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Out and About


Three years ago, I took my oldest on a combined birthday girls trip to Dallas. It required a lot of planning and coordinating, since she had some tricky allergies and my youngest was still nursing, but we brought Mimi along as adult backup and had fun staying in a hotel, riding the DART to downtown and going to the aquarium.

Now she's outgrown her allergies and I'm no longer a food source, so this year she and I went to St Louis while the boys went to visit grandparents (so no one felt left out).


We had originally planned on going to the zoo, but ended up arriving in the depths of a heat wave, so we opted for air conditioned activities and went to the aquarium instead. I have been to a lot of aquariums and this was not my favorite, but it was the most interactive one I've been to and she had a delightful time letting doctor fish nibble her hands and feeding a sting ray. We finished out our time at Union Station by riding the Ferris wheel (a concession on her part, because they are more my thing than hers) and the carousel. We also spent a lot of time in the hotel pool (I haven't worn a swimsuit for five years and I don't remember the last time I was in the water in one) and ate a lot of Imo's pizza.


We were gone for two nights, and even though it wasn't quite what we'd planned, we did have a lovely time. Now everyone's home and the goal for the rest of the summer is to stay cool. Right now that looks like mornings spent splashing in a kiddie pool on the back deck, or going to the craft camp a nearby craft supply store puts on every summer. And lots of library books. The Bigs have enjoyed getting to choose their own books to read to themselves, and we have renewed The Crayons' Book of Feelings every week for the little one, who has finally memorized it and now reads it to me at bedtime. Spring felt too short, but we're getting by with air conditioning and ice pops.
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