Meet Me In St. Loui-ee, Loui-ee...

...Meet Me at the Carousel!
One morning while we were in the St. Louis area, we had some time to kill before we could visit Sr. Mary Elizabeth, as she was fulfilling her kitchen duties. So we went to the mall located close to our hotel. We rarely go to the mall, in fact, usually the precipitating reason is to get my engagement/wedding rings cleaned! So it was enjoyable just to walk around and look at things. We didn't really shop, are you kidding, with 4 little ones, it would have quickly turned un-enjoyable.

But there, "conveniently" located next to the Food Court, was a big double-decker carousel. Since we were on vacation, the kids got to ride. I don't think any of them have ever been on a carousel before. We went up the stairs to the top deck and Catherine chose a zebra. Anne got scared, so she rode on the little bench:

Dominic found a ferocious tiger, but Joseph got scared and Dan had to take him down to the bottom level, where he got attached to a rabbit.

Then we walked some more and further down the mall was a little kiddie area with rides, you know, the little racecars that move and the helicopter that goes up and down. Here the girls are riding on a roller coaster simulator. I like the picture because of that hair!

Then the boys had a turn. What fun they all had! We don't typically do things like that, but when on vacation...

Then they even got to ride on the carousel again. This time they all rode and nobody got scared. Here is Joseph's Rabbit that he insisted on riding again. Have you ever been on a carousel with seatbelts? That was a new one for me.

Here's Mommy and the girls. As long as you had a child under a certain height, the parents could stand next to their kids and ride for free. Yahoo!

And now, ever since we have been back from our trip, the kids have been playing "Hotel." This consists mostly of pretending they are going up and down the elevator. All four of them will run to a corner of the house, get close together, and then yell, "Bing!" Then they run up (or down) the stairs and do it all over again. It's funny to watch.