Friday, 27 July 2012

Crawling Is Only Half The Battle



So as you can see Calleigh is now crawling around. She loves it and so do I, It's nice to just sit and watch her crawling around and being into everything.

She can also now pull herself up onto things now which is less pleasing for me as she can't get herself back down without falling backwards and banging her head, so we have had a few bumps and bruises.

Nothing is safe now. As I have been writing this she has pulled herself up my legs and has pulled the charger cable out of my laptop. Little monkey!!





Tuesday, 24 July 2012

The Birthday Blog

So yesterday was my 23rd birthday and it was very strange to spend it away from my twin sister and my mum. But we definitely made it a good one.
Calleigh and Daddy brought me tea and presents in the morning before Daddy had to go to work.

Instead of spending the day alone in the hotel I had arranged to go out with Leslie (one of Paul's colleagues wife). She took me and Calleigh to a Butterfly House where we could walk through a greenhouse garden filled with hundreds and hundred of exotic butterfly's and plants. It was really beautiful and Calleigh loved watching them fly past her head. I really wished I could of got a picture but it was so hot in there I really couldn't be bothered. Maybe next time. There was also a chance to feed the cockroaches if you wanted to but somehow that did not sound like something I wanted to do, or will ever want to do.

Daddy came home from work early and handed me a yummy slice of carrot cake and we arranged to go down to Castlewood State Park and have a picnic by the river. However because we couldn't be bothered to make sandwiches we stopped off at subway on the way down and let them do it for us.

Yummy!!

After we finished eating we walked down to the river and Calleigh enjoyed kicking her feet about in the sand.





That night we had planned to go and see the new Batman movie in the theatre across from our hotel but Calleigh was in a bit of a mood so we thought it would be better to head down to Hard Rock Cafe instead. It was definitely the right choice. Hard Rock Cafe was actually inside the Union Station along with a beautiful indoor pond full of fish. So we got to feed the fishes before having a nice cold beer whilst enjoying the Rock Memorabilia.



Say Fiiiiiiiiiissssssshhhhhhhh

It was truly a great birthday! Thank you to my lovely husband for making it happen.

Today is the average post birthday blues day. Only made better by watching Calleigh making friends with herself in the mirror.

"Why Calleigh you're looking beautiful today"

"Shut up and kiss me you fool"


Sunday, 22 July 2012

Calleigh By The Mississippi

It's been a very very hot week here in St Louis and is looking to be the same all through next week as well. Aside from the weather Calleigh and I have had a quiet week. As Daddy has to work all day there's not much for us to do but  I think next week we are going to drop him off at work which gives us the freedom to go a little further from the hotel. I did however find a Starbucks just down the road from the hotel which made me very happy.

On Friday night there was a concert on next to our hotel so we walked down to check it out and Calleigh got to touch a firetruck.





Yesterday all three of us took a drive into downtown St Louis. We stopped off at the science centre first to fill our brains with knowledge before heading off to see the Gateway Arch.




There was a game on at Busch Stadium and it was quite busy so we parked up and decided to go on foot. Seemed a good idea at the time. We walked downhill towards through the historic riverfront (all cobbled paths) and to the Mississippi River.


Unfortunately after a long walk beside the river we were gutted to discover there was nowhere for us to get back up to our car apart from steps. And so began the epic challenge to get us all up in one piece.


Finally back home we took a well earned rest before heading back out to drive around Rockwoods. This time, as well as more Deer, we saw a Raccoon going through a trashcan, some Beavers and a Falcon or Hawk chasing some Crows.

What we did on my Birthday

Sunday, 15 July 2012

St Louis- The First 3 Days

It's our third day here at St Louis and it is hot, hot, hot. It's been in the mid 90's everyday so far and is yet to get hotter in the week. Calleigh seems to be doing OK in the heat, she's a little grumpier than usual but has not been effected by the time difference and is sleeping as normal.

On Friday we started the day with breakfast at iHop and just did a bit of travelling around to find out where we want to go and what we want to see. We drove around a few state parks and I even had my first successful drive in an automatic car (my last attempt didn't go so well).




In the afternoon we took Calleigh down to the pool in the hotel for her first little swim. The water was a bit cold but she didn't seem to mind too much, we were only in for a few minutes. She enjoyed splashing mummy the most.



On Saturday we went around the malls and did a bit of shopping, well I did a bit of shopping, Calleigh just shouted at others shoppers and Daddy just followed Mummy around.
We then went to the Rockwoods Reservation and planned which trails we were going to do. Neither Daddy nor I are massive walking fans so we decided on the smaller walks which we will do later in the week once we get some bug spray. As we were making our way out a beaver ran across the road in front of us causing Daddy to slam on the breaks, which is also when we found out that we hadn't secured Calleigh's car seat down properly and it flew into the back of Daddy's seat. I forgot to take my seat belt off as I tried to run out to Calleigh's aid. Once we pulled her up out of the foot well she just looked at us and laughed.. what a crazy child.


Today we went to the Zoo. Calleigh enjoyed seeing the reptiles, monkeys, lions, bears, birds, stingrays and penguins before falling asleep and missing the rest. She loved every minute off the zoo and enjoyed looking at the unusual creatures. Although I think she was more impressed at having her photo taken as every time the camera was in front of her she gave the cheesiest grin ever. What a poser.








Friday, 13 July 2012

First Trip To The States

My lovely husband has been working quite a lot in the states and Calleigh and I finally got the chance to join him on one of his trips.
So yesterday morning we swooped Calleigh out of bed far too early and took her to Birmingham airport to catch our flight. We didn't have long to wait and Calleigh was even greeted by a Marilyn Monroe look a like at boarding (The one that was on Come Dine With Me), unfortunately we were quite late boarding so I didn't manage to get a photo.
We were so nervous about how Calleigh would be on the flight and we both found ourselves expecting the worst. So when we finally took off and Calleigh fell asleep the minute the plane left the ground we were quite surprised. Both flights went smoothly and we landed at St. Louis Lambert airport around 4:30pm local time.

The best thing about travelling with Paul through work is that accommodation is already paid for. Unfortunately the hotel was pretty booked up so we ended up with the presidential suite. I swear when i walked in i almost fainted. I have never stayed in such an amazing room.





I'm sure we are going to make the most out of our stay. Even if Paul has to work in the days, Calleigh and I will fill our days with all sorts of fun activities.

We are here for another 3 weeks so I will keep you all updated on Calleigh's first holiday.

But for now we are going to go and explore some more.