Day out with Davis

Davis and I had a fabulous day out today.  With Kristen going to the hospital last night, Davis and I took off for most of the day so she could rest and recover from a late night.  We started our day with breakfast at the coffee shop in Kirkwood.  After breakfast, Davis and I took food and coffee back to Kristen, then headed to the Saint Louis Zoo.

We've been to the zoo here a couple times before, but this was by far our best visit.  We started or visit at the insectarium (sponsored by Monsanto, a chemical company).  Davis was hesitant at first, but by the end I almost had to drag him out.  The insects were great; they have such amazing diversity that I could watch them all day.  My favorite display (this time) was the leaf cutting ants.  They have built an elaborate climbing structure with leaves on one end and the ant hill on the other.  It was great to watch an ant cut a chunk out of a leaf and head back on this relatively long path back.  After the butterfly exhibit, we headed to the children's zoo.

The children's zoo was awesome.  Davis had a blast.  We spent an hour in the indoor section.  There were animals to pet and interact with including a tortoise and owl wandering around with their keepers.  Beside the jeep to drive, there was a kitchen to play with, a vet station, a climbing structure and sand.  Outside was great as well.  They had a farm setup for kids to play in with shovels, rakes, wheelbarrows, fake food and a few buildings.  Davis had a blast digging and filling wheelbarrows.  I was able to peel him away and we finished the zoo with a train ride.

We wound up our morning out with pizza at Fitz's watching college football on the big screens and the bottling operations.  After a few hours at home and some yard work, I took Davis for a trike ride around the neighborhood.  He rode his trike all the way around the block and had a great time steering into the leaves, "running away" and "crashing".

Videos from the day will soon be up on YouTube.