Baked Goods Pottery

We wanted to take the kids to a paint your own pottery place. After looking up a few online we found one that would let us have a private room. You just have to spend at least $100. (We are taking 7 kids, do you think spending $100.00 is going to be a problem? Of course not!)

Even better? We can bring food! We ordered a huge party platter of Jimmy John's sandwiches and a bucket of their delicious deli pickles to pick up on our way. We put together a platter of Girl Scout cookies for dessert and packed up some drinks and chips. We turned our adventure into a real party.

Shelf-full of paint and a one year old; what could go wrong?

The pottery studio was really nice inside, the people were friendly, and the private party was a hoot. We had a lot of fun. Everett was a small challenge at first but once he learned his boundaries he settled in just fine. I was pleasantly surprised that even I got to relax and paint in peace without his daddy needing to pry him off of me. If we hadn't been in a private room there is no way I could have kept him out of the pottery shelves in the main customer area. Also, the tables and chairs are really high in the regular area. In the private area the tables and chairs are normal size. The staff was friendly and treated us nicely. Will do business again!

Blue Owl Restaurant and Bakery in historic Kimmswick

We went the the Blue Owl Restaurant and Bakery in historic Kimmswick for a candy making field trip and tour with one of our homeschool groups. The candy making was fun. The kids all made chocolate hamburgers, chocolate dipped marshmallows with sprinkles, chocolate pretzels, and chocolate playdoh.

I got the pleasure of meeting the owner, Mary, who I have admired for a while now. I now adore her as well. She is a kind, well spoken, friendly, all around good person! After the candy making we met up with her and she talked about the fantastic story of her life, the history of the area, her faith, her bakery and more. Charlotte and I LOVED it! The really little kids were bored (but quiet) for the talking part but we were enthralled! When I wanted to talk pie crusts with her she spoke of her mother passing away last December and her mothers special dough she hasn't been able to use in her mother's freezer. I found out the rolling pin and measuring spoon set on the wall in The Sweet Shop were her mothers too. I LOVE this kind of stuff. If you've never been it's a real treat. If you love family history, anything old fashioned, candy making, supporting a self made woman, home cooking and most importantly pie you simply must check it out.

The Sweet Shop (ice cream parlor and candy shop) is decorated beautifully with old frames and black and white family photos. (All Mary's family.) The Sweet Shop offers candy classes for kids as well as birthday parties where you can make confectioneries. Like all gift shops it is pricey but you'll find some one of a kind things and with lots of darling items. Adults and kids alike can get lost in browsing through the bright colors of tea sets, aprons, trinkets, stuffed animals and toys.The blue owl also sells more than just a few of their own cookbooks; a nice treat from this home cooking haven. We didn't eat there this time but have before. The food is good and the staff is friendly. Since I cook from scratch and we tend to have lots of time honored classics for dinner at our house it's not a treat for us to go somewhere for home cooking. (Although I do enjoy other people's cooking, I'm not saying mine is better! ;) 

One of the most famous pies at The Blue Owl is the Caramel Pecan Levee High Apple Pie™ , it's been featured on a few shows on the Food Network (including Paula Deen!). With pride Mary told us that this pie is on this years list of Oprah's favorite things! Their already famous pies are in even bigger demand now and their phone is ringing off the hook. One person ordered 40 Caramel Pecan Levee High Apple Pies™ as gifts that will be shipped.



The Blue Owls Levee High Pie!

I've had a slice of that pie before, it IS divine. For fun made my own copycat version the Thanksgiving of 2009. When I get around to digging up the digital picture file I'll post a picture. It was a lot of fun. Charlotte helped me make it. Since The Blue Owl's version has 18 apples in it we put 20 in ours - just to be different! As you can tell I've been a fan of The Blue Owl for a long time. Now that I know more back story and have met the amazing woman who started it all by baking 30,000 Christmas cookies in her own kitchen oven just to make ends meet, I'm hooked for life.

I was swooning over the idea of a pie of the month club last week. I looked online and found them online offered by various places. Today I say The Blue Owl has a pie of the month club! Oh yum-oh yumm-oh yum-o. I love pie.

