Ava goes to St. Louis

Over Labor Day weekend we went on a quick trip to St. Louis, Missouri, to visit my sister and her family. It was Ava's first vacation and airplane ride! It was a weekend full of lots of firsts for Ava, including meeting her aunt, uncle and cousins. My sister (Jessica) and her husband (Brandon) have a three year old son (Cameron) and another baby boy who was born just about a month after Ava (Everett). This was our first time meeting Everett as well. Ava did really well on the airplane rides. When she started to get a little fussy I just fed her and, well, eating fixes everything for our little girl.

While in St. Louis we visited the Botanical Gardens, where their Japanese Festival was going on, the Zoo, and Ted Drewe's, which is famous for its frozen custard and is a popular tourist stop. We also spent a lot of time just relaxing at Jess and Brandon's house. It's a little complicated to go anywhere when you have four adults and three car seats. Any outing required two cars and that wasn't always possible since Brandon did have to work. Cameron got to spend a lot of time with his Uncle Tim while the moms took care of the babies. And Tim was a very good sport and played a lot with Cameron.

What was also fun was that we finally got to give Cameron (and Everett) a rocking horse made by Uncle Tim. Tim worked really hard in the four weeks before our trip and built a rocking horse for our nephews. He shipped it to St. Louis in a couple big pieces before we left and then finished assembling it once we were there. Cameron seemed to like it and hopefully Everett will one day, too.

Here is a selection of pictures from our trip:

Ava on the airplane right after landing in St. Louis. She wasn't too happy to have been woken up from her nap.

Cousins Ava and Everett doing some tummy time together. They were close to the same length, but Ava had quite a bit of weight on Everett. Ava was 10 weeks old and Everett was 6.

Cameron decided he needed a little tummy time, too.

Cameron riding his new rocking horse. When he first saw it he asked me what it was. I said, "It's a rocking horse that Uncle Tim made for you and Everett." He replied in a quiet voice, "Please I ride it?" :)

Here we are at the zoo! Ava experienced her first penguin exhibit. She may have been asleep in the stroller, but at least she was there.

Cameron and Brandon at the zoo.

No matter where she is, Ava loves to stand!

I got to see my good friend Erin while we were there! She lives in St. Louis and came over for dinner one night. It was fun to have her meet Ava.

Daddy time.

Tim with his hands full.

On our last full day there we went to Brandon's parents' house to hang out by their pool for a bit. This is Ava relaxing by the pool.

Such a big girl!

Relaxing with Mom by the pool.

At the Botanical Gardens.

Everett slept through most of the Botanical Gardens tour and Ava cried. :) She was pretty hungry.

Who is that guy in the background? I don't remember his name, but he's the one responsible for the Botanical Gardens.

Plants are awesome!