Birthday Boy

While we were visiting in St. Louis, Kimball celebrated his 6th birthday.  I was sad that Joseph couldn't be with us, but I was glad that we could celebrate with family.  Even if we had been home, Joseph worked from 2:00 until 9:00 that night so Joseph would have missed birthday festivities anyway.

For breakfast my mom made Kimball a peach and cream cheese danish.  It was really yummy and I quickly got a copy of the recipe.

Birthday boy at breakfast.

Blowing out his breakfast candle.

Waiting to open his presents.

Please note that Rebecah is in almost all of the pictures.  She loved being in on the action.

Creationary Lego game. 

This was a brilliant purchase by Naga!  Kimball had been building all sorts of neat
creations all week with Heather's K'nex so he was very excited to get his own set.
I'm very impressed with how well Kimball can build the creations by just looking
at the pictures.  The original K'nex instructions weren't very easy to follow and I
quickly gave up, not Kimball.  He is awesome!

Lego building set.

Magic Tree House books

Puzzle

More Magic Tree House books.

Talking with Joseph via Skype while opening presents.

The Titanic Research Guide for the Magic Tree House series. 

After we finished reading all of the Magic Tree House books in the series Kimball decided he wanted to read all of the non-fictions companion guides.  We have learned a lot by reading these guides.  I'm glad Kimball is developing a love for fiction and non-fiction.  Kimball had been begging me to check the Titanic research guide out from the library so we could read it, but I knew Heather had gotten it for him for his birthday so I kept finding excuses as to why I couldn't get it from the library.

Kimball greatly added to his Magic Tree House collection.  It is his goal to own all 50 of them.
He is well on his way.  I think we are up to 23 with 4 research guides.

Kimball and Heather.  Kimball is holding the books that Heather gave him.

We had lunch at Pizza Hut, just because it is yummy and it was a fun birthday thing to do.

 After our lunch at Pizza Hut, Kimball and I went on a date to the Mastodon State Historic Site.  After we read the MTH Research Guide:  Sabertooths and the Ice Age, Kimball wanted to know more, so I thought this little museum would be a fun activity for the two of us on his birthday since it is near my mom's house.

In front of the mastodon exhibit.

Showing how the mammoths, mastodons, and modern day elephants all fit together.  Mammoths came first,
followed by the slightly smaller mastodon and then the smaller still modern elephants.

Birthday cake.  Kimball had a chocolate zucchini cake with cream cheese frosting.  I think the colorful sprinkles
really made the cake fun and matched with the birthday decorations (not pictured) and the candles.

 Kimball asked for a birthday party this year, but it was hard to pull off since we were on vacation and school will be starting in just a few days.  We did invite a family over for cake on Kimball's birthday  who has a boy Kimball's age.  Kimball had Ethan are kind of growing up together even though we live states apart.  Over the last few years Kimball and Ethan get together and play any time we are visiting.  Playing with Ethan is something that Kimball always looks forward to and asks about when he knows a visit is planned.  I didn't get a picture with Ethan, but Kimball enjoyed having a friend over to help celebrate his special day!

The cake was yummy.  This is a picture taken after Kimball's birthday when we made
homemade ice cream to go along with the cake.  The homemade ice cream was AMAZING!!
 We all decided that it was the best homemade ice cream we have ever eaten.  I'll have
to make it again soon because I can't stop thinking about it!

We had a great time celebrating Kimball's birthday.  He is a great boy.  He is full of energy and it is hard to contain and channel that energy, but he adds so much joy to our family and I wouldn't want my life without him.  It's hard for me to believe he is old enough for school, but I know he is ready and will do great.

A Trip to Grant's Farm

One of the activities we did when we were visiting my mom for a week was to take a trip to Grant's Farm.  This is a free activity, aside from parking, and it was a lot of fun.  Grant's farm is named for Ulysses S. Grant and he lived in a house on the farm for a time.  My mom and I really wanted to take a tour of Grant's house, but we knew that the kids wouldn't enjoy it very much and wouldn't be able to keep from touching things so we just peeked in some of the windows and one of the guides let us look in the out buildings.  Seeing these houses was probably my favorite part of the day.

Grant's family lived in this house for a time. 

This was the main house where Ulysses Grant and his family lived.  This was actually his
wife's childhood home, but they lived in it quite a few years.

These are two of the out-buildings.  The one on the right was a chicken house
and the one on the left was the ice house.

The summer kitchen and building where the slaves spent
any time they might have been allowed.

In front of a wagon that is pulled by the Clydesdale horses.  

These cannons were very exciting for Kimball despite his less than excited expression.

On the tram going to Gran't farm.  The tram takes you on a ride through the "Deer Park" where
various species of deer and cattle live.  I was surprised how close some of them got to the tram.

I think the goats are the most memorable part of the farm.  You can pay to feed the goats milk out of bottles so they aren't scared of you in the least. 

Watch that goat!

I'm so glad I got this picture...here the white goat is starting to nibble on Rebecah's skirt.
 By the time I realized this and got to Rebecah the black goat on Rebecah's right
also had hold of her skirt and I had to pull her skirt out of their mouths.
It was pretty funny.  Goats will eat just about anything.  

Large Turtle

Pretty parrots

Kimball and Rebecah with a butterfly statue made with pennies.

Zebras and Llamas

Having a fun time!

Kimball and the camels

I love this picture...Kimball and Rebecah with Naga.  They had so much fun with her.

There was a mister for kids to cool off.  My kids were hesitant of it so I went through with them.
I don't enjoy being wet, but to be fair to the water, it did help cool me off a little.  After
the initial walk through with me we had a hard time getting Kimball to leave this area.

Taking a break watching an animal...monkey maybe?

There was a barn area that housed some old fashion cars and wagons.

This was a very neat and detailed wagon with intricate carvings.

We had a great time.  We just wish Heather and Chandra could have come with us, but Heather was recovering from being sick and she didn't want to over do it.