4D theater, and a few other areas. My favorite was definitely the butterfly pavilion.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped in at Sugarfire Smokehouse in downtown St. Louis for some amazing bbq. I had the twice smoked burnt ends sandwich and Mike enjoyed some St. Louis ribs. Then we had to swim at the hotel pool again because it was still all our kids talked about. Seriously – how is the hotel pool the best part of a vacation where you visit and see so many things? Kids….

After a swim we went over to Union Station for ice cream at the Fountain (yum!) and watched the fire and lights show in Union Station.

Our final morning was Saturday and we checked out of the hotel after packing up. Before hitting the road we hit up one more of St. Louis’ free attractions – the St. Louis Science Center. We watched a really cool show at their planetarium about stars and planets. We saw dinosaurs, played games, and enjoyed lots of hands on science activities. If you love science, this is definitely the place for you. This appealed more to the older boys but there was enough to keep Brooks entertained as well. Then, we hit the road and grabbed a quick lunch outside of St. Louis.

About halfway to home Mike stopped in Casey, Illinois because I had mentioned the “world’s largest” things. We drove through their quaint little town to see some of the world’s largest thing and I’m still wondering – why? Why did someone stop and think – hey let’s add all of the world’s largest things to our town for people to stop and see? Just so random – but neat!

We saw the world’s largest rocking chair, teeter totter, ruler, windchime, golf tee, and more!

And sweet Wyatt on our drive between Casey and Fortville said – “Are we back in America yet?”

I loved the time with my little family and all of us being together the most. Lookin forward to our camping trips this year and our next vacation in July!

Truly a Fortunate Gal