Best Birthday Yet!

I know I have a lot of updating to do, so I'll go back to a week ago Sunday, my 29th birthday. The three of us had gone to St. Louis for the weekend. On Sunday we woke up and opened presents, and planned out the day while Joseph was down for his morning nap. My parents were on their way back home from a trip to Chicago, Jennifer was in New Orleans with her boyfriend, and the weather was nice, so we decided to head to Grant's Farm for a while. Grant's Farm is this really neat park that is on Ulysses S. Grant's original farm, and has been turned into an open air zoo of sorts. The best part? It's free to attend! I have lots of memories of going to Grant's Farm as a kid, so I thought it would be fun to take Joseph, even though it's not exactly targeted for 5 month olds :)

This was Joseph's first time in the stroller without his car seat, and he did great! He seemed to take everything in, and enjoyed being able to look out at the animals.

The trip into the park starts with a tram ride through the zoo, where we saw buffalo, zebra, wild horses, deer, goats, huge fish and more, I'm sure. It's rather hit or miss if you'll see anything, because they are free to roam around the park grounds, so it was fun to be there on a day when the animals were out and about.

We took in a show about animals with fun talents. Joseph actually paid attention for the entire 20 minutes!

Then it was time to check out the animals in their pens. The goats are a big hit with all little kids - they allow you to go into their pen and feed them from bottles. We figured we'd stay outside this trip, since Joseph is so little, but he was definitely aware of the goats. They are well trained to stick their heads through the fence slats to get whatever they possibly can.

We didn't buy any bottles for the goats. Their response? It's ok, we'll just eat your stroller!

Because Grant's Farm is run by Anheuser Busch, they offer free samples of a few different beers on tap, and also house some of the clydesdales at the park. We took advantage of a free beer each, checked out the horse stables, and then headed back for the tram to the parking lot, as it was getting to be nap time.

Joe had fun playing with and tickling Joseph on the tram ride back.

We swung by my favorite ice cream place in St. Louis, Ted Drewes, on the way home to meet my parents. We all had a quick dinner at a new authentic Mexican restaurant before Joe had to head back to KC. Joseph and I stayed in St. Louis for the week, and my mom took me to the Sugarland concert that evening for my birthday, so Grandpa got to babysit Joseph.

It was definitely one of my favorite birthdays, hanging out with my boys and family!