Hanging out with Stephanie

The Whomptons were overjoyed to host Stephanie for a long weekend.  We did all sorts of active outdoorsy things, even though it was very, very cold.  Our first trip was to the STL Zoo.  Here are all the girls, decked out in winter wear, and ready to see birds, primates, otters, lions, and prairie dogs.

Taking a break at the primate house.  Lola sat down on the bench and demanded that we join her.  She's a bossy one, our little Lola, but it made for a nice picture.

And then, on Monday, we ditched Lola at daycare and went for really active fun.  We introduced Stephanie to the City Museum and, really, there's no way to prepare someone for the experience except to say "You're going to crawl a lot, have tons of fun, be wowed and terrified simultaneously, and walk away with scrapes and bruises."  We all had a blast.  Here's Stephanie zooming down a ridiculously-painful-on-the-bum slide.

 And then popping out of an underground tunnel.

Yes, that's exactly what I felt like after completing a 10 story spiral slide.  I managed not to puke, but just barely.

Samantha crawls out of the cave creature's mouth.  Or submits willingly to being eaten.  You choose.

Stephanie looks ready to rip out its teeth and leap to safety. 

Raina rode a tiger,

 delighted in the peanut butter and apple lunch break,

and roasted marshmallows for the very first time.  We were lucky to have a marshmallow roasting expert with us, because she offered plenty of advice about positioning for optimal golden browning.  Roasted marshmallows are mighty fine.

Stephanie's last day here saw her geocaching in the snow with Eric and hauling our new super-sized microwave back to our house.  (It was too large for our compact cars to carry.  Wow.)  We loved having her here and cannot wait for her to return to STL again.