Anheuser Busch Weekend (Pics!)

Whew! I've been so busy at work lately that I can hardly catch my breath. But here it is, the promised post about last weekend. On Saturday we took a tour of the Anheuser Busch brewery. It's pretty neat, because in St. Louis we have the original Budweiser factory. The tour itself was okay. Apparently their production line is so efficient that factory workers don't have to work weekends! Good for them, but bad for me, who wanted to see the production going on. Oh well, we still got two big cups of beer (our choice Anheuser brand) for free after the tour.

On Sunday we went to Grant's Farm, which is associated with both Ulysses Grant and Anheuser Busch because members from the families married up and took residence on the farm. The farm was later opened up to the public. Because it's run by Anheuser Busch, we got more free beer! I'm loving this free beer stuff! I didn't post any pictures, but the stables at Grant's farm are home to many of the very same horses that you see in the Budweiser commercials. They have one of the largest herds of Clydesdales in the world. These horses are gorgeous! Learn more about Budweiser Clydesdales.

The future of Grant's Farm and other Anheuser Busch philanthropic endeavors in and around St. Louis is unknown, due to the InBev take over. It hits us hard in St. Louis, because Budweiser was founded here, and Anheuser Busch has been incorported into many aspects of our city. So far we haven't seen any changes, and we're all crossing fingers that it stays that way!

I'm so thrilled that I have a long weekend coming up. I have no plans so far, but I'm hoping to get out and see at least one thing. I'm thinking about either the Purina Farms or the Meremec Caverns. Either way, you'll here it about it here next week!

Before we get into this weekend's pics, I decided to let you guys see a pic of the cartilage piercings, even though I don't like the jewelry. So there they are, in the upper part of my left ear:

On Saturday we arrived at Grant's Farm just to wait for Alex's sister to arrive. In the meantime, the kids expelled some energy. I swear they ran around that pot for no less than 20 minutes. (Amber):

Alexia:

Quick photo op on the tram ride through the park (Me & Alexia):

We didn't see much on the tram ride this time. Last time we went we got a closer look at many animals, but they are allowed to roam free, so you can't guarantee how much you'll see on any given day. We did see the bison, though:

After the tram ride, we disembarked at the main part of the park. Here is where you walk around and see the various animals and shows. One of the first things we came across were the Capybara. These things looked like huge, 150 pound rats. Apparently they are the largest rodent in the world. I'm just going to refer to them as R.O.U.S. (or, Rodents Of Unusual Size -- yes, they do exist):

There were a few large tortoises. I have many pics of this one on it's journey to the water because it took roughly 5 minutes to make its way over and in:

These bald eagles look fake, don't they? But they aren't. They sat there, near still as could be the entire time. I don't think they moved once. I feel so badly for them -- they sustained injuries that don't allow them to fly, so they're held there. They look so tall and proud regardless:

This little elephant gave us quite a show. She even played the harmonica for us! And okay -- is it just me, or is that guy on the right totally posing for my picture? It seems that way at least:

Ah, the goat pen. Parents be warned! If you allow your child to walk in there with one of the bottles of milk (sold at the farm), they will be trampled. And don't wear loose clothing, because it will get eaten. The goat pen is crazy time. It's like walking into a pen full of a hundred hungry, tired toddlers, only they are much heavier and have horns on their heads. And for some odd freaking reason, I was being chased by a goat that kept head butting me with its horns! I didn't see any other goats head butting people. That's my luck, I guess. This, by the way, is my nephew Wyatt:

They had many beautiful birds. These are only two of many they had outside. Funny thing is, they weren't teathered down. I'm assuming they have their wings clipped, because I don't know how else they have confidence enough to let such splendid (and expensive) birds out:

The last thing we did before we left was head on over to the bird show. It was really cute. Here are two of the birds pulling another bird in a carriage:

And they have their own version of the Anheuser Busch logo (if you need refreshing as to what the actual logo looks like, it's on the podium the bird is standing on). I must say they did an excellent job:

They also had a rat race. They took 4 volunteers, paired them up and then made each pair link arms. Amber got picked -- that's her second from the left:

After they linked arms, the put a rat on each side to run along the kids and see who would win. Amber had such a mess of hair that they had to help the rat through it!