Botanical Gardens, Nauvoo, Park & Trampoline

On Dec 28th, we went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens to see their annual Holiday Plant & Train Show. We ended up getting a membership because the entrance price to see the show by itself was more than half of a year membership. The boys were excited because they each got to pick a free gift with our membership. Lucas got a crank flashlight and Nicolas and Matias got binoculars. After seeing the Plant & Train Show, it was a fairly warm day so we walked around the grounds. We found a maze which the boys loved, and just had fun walking around enjoying the *warm* winter weather.

Nicolas is big enough for a booster seat now - yay!

Nicolas couldn't keep his eyes off the trains to look at the camera

Jonas wouldn't look at the camera either - too much to look at!

our little blue marshmallow

I thought this tree was cool with the branches on the ground

there were some beautifully ornate benches

 view from the top of the tower near the maze

where's Matias?!

where's Lucas?!

where's Zeke and Nicolas?!

they made it out!

Nicolas' hands (and nose!) were cold walking back to the car
so he snuggled up with Zeke

On Friday (Dec 30th), we thought it would be fun to take a day trip to Nauvoo since it's only 3 hours away. Well the idea was good, but the weather ended up making the trip kind of a bust. The forecast said it would be windy and clear, but it ended up raining the whole time and with the wind on top of the rain, it was miserable to be outside. We still made it to a few buildings but came home early. We'll have to go again in the summer...

waiting for the brick demonstration - there was shelter here so the boys had fun
running around since it was dry

such hyper boys after the 3 hour car ride!

making rope in the Family Living center

  

playing with the toys in the Family Living Center

Jonas loved playing with the rope

beautiful sunset on the drive home

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yesterday (Dec 31st), Zeke was feeling pretty sick, so I took
the boys to Conway Park

there was a great playground where the boys played for a while, as well as
these log cabins, originally built in 1790

there's also a mile walk with this beautiful pond in the middle

it was another beautiful *warm* winter day!

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Lucas making Jonas laugh after church today (Jan 1st)

the Jaussi's had this trampoline in their backyard in Arizona but don't have a house here, so they're letting us use it! the boys are so excited to have one in our backyard now and Zeke and I are excited to have another way for them to burn off their never-ending energy :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year! It was so fun to have our first Christmas in our new home. On Christmas Eve, we had our traditional Uruguayan asado. We invited the Wessman's and Jaussi's to come celebrate with us and we had a great time. I didn't get any pictures of the dinner, but the food was delicious as always (thanks to chef Zeke) and the kids had so much fun together (in total there were 6 adults and 10 kids). After our friends left, we let the boys open one gift. We had them open a gift from us because we got them all new pajamas. It was also during this present opening time that Lucas had his "a-ha" moment that Santa isn't real. Zeke took him into the kitchen for a few minutes so he could talk to him without Matias hearing. :)

Julie took a picture of our family before they left

I love this picture of my 4 boys!

the stockings are hung and ready for Santa!!! (or Mom and Dad as Lucas now knows - haha)

Christmas morning we tried to wake up as early as possible so we could open presents before church. (We had just one hour of church but it started at 9am). Lucas woke up easy enough but we did end up having to wake Matias and Nicolas. It was very fun watching the boys open their gifts and seeing what "Santa" brought them. Lucas asked for walkie talkies, and Matias wanted a new Geo Trax engine (Eric and Aero specifically). Nicolas is too young to know what to ask for but since he's obsessed with Cars 2, we got him a Cars 2 book that came with 12 little characters from the movie. It was so fun to see how excited they were about everything. Later in the day Lucas told Zeke and I that it was his favorite Christmas ever. :) In the evening we went to a friend's house for dinner. All in all, even though Lucas was a little sick (it ended up being a bad cold which the rest of us got too), it was a wonderful first Christmas in St Louis!