Valentine's Day in St. Louis

I have to say that we've been very lucky to have been able to celebrate Grandpa's birthday in St. Louis for the past three years. Cousins Sullivan and Claire visited from Kansas City and we had plenty of outings with the whole clan.

Alex's schedule on February 14th deserves a special mention.

10:00 Drive from Charlottesville to Richmond.

12:00 Fly in a plane (and discover a passionate love for Barney when I finally broke down and let him watch one of those small DVD players to keep him in his seat--for a few minutes).

3:00 Go to a fire station in St. Louis. Not only did Alex get to look at a firetruck, but they actually let us sit in the front sit and pulled it out into the driveway. He looked great in his authentic fireman's vest.

5:00 After a quick nap in the car, we went to a mall (it was cold and there aren't many options on a cold February night).

5:45 Alex got to choose his very own toy in a toy store. (Alex has rarely been allowed in a toy store and this is the first time he was able to chose something with minimal parental guidance.) The winner: a fairly realistic trash truck.

6:30 Alex got to be the conductor on a really cool miniature railroad.

7:15 After a quick slice of pizza, the carousel was the next stop.

7:45 Alex convinced his sucker mother to let him really ride a Bob the Builder bulldozer (I hate putting money in those things, but he's old enough now to know the difference when you don't pay and it isn't moving!)

With all that excitement, bedtime ended up being around midnight, but heh, that's what vacation is for...

In addition to eating lots of fast food, we went to the zoo (brrr it was cold!) and the St. Louis Magic House.