St Louis Wax Museum

We went on a homeschool field trip to the wax museum yesterday. It was pretty neat (and creepy)! You can visit their website here http://www.stlwaxmuseum.com/

The wax museum had lots to offer but it doesn't take terribly long to go through it. Most the wax people are behind glass. There is a nice life of Christ section that is interesting. It would be nice if more of the wax people were labeled with descriptions and educational information. I ended up with a camera full of the horror sections to show my hubby later instead of educational things LOL. (We used to be huge horror movie buffs --he still sorta is, I'm less so now, but I enjoy a good horror wax museum section that is a serious creep out feast!) 

I was impressed with Frankie. Love the detail!

It was a interesting place to say the least. Wax figures are creepy. They look like they are going to move at any moment. Some were really good depictions, others were not so great. We quite enjoyed the non wax mannequins and statues of super heroes. My 3 year old loved Batman, Superman and The Hulk! A nice touch is that they sell small concessions in their lobby, including yummy ice cream.

Ok, the horror sections: seriously not really for kids. Well unless you think it's ok they go in it. I took some of my kids through it but not all of them. It's pretty intense. I imagined a well lit museum with characters. It was not like I envisioned! Dark hallways lead from section to section. There was some gore and lots of dead people. Not for the faint at heart!!! This would be the perfect place to take anyone wanting a less scary haunted house where actors don't jump out at you.    

Does this guy look like he's ready to jump out at you or what!? Creeeepy!

Other stuff~~~~

I also took an accidental mini tour of North St Louis when I got lost. (I called my hubby for help when I was lost to which he said in a very serious tone, "Honey, turn around and go south, you need to GO SOUTH. To which I said, "Uh oh, I think I'm in a bad place, um yup, I'm in a bad place. The stop sign I just stopped at says, STOP COPS on it. 

So that was unexpectedly adventurous. I was really lost. Embarrassingly lost. lol. It is amazing how FAST you can leave downtown when you go the wrong way! I hate driving downtown and usually I'm really nervous but find my way just fine. This time I was relaxed and confident and that got me lost for 40 minutes! From now on nervous is the way to go!

Trick or Treat Street St Louis

For Halloween this year we decided to take our kids to Trick or Treat Street on Halloween night. For a couple of years I kept seeing this info online at various places:

Trick or Treat Street - Every year, the 5300 block of Nottingham Avenue in South St. Louis is hopping with Halloween activity.  Residents go all out in decorating their homes, and candy is handed out to thousands of kids from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.


I couldn't any other info about it, let alone anyone else that had been. I looked for reviews online and found nothing. So after two years of wondering (and being afraid of a big crowd) we ventured off to Nottingham Avenue!!


We planned to arrive early and arrived at 5:10pm (a little later than we wanted) and snagged one of the last parking places on the street. We were relieved to see some kids out but not enough to produce lines at houses. (Unless you are behind us, as we have 7 kids! haha) We ventured off into a neighborhood street that looked like it was from a movie setting. Beautiful old St Louis style row homes with mature trees and sidewalks. People were smiling and greeting kids at their door, many people sitting outside with family and a bowl of candy. It was a beautiful cool fall evening. Kids and parents were happy no jackets were needed over costumes. The trees engulfed the neighborhood and for as far as I could see branches of yellow, red and orange leaves invited us down the sidewalk. It really was a great time. Thanks to the people that put this on for kids! 


By the time we left (about an hour and a half later) the street was packed, people were lining the streets looking for parking spaces, and lines were forming at houses. We had a Trick or Treat success this year! We plan on heading back next year for the friendly people and fall beauty on Nottingham. 

Once the dark set in Trick or Treating

Candy Cane RV Park

There is a unknown little place about 3 miles from the town of Steelville, MO on Highway 8 West. A little Christmas magic in the form of an RV/ camping park awaits your visit. Candy Cane RV Park offers a small pool, free showers, camping tent rentals and RV hook ups. They also offer mini golf. Their mini golf area is truly small (read: mini) but they’ve taken a lot of care into designing it themselves and making it the best they could using their own artistic skill. Someone at this place has talent. It’s not the kind of talent or vacation spot you’d see featured in a magazine or on television. It is the kind of quaint place that makes one appreciate a wide variety of people in the world doing what they enjoy. Someone here very much enjoys creating, crafting, wood working, building, painting and…Christmas.


