way back when… in july

i have lots of pictures still that i never shared from our family vacation.
as time goes by i just forget about them.
as we have started bundling up in jeans & sweatshirts & i was longing for summer already.

scott played in a basketball tournament in st. louis with a travel team.
we joined him there and he left with us as we continued on our trip.
we spent two nights in st. louis…if i remember correctly.
the first day we went to the City Museum which i posted about a month ago.

we also did some exploring, shopping and went to the St. Louis Zoo.
it is FREE to get in and it was BEAUTIFUL!!!
Seriously… it was an awesome place to spend a few hours.
if you are going to st. louis you should put this on your list.

these flowers were ginormous!

my kids went in the building to see the animals and i stayed outside dying over the gorgeous flowers!

it was extremely hot that day so the misting fans were appreciated… and FUN!


Annie tried her first burrito of her life at chipotle in st. louis.  🙂
she must have been feeling brave that day.

we went to Fitz’s afterwards for root beer floats.
umm…. this was more than they could’ve even imagined?!
we let them each get their own!
AND THEY ATE THEM ALL!

after they finished we sat at our table for a long time drawing in our art journals.
me included.
they didn’t want to stop… and i am not going to argue about art time.
so we drew and drew and drew.
it was dreamy.

annie claims she was fake sleeping but i haven’t seen her sit that still for…. never.
she was out.

we picked up scott and stopped at the arch on our way out of town.

we drove to Indiana to meet up with our friends.
we spent four days doing this…

we almost always go bowling when we are with the Hills.
it’s tradition.
and we are quite a scene in any bowling alley.
no one has ever accused our group of being quiet.  🙂


scott was taking a hundred close up pictures of people so i moved in for a few….



jenny beat everyone.
that girl has got skills!!!

there was no place to set my camera for a timer pic so we did this to get us all in one shot.
it might be my favorite from the trip!

jake and abby had their own bb guns that they shared with us.
the kids set up a tower of solo cups to use for target practice.
sean took his birthday money and bough his own bb gun that week too.
i think i hit something once.
i didn’t have my glasses on….

sean had his 13th birthday during this trip.
he got to pick where we ate dinner and since he only wanted money this year it was pretty low key.
we picked up a few goodies for him too… joke book, x-men dvd & candy.
i used a few hours of our driving time to make him a card.


there was also a water balloon fight… wiffle ball…Despicable Me 2… dave’s birthday… kayaking with lola…

sunkissed and a camera flash… crazy combo.

Duerksen tribe – 2013
lauren chose to stay home this year to work at her job.
we missed being a family of seven.

fireworks… duerksen kids love language.

every year when our vacation is over & we are driving away we say, “Those Hills are good people”

true story.
we love spending time together no matter where we are.

hey…. maybe i am on a roll and i will post our chicago leg of the trip tomorrow?!
🙂