St. Louis - Day 2 - Reagan's 6th Birthday Party

The motivation for taking a trip to St. Louis was to celebrate Reagan's 6th birthday at the American Girl Doll Store. We had such a fabulous time celebrating Kennedy's 4th birthday at the AG store in New York Reagan wanted to have a special AG birthday as well. The food wasn't quite as good as NYC but having more friends and family made it super special! I think Reagan was a bit overwhelmed and out of sorts when we first arrived but once we entered the birthday room and she was seated in her big beautiful "pink" chair she loved every minute! I don't know if I've ever seen a happier birthday girl! I have to say American Girl is worth every penny!

Heidi, Reagan, Kennedy and Lily ready with their dolls for the party :)

Aunt Arla and Reagan with her new doll Rebecca, which Aunt Arla gave to Reagan for her birthday

My sweet girls ready to party (notice the sticker on Kennedy's head - I'm not sure what's up with that but you may have noticed that's where her Magic House sticker was as well...)

Lily and Angie - Two of the sweetest people I know! I seriously don't know if there is a more sincere and humble person on the planet than Angie and Lily is just a little doll!

Aunt Dorothy and Heidi are so super special to us and I don't think a birthday celebration would feel complete without this awesome duo. Reagan and Heidi have made it to everyone of each other's parties. :) We are so fortunate to have both these ladies in our lives and living so close by to share so many wonderful memories with!

Aunt Arla, Grammy, and McKinley doing their part to make the evening special as well. Reagan is so lucky to have these two amazing women in her life who love her no matter what! I don't think there's anything these two wouldn't do for her and they go above and beyond to make sure Reagan feels special and loved. :) They are also largely responsible for the girl's unofficial American Girl Doll bedroom. lol :)

Aunt Julie (with her trademark gorgeous smile) came to celebrate with us too while Uncle Chuck hung out at the hotel with all the guys. Thank you both for coming and making the evening even more fun for both the girls and boys! We appreciate all your patience with our crew. ;) You guys are the best and always make all our kids feel so treasured and loved!:)

My big six year old girl! Where has the time gone?

Reagan working on the craft project which was sewing a skirt to go along with the shirt they received for their dolls.

Reagan loved the cheese pizza. She made such a big deal about it being the best cheese pizza ever that the chefs had to come out and meet her and boy did that make her day! :)

Miss Reagan's birthday cake

One extremely excited and happy little girl

Reagan posing with Aunt Arla in the 2013 AG doll, Saige's, hot air balloon display

Love all these special gals who made Reagan's party so special!

Thank you Grand-Dad for coming along to be the official photographer! You captured some wonderful shots and video too!

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Thank you everyone for taking the time and making the effort to celebrate with Reagan. It was such a fun and special evening and one I know Reagan will remember for many years to come. It wouldn't have been the same without you!!! :)

St. Louis - Day 2 - The Magic House and Ted Drewes

Saturday morning we got up early and headed to "The Magic House" http://www.magichouse.org/ . This is such a fun and awesome children's museum! Any trip to St. Louis with kids should definitely include this stop! The special exhibit while we were there featured the Magic School Bus and weather. Here are Reagan, Heidi and Kennedy posing with Ms. Frizzle. :) Someone has a group picture of us in front of the Magic School Bus so I need a copy! :)

 Andrew used to have a small one of these things when we were little and we loved pushing our hands and faces into it. There was a wall where we all enjoyed pushing our images through including Missy Reagan. :)

 There were any number of experiments to try out and here Grammy and Reagan were rolling balls to discover which would go faster a ball on the straight but shorter line or the longer curved? The longer curved line won! :)

 Reagan and Uncle Scott having a "hair raising" experience

 Jackson loved all the ball experiments!

Aunt Arla and Reagan dressed up in pioneer clothes and enjoyed playing school and having tea together. So sweet! :)

 There was an entire room of magnets that we enjoyed exploring out as well. I love the intensity on Jackson's face as he tries to figure out which direction these magnets need to go in order to attract vs repel each other.

 Aunt Arla and McKinley enjoying their time together. :)

 Missy K wanted to wear her sticker on her head and though Uncle Scott needed to as well. The picture they're posing with is one Kennedy drew of Uncle Scott's shadow. The kids had a lot of fun with this light box and the light room in general.

