whobody went to the arch?

Of course we headed to the arch on our trip to St. Louis.  

On the same day as the zoo, we actually walked over to the arch after "nap time".

 (I put the quotations around it, since no one technically napped that day.)  

It was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel and included crossing a lot of busy intersections...which the kids LOVED. 

They really enjoyed the experience of being 'downtown'.

We took a few pictures on the way in...

When we got inside, however, we realized the place was PACKED!  

So, we made the executive decision to skip the arch for the afternoon and come back in the morning.  We headed back outside, and let the kids take a little rest on the bench. (Nash was complaining that his "wegs hurt".)  After a little break, we decided to head north to Laclede's Landing (?) and find somewhere to have dinner.  

Since Nash's "wegs hurt" Jason actually gave him a shoulder ride...

while Cruz fell asleep in the stroller.  

We found a GREAT restaurant with outdoor seating, 

and pulled up the stroller to the table with Cruzie sleeping soundly.  

The birds were chirping, 

there was a nice warm breeze, 

the weather was perfect, 

we all ordered our favorite drinks, 

and we were sitting there enjoying our most relaxing moment of the vacation....

when, suddenly... 

Nash blurts out in a very slow, low and grumbly voice.

"I...hate...dis...pwace."

We laughed SO hard, because, he really didn't, he was just saying it because he really didn't know what else to say.  He was a little tired from all of the walking, and did not nap in the hotel room, but he didn't hate this place.  It was SO funny, because it was obvious to ALL of us that this was the best, most relaxing, most enjoyable meal of our whole trip. Too funny. 

I think that for both Jason and I, 

this was the funniest moment of the whole trip!

After our dinner, we walked back to the hotel and enjoyed a relaxing night swimming.

Then the next morning, when we were all ready, we headed BACK to the arch, and were able to go right up! It was not busy at all...and was totally worth coming back for. 

The kids loved it!