St Louis: Avery at New Places for Fun

In the dozen or so times that Carolyn and I have gone together to St. Louis to visit her family, we typically end up going to the same places (the casino boats, shopping at the same old malls, etc.) and doing the same things. This time, especially since Avery is older and can do more things, we decided to make a point in exploring new parts of St. Louis. St. Louis is a very family-friendly city with lots of things to do with kids, many of which are FREE or cost very little.

We took Avery twice to "The Magic House" which is a children's museum. It is very toddler-friendly, and Avery had a fantastic time:









This is Avery's "girlfriend" from the Magic House. She is the same age as Avery, just born a couple of weeks earlier. She got into Cinderella's carriage with Avery, and they were fascinated with each other! The flirting began instantly; she hugged Avery, and he hit her but then smiled at her (sending mixed messages, he's such a boy!). We were dying laughing at the cuteness (her parents and us)!

Melanie and Avery showing their Marquette pride:

We LOVE a kitschy, cheesy lights display, so the one at the Jellystone park was perfect! We drove through to admire all of the old lights display with old cartoon icons like Scooby Doo and the Flintstones. Avery got another opportunity to sit on Santa's lap, but he really was not interested in doing so.





Gogo, Carolyn, Aunt MoMo and I took Avery to the Arnold Rec Center to go swimming. This pool was amazing: there was a fun water slide (for big kids and adults -- Carolyn and I LOVED it), a "Lazy River" part, a kids' section with smaller slides and sprinklers to play in, as well as a regular part for lap swimming. Avery hadn't been swimming in a long time, and he was so excited as soon as he saw the pool to get right in, and he did NOT want to leave!).




The St. Louis Zoo has a Christmas lights display and we walked around (Avery mostly rode on Carolyn's shoulders), rode a carousel, and saw penguins with aunt MoMo and her friends: