The track was much taller than most Pinewood Derby tracks but a fun challenge for any car
These are some of the cars available to race (our car isn't one of them)
"And they're off!"
They used a pulley system to pull the cars back up to the top
Here are two of the cars we've used in past Derbies that made successful runs at the State Museum
Kristofer shows off a victory pose
Erik watches the cars race down the track
This statue was done by Robert Indiana, famous for his LOVE statue that is located at the Indianapolis Museum of Art
The Extreme Makeover crew working on a house a separate building that will help the owner with his community outreach program
This pictures shows the large number of volunteers; you can see some volunteers painting the neighbor's house
The exterior of the City Museum; at this point we had no idea what we were in for
Looking out over several levels of donated salvage converted into child climbing heaven!! That is a real crane boom as part of the play area
There are two large ball pits and this one had wire mesh so you could stand over it
The ball pit for the older kids had a monkey bar but you used it at your own risk (other kids throw balls at you in hopes of knocking you off)
Kristofer had to go into the smaller kid pit by himself but it didn't seem to bother him
Kylan tries to climb out of the mess of balls
This tube was the highlight; it's about 8 stories above the ground (I took the picture from about the 4th level)
You accessed it from the wing of one of the planes
Kylan and Kristofer crossed the high tube with no fear!
This is one of Wayne Newton's old planes; you can climb through the back and through a tube to the top of the castle tower
This is a set of tables stacked up on each other to create stairs to the top of a slide which is a converted air duct into a donated fire truck; is this place amazing or what?!?
Erik takes a stab at driving the fire truck
The top of this rope climb is almost straight up; it took Erik several attempts to get the hang of it but he was eventually able to climb to the top
The other half of the rope climb was a slide
Kristofer climbing up one of the many climbing structures outside
Kylan climbs in the same area but this is a different angle
This is an old FBI plane that was destroyed in a flood
You can see all the exposed wires and damaged controls; there was no way a boy could damage this thing!
Kristofer and Kylan get ready to climb through Wayne Newton's plane
Erik climbs up to the highest point outside that we called the bird cage
This pigeon was found in the empty engine compartment of one of the plane; I could only think "Don't let the pigeon fly the plane!"
One highlight inside was the caves
Above the caves is the 7-story spiral slide (far left of photo) that can only be accessed by several spiral stair cases; Brian had to walk all the way back down after Kristofer was afraid to go on the slide
The lobby of the museum shows how wild and busy this place is!
Everywhere you turned there was some kind of platform or tube to climb; this one obviously was not made for adults!
Home of the world's largest pencil!!
Erik, the writer, had to do something with the pencil
The Fedje boys had an amazing time at the St. Louis City Musuem
Yet another slide; this one was actually a set of rollers that made a lot of noise
There was a train set with several climbing tubes and tunnels around it and the boys found this bubble that popped up in the middle of the train display
Kristofer rode the train several times
Kylan's favorite was the rope swing in the Skateless Park; the founder of the museum is painted on the wall in the background
Yet another set of tubes and balls for climbing
We were told many things in the museum were donated salvage and that had to include the spindles found throughout; they also look like they may have been individually painted by children
This is the view from our hotel room of the Edward Jones Dome, home of the St. Louis Rams
Erik gets some height as he leaps into the pool
Kylan gives a Vulcan greeting from the pool
Kristofer is still using water wings but we hope he can swim without them this summer
The boys head out for the walk to the Gateway Arch
A view of the arch from downtown
Erik holds up the St. Louis Arch!!
GO BISON!! (Exhibit in the Westward Expansion Museum below the arch)
Waiting to go up the tram to the top of the Arch
The tram was like a little egg; as you can see Kristofer was not too sure about the ride
At the top there was no fear to get on the ledge and look straight down to both Illinois and Missouri
Kylan shows off the peak at 630 feet!
We wondered what it be like to watch a game from here at the new Busch Stadium
The building in the center is the old Courthouse; our hotel was behind the taller building on the right
This shows a neat shadow made by the arch
The boys stop for a brief drink at the base of the arch before heading home
These pictures were taken from the base of the arch looking straight up; it is an amazingly simple design but a great demonstration of arch technology (or a variation of a pulley as we were told)