Another word Brooks started to say was “boat.” My dad has a small jon boat and it was parked in the driveway for most of the trip. Brooks enjoyed climbing inside and pretended like he was fishing. He now loves boats.

He also rode his first bike.

This is a precious picture of my dad (Papa) reading to Brooks before bed.

While we were in Gillespie, we visited the St.Louis Zoo. Its supposed to be one of the best in the nation (and it was free). I visited here a lot growing up so it was neat to be able to now take Brooks.

The hippo’s (well their backsides)

Elephants (one of my personal favorites)

A quick Momma and boys shot

And the Apes

We realized after visiting the Zoo that Brooks likes animals but he really likes things with wheels. We spent most of the time at the Zoo trying to keep Brooks off the Zoo’s staff golf carts. At least, it was free and the weather was beautiful.

Back at the house Brooks and Silas enjoyed bath time together.

The next day (after bath time) we went back to St.Louis to visit the Transportation Museum. This was one of Brooks’ favorites stops.

Family shot (you can see Brooks wasn’t happy about this picture)

Making an airplane with Grammy

Riding the train with Papa and Grammy. It doesn’t look like it in this picture, but Brooks had a lot of fun.

So did Silas

Riding the shuttle (another exciting activity that Brooks enjoyed that you can’t tell by this picture).

Touring the many train cars on display (that’s me, Silas, and my dad)

Brooks loved pushing buttons that turned the signal lights different colors. In fact, we spent several minutes trying to get him away from this area after taking this picture.

Its amazing how the engines on the trains are so big and powerful. It was a great trip and we will probably go there again on our next visit.