We all know that Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial beginning of summer.  The past few years we have planned our little family vacation around this time of year so we’ve been welcoming in the summer else where.  This year we were home for the big long weekend and didn’t really have any big plans.  We decided the best way to kickoff our summer was to head out and do some of our favorite St. Louis activities.

Our weekend started with a trip to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, one of our favorite things to do, that included checking out the very cool Dinoquest exhibit and the Children’s Garden.  Next to the zoo, the botanical gardens is always top on Maya’s list of things to do.

Sunday we decided swimming was in order since it was so hot.  We headed to one of our favorite local Missouri state parks, Castlewood.  We found a nice shady spot by the spring fed creek and settled in for a day of rock throwing, wading in the water and picnicking.

And we finished the weekend off with a trip to City Garden, this great little garden/park in the middle of downtown St. Louis.  We loved it last year and I think it was an even bigger hit this year since Maya was able to do a lot more.

All in all it was a fabulous start to our summer.  I’m really looking forward to all the fun things in store for us this summer.

Happy Summer everyone!!!!