St. Louis!

Last week, Tim and I took Canaan on her first BIG road trip to St. Louis, MO! Her Uncle Josh, Aunt Sarah, and cousin Courtney accompanied us. We went to visit Sarah's AWESOME family and take in some of the "Dirty Lou" sights!

After a long and grueling eight hour trip, we finally arrive at the Science Museum! Entry: free...thanks to Budweiser and their trillions of dollars.

We had quite a few educational experiences. One in particular: T-Rex's like to eat little girls. Thankfully, this ferocious dinosaur was only a life-size replica.

Next bit of astronomical trivia: Mars can actually fit in the foyer of a large Museum. You can see that Courtney and Canaan are thrilled to actually be touching the "Red Planet."

And since we were in St. Louis, it was only fitting to re-construct the arch using large foam blocks. Pictured on the right is Uncle Josh (Tim's brother), Sarah in the blue (my AWESOME sister-in-law (almost!!!)), Courtney in the pink (Canaan's cousin who was oddly born on the same day as Canaan...June 26...weird), and Sarah's mom and dad, Jane and Jim (native St. Louisinians.)

Another scientific fact: Canaan's head can in fact float on the table. The trick is actually getting her to squeeze her head through the hole and holding her still enough to get a good picture.

And what Museum is complete without the old "Holographic Spring in a Box" experience?

Next stop: the famous arch--gateway to the West and thrilling ride to the 630 foot pinnacle for the Goodwin family.

After coaxing Tim and Josh and Courtney to suck it up and ride to the top, we make it (just like the thousands before us...you wimps). Pictured here: Tim and Canaan on the horn, discussing Tim's exit strategy in case the arch tips over once we're at the top.

Here I am, squealing with delight as we witness our daughter bravely looking out the miniature windows, baring her diaper and her courage to the world.

She takes after her mother.

In the following video, you can clearly see how high up we are. One day, Canaan and I will bungee jump together while Daddy videos from the safety of the ground. Keep an eye out for that blog in the future--it'll be a good one.

Once we've conquered the arch, it's off to the St. Louis Zoo! Canaan's first zoo experience proved to a wonderful afternoon filled with unanswered zoological questions.

For example, where are the rhino's going so quickly? There's a wall in front of them. Canaan is trying to tell them to stop.

And another: Where did that butterfly just go? I swear it was right here. At least, it was before Aunt Sarah screamed when a different beautiful butterfly landed on her arm. Thanks, Sarah. We were this close.

In this video, you can see that Canaan is desperately trying to get the elephants' attention by waving her arm (I think it's the baby sign language symbol for "elephant"...or it could be "I have a cold and my nose is stuffed up." That could be why the elephants weren't responding.)

Despite the unanswered questions, we had a blast at the Zoo. It was a wonderful place to take Canaan and she really did love all the animals!

On our final day in glorious St. Louie, we go to the pool! Another one of Canaan's most favorite places! Tim and I decided that this is the day to teach Canaan how to dive off the diving board. You can see that she is thrilled to be diving off the twelve foot board into her father's waiting hands. Actually, it's more like nine inches. We think she's going to be an Olympic synchronized diver.

St. Louis experience: check.

Cutie kid: double check.

Thank the Lord for a great life: Heck yeah.

Gardening!

Every year we have a garden in our backyard--except last year when my toes were the size and consistency of Vienna Sausages and my cankles rendered me immobile--we always plant a lovely vegetable garden!

Naturally, Canaan must earn her keep, so we quickly teach her how to hoe the rows, pick the weeds, water the garden, prune the tomatoes, and look for the slugs that try to eat the lettuce. Unfortunately, Canaan has only mastered one vital component of gardening--eating the dirt. Much like a worm, Canaan helps aerate the soil and ensures her saliva adds a PH balance that only an 11-month old's mouth could produce.

In the following video, you can see how Canaan struggles to move the rake out of the way so she can clear a section of dirt to eat.

And after a long, hard day working in the garden, Canaan is OUT. In her typical "Mowgli" fashion, (in The Jungle Book when Mowgli was walking around with the elephants...Canaan crawls just like that), Canaan leaves the yard. Off to eat bigger and dirtier things.

This is a picture of Canaan by our mailbox and those flowers. It looks like she's waiting for the mail man.

And these are the CUTEST pictures of Canaan at our mountain house where my dad has "strategically" let the flowers/grass grow really long in his backyard. Nice, dad.

In this picture, Canaan makes an important discovery--if flowers grow in dirt, and I like to eat dirt, then surely I would like to eat flowers, too!

All I can say, is Canaan does not have a deficiency in certain vitamins and minerals found in "naturally derived substances." And that's why we only use organic soil and plants.