St. Louis 2025

We always go to “the farm” over 4th of July, but we usually spent more time in St. Louis, to see my cousin and her kids, who live in Charleston, and who come into town to hang out with us before the big family reunion over the 4th. We used to stay almost two weeks in St. Louis and I would also see cousin’s on my mom’s side. As the kids have gotten older, and less interested in seeing a cousin they only spend one day a year with, we’ve stopped trying to see those cousins and shortened our entire St. Louis trip to a little over a week. Since the farm is always three nights, that usually leaves 4-5 nights in St. Louis with cousins. We generally do many of the same things: the City Museum, the Zoo, the Botanical Garden, Webster Pool, and the Science Center. These activities are awesome, and we do them every year because we love them.

This year we added a special day trip that we’ve talked about doing for years, but that we’ve never committed to because of the long driving time (two hours each way). It was hard to find a day for the trip, because we couldn’t have any other commitments, but we finally found one that worked and the weather was beautiful and we had the best time. My cousin and I LOVED this spot when we were kids, and we’re so thrilled we could finally take our kids, and they loved it as much as we did.

But first, the rest of the week.

Saturday: Surviving

The red eye was uneventful. I kept having to remind myself that it was only a four hour flight. The kids slept a little. The 11yo and I listened to a couple hours of Ready Player One. I must’ve slept for at least 20 minutes because there was some drama a couple aisles up that I missed entirely (the 15yo witnessed it). I listened to my new book club book (I Hope This Finds You Well). Then we were landing.

There was a rental car company shuttle waiting at the curb. There was no line at the rental car place. They had our car and there was no issue with the return in Memphis. All the things I were worried might go wrong were fine. We got to my uncle’s house at 6:30am and I realized I didn’t have a way to get in. Luckily my mom woke up when I called her and opened the door (they had come in a few days before).

And then we slept! For almost four hours! This was so wonderful, and it absolutely got us through the rest of the day. I still can’t believe we slept that long after our red eye.

We didn’t have much else planned on Saturday. We went to my aunt’s house, where my cousin and her kids stay. We hung out there for a while. We got lunch at a favorite smash burger spot. Then we went to this sculpture garden in their area to get outside before dinner at our other cousin’s house.

This spot is so random. My husband recommended it when I had a couple hours to kill before our flight two years ago, then we took him last year because we were so taken by it. And now we’ve shared it with our cousins.

Dinner at our cousin’s house was lovely. I had never been to her place! And I can never get enough IMO’s Pizza when I’m in town. We even got sno cones afterward! Perfect.

The kids and I passed out by 11pm and I slept relatively well!

Sunday: City Museum

I woke up at 7:30 and knowing I had gotten over eight hours of sleep, I got up and went for a run. It was maybe/probably going to rain so I didn’t go as far as I could have, but I did end up running for about 40 minutes and only got sprinkled on. I did some ab work and push ups when I got home.

The kids slept until 11am! They got a solid 12 hours of sleep. I was so happy for them.

We waffled a little on what to do Sunday, because we worried about crowds, but ended up going to the City Museum. It’s a fan favorite, and this year’s trip did not disappoint.

When I first came here I wanted to climb in and around everything, and I tried to squeeze myself into every tunnel and down every slide. Now I’m content to let the kids play, while I sit and talk to my cousin.

We did get to see the bearded dragons get fed, which we found especially hilarious since we have to coax our own bearded dragon to eat his worms. These guys were literally climbing over each other to snag a squirmy snack.

The “doctor fish,” that eat the dead skin off your hands, is also a fan favorite that did not disappoint this year.

We had just missed the 1pm circus show, but we came back at 3pm to see the final show of the day and I’m so glad we did. Usually the show is young kids from their acrobat camp, but this year it was one woman doing a slapstick comedy acrobatic show and I was THERE FOR IT. I loved her whole bit so much, and I laughed and shrieked the whole time.

The 15yo got called up for one of the acts and she was supposed to braid her hair (with another girl) and then acrobat clown got up and started running all around and the girls had to run after her while trying to braid her hair and she kept changing directions and making the girls run into each other (and her) and the 15yo did so great and had so much fun. It was just supposed to be a way to kill 30 minutes and it ended up being the highlight of the day.

The outside was closed for most of our trip but at the end it opened and the boys were so happy. We never made it outside last time (rain), so they were really pleased to climb around our there this time.

We headed home and just read and played video games for a while before and after dinner. It was nice to have some down time after such a big day.

Monday: Webster Pool

Webster Pool is the community pool of the township where my aunt (on my dad’s side) and uncle (on my mom’s side) live. We used to need one of them to get us in with a residency card but now we can just pay more to come in as non-residence. And we’re willing to pay whatever because the pools has always had a slide, a lazy river and a couple of spring boards.

This past year they totally revamped it, like razed it to the ground and rebuilt it. Now it looks like a mini-water park. And they didn’t even raise the price of admission!

This pool is so cool. I can’t believe we get to go here every year. The kids love it because they never get to go swimming and then when they do it’s at this crazy spot! We spent six hours here and the kids had a blast.

I managed to workout when I got home, which was hard because I was covered in sunscreen and just wanted to take a shower. But I had the time, and I know it will be hard to workout at the farm so I did it. And I’m glad I did!

Tuesday: Johnson’s Shut-ins + Elephant Rocks

Tuesday was our special day trip. And boy was it special. We made it down there without problems. The weather was perfect. The kids loved the spot. We had a great time.

Johnson’s Shut-ins is a spot along a river where all these crazy rocks make little waterfalls and swimming holes and it’s just a magical place. I LOVED it as a kid, and I went back in my early 20s and then didn’t go again for 23 years. There was a flood that washed away much of the infrastructure, so it was closed for a while, and then our kids were too young to go there, and then two hours each way felt long. But finally this year we committed to going back, and I’m so glad we did. It was just as amazing as we remembered, and our kids loved it too!

After spending about three hours at the shut-ins, we changed into dry clothes and drove 15 minutes away to Elephant Rocks, another spot I remember liking as a kid.

It was 5:30pm by the time we got back on the road again, and luckily we were headed to a Culver’s on the way home.

The kids and I listened to Ready Player One for the entire four hour drive and it finished as we pulled into my uncle’s subdivision. It felt like a sign that the day was meant to be.

Tomorrow we’re going to the zoo with some other cousins. I can’t decide if I should wait and post this with zoo pictures or just put it up now. The zoo is amazing (and FREE!) and we go every year because we love it so much (and it’s FREE!). We didn’t make it to the Botanical Gardens (maybe Sunday after the farm?) or the Science Center but that is okay.

After the zoo tomorrow we need to do laundry and pack up for the farm (and pick up the husband). We’ll leave as early as possible on Thursday, spend three magical days with our entire family at my favorite place (it’s truly my favorite weekend of the year), and then we’ll head down to Memphis on Monday morning for a three night stay.

So far it’s been a really good trip. The weather has been cooperating (we didn’t get thunderstorms on our pool day and the weather was perfect today). I’ve read a ton. The kids are sleeping really well and I’m sleeping pretty decently. We’ve had a nice mixture of activities with cousins and downtime alone. I’ve worked out twice and plan to run again tomorrow. It’s been a really nice time and I’m very grateful for it. Yay St. Louis!