These appear to be homemade!

It’s a little strange parking next to a Santa Claus statue twice our size that is leaning over baby Jesus in the middle of July but I love quirky places. I love the variety of people in this world.

The grounds are clean and tidy and the landscaping well cared for. A modest and tidy trailer home sits neatly tucked away in the corner, I assume it could be a caretakers home. The older woman who rang us up was very grandmotherly and nice. The gentleman who owns the place walks with a limp and has Cerebral Palsy. His name is Bill and he is very, very nice. You may not see through is mussed hair and wild eyes, but he is just a business man living the American dream. His speech is heavily slurred so you may want to prepare your children and use your visit as a possible teachable moment about disabilities. I was a little hesitant to ask, but he kindly showed me where the restrooms were. I quickly realized he seems high functioning despite the challenges he outwardly has. I was impressed and inspired to learn this is his business. Good for him!

Speaking of restrooms, they were clean as could be and in a cute barn red building. They had showers near the back of them, and they are free unlike some that take quarters.

We took eight kids mini golfing and they made it through very quickly. I think there are nine holes of golf. It was 100 degrees outside so they wanted to get done quickly (and so did we)! In nicer weather we would have stayed longer. The grown-ups appreciated a picnic table under a pavilion at the edge of the mini golf area. We hid from the sun while they ran around in the heat swatting at golf balls. Ah, to be young again. From our pavilion AKA refuge from the sun we could see the kids almost the whole time they golfed.

The kids gave the whole day a thumbs up!

One Day Without Shoes

With their One for One program each pair of shoes purchased  from Toms Shoes helps a child in need get one new pair of shoes. Super cool right!? Click here to find out why and how.

In order to help spread the word Toms also started One Day Without Shoes. This is a day of awareness - a day for people like you and me to go barefoot for the entire day to help inform others about their cause and for individuals to see what it's like to go without shoes.

Sebastian showing off no shoes

So the kids and I did it this year. I thought it would be super easy. My kids love going barefoot and half the time do so. I have kids forget their shoes and actually venture into the grocery store or library without shoes while I roll my eyes. I almost felt like this was too easy of a challenge for us.

On this particular day we had a homeschool park outing to go to. We were late and when we arrived we were all rushing out of the car and traipsing across the grass barefoot. I soon started hearing wails from my little kids, about the same time I realized the ground was covered with spiny seed pods from the sweet gum tree. I hopped and danced and maneuvered kids to the playground. If I could just make it to safety with all those sets of tender feet we'd be home free. As I carried the last two kids to safety we were met with unexpected disaster. As other kids and families played happily with shoes on around us, I was shocked to see the ENTIRE playground floor, which is usually soft and bouncy, covered in these spiny seed pods from hell.



I've found out that you can store these and use them in your garden to keep slugs and snails away.



It was seriously one of those swallow me into a hole moments. The world caved around me, I felt like screaming NOOOOOOOOoooooooo! I felt like my NOOOOOoooooooooooooo scream would echo all around me. How can every tree at this park be this kind of tree, and how can this be the the park we go shoeless at? How shoe gods, how I ask!?

These "gum balls" are really fun to collect and really interesting to look at, but they are painful and even dangerous to step on. One of our friends stepped on one once and had to get the pieces surgically removed some were so deep. So the day was starting pretty rough. My kids' friends were running around and my kids wanted to run also. I encouraged them to stay up in the playground slides and tubes where they would be safe, they didn't want to. After I had enough of my heart sinking in fear of foot surgery and my 4 year old had cried the last cry of trying to walk around these torturous seed pods I made us venture to a smaller playground nearby with sand and somehow a little less spiny gumballs. This worked pretty well and even attracted some of their friends to the sand. My two year old started collecting these ouchy things and giving them to me to keep away from him.

Later at home we had a nice discussion about how important shoes are and we had the day to reflect on it.

Of course a week later my kids were forgetting their shoes on the way to the library and stepping on dog poop with bare feet in the yard. Typical spoiled American kids. Sheesh. ;)

Pumping gas~ One Day Without Shoes April 2011