 There was an entire room dedicated to the St. Louis Rams. You could test your agility, flexibility, strength etc as well as having the opportunity to dress up as a football player. Here's Missy Reagan as a Ram. lol :)

 One of the highlights of the day was the 3 story beanstalk. The kids had a blast climbing up and down repeatedly. This was probably Jackson's favorite activity and he revisited it several times throughout our visit as you could enter it on different floors.

 

 It was hard to keep all the kids together, but one place it wasn't surprising the boys finally caught up with each other was the huge construction zone. They had a great time putting plumbing together, tiling floors and even sweeping up! :)

 Jackson enjoying climbing on the Caterpillar

 There was a political section which included a replica of the oval office. Here is President Reagan taking an important call at her desk. :)

 After all our fun at The Magic House we took a break at Ted Drewes for their famous Frozen Custard. This stuff is so good and almost worth a trip to St. Louis just to get an "All Shook Up." So super yummy!!! :)

 Holden appears to approve of Ted Drewes too! :)

  Here's a picture of most of our Ted Drewes crew. I'm sure ready to go back for some more Frozen Custard especially during these hot summer days!

Reagan's 6th Birthday - St. Louis

Instead of having a birthday party in Lexington for Reagan's 6th birthday we took a trip to St. Louis. We were fortunate enough to have Grammy & Grand-Dad, Uncle Scott & Aunt Arla, Uncle Dan, Aunt Dorothy, Heidi & Holden, as well as Tim's St. Louis family and friends join us for a super fun weekend! Thank you to everyone for making it such a special birthday for our Missy Reagan!

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We drove to St. Louis Thursday afternoon, April 18, arriving just in time to order some yummy Imo's pizza for a late night snack with Grammy and Grand-Dad. Friday morning we got up early and headed to the Arch for our first official stop.

 Reagan was excited to sit in the #6 car to ride to the top of the arch for her 6th birthday! :) Jackson decided he needed his picture taken with his Lucky #7 car too. lol :)

 Missy K and Grammy on their way to the top of the Arch

 Jackson loved looking at the barges on the Mississippi river as well as the cars crossing the bridges 

 Grand-Dad and his girls at the top of the St. Louis Gateway Arch

 Part of my happy crew (they love photo opportunities so much... lol ) posing in front of the Arch on our way back to the car

 After our visit to the Arch we headed to Edwardsville to have lunch with Grandma, Nonna, Uncle Ran, Aunt Kayci and G to celebrate G's 3rd birthday. Happy Birthday Gruvis! :)

 What a cutie!!! :) 

 Grandma brought special cupcakes for everyone for dessert and extra special ones for the birthday kiddos. Thanks so much Grandma! :)

 After lunch we headed to the library to hang out with everyone for a while since the weather was a bit cold for visiting in any playgrounds. Miss McKinley thoroughly enjoyed the adult to child ratio. :)

 It was the first time Nonna saw McKinley so we had to make sure and get a 3 generation picture :)

 G and Jackson had a fabulous time together but I'm not sure how many genes these cousins can possibly share. G is so sweet and calm compared to our wild and crazy little guy!

 We did our best to get a picture of Nonna with her 5 grandkids. Can't wait to add Eunice (G's little sister due in August) to this picture the next time we're together! :)

 When we got back to the hotel Heidi and Holden were ready to join us at the pool. Tim and his best friend, Andy, went out for drinks while Andy's wife, Angie, and their two children, Miles and Lily, came to join our crew in the pool. Here are the 4 girls taking a swim break to pose for a quick picture for me. :)

 Jackson ready for action with his Monster floaty and shark goggles :)

 I tried so hard to get a picture of all three boys but I could never catch Jackson and Holden in the same shot. I do think this picture of Miles and Jackson is super cute though!

 Heidi and Kennedy (with Holden getting ready to hop on) riding the huge crocodile Aunt Dorothy got especially for this trip. So much fun! :) We're going to have to see about borrowing this guy for our beach trip to St. George's Island this October!

 Jackson, Reagan and Heidi going for a ride

Thanks again to everyone for the super fun day! Many more pictures from our Saturday and Sunday festivities to come! :)