Wildlife Rescue Center, Ballwin

Location: 1128 New Ballwin Road | Ballwin, MO 63021  (636) 394-1880

ANIMAL CARE
SEASONAL HOURS

April through October:
Monday-Sunday 9am-7pm

November through March:
Monday - Friday 9am-5pm
Saturday & Sunday 9am-3pm

Website: http://www.mowildlife.org/

The Wildlife Rescue Center treats over 2,500 wild animals every year. Most of the animals admitted for rehabilitation have been injured or orphaned by human activity. The Center is able to provide its services of rescue, rehabilitation, and release thanks to the support of our compassionate community. Through nature inspired education programs, the Center promotes environmental awareness and encourages the protection of our delicate ecosystems. I went there recently for their Spring Tails event. These were the highlights:

• Peek behind-the-scenes at the largest of a wildlife rehabilitation center in the St. Louis region
• Try your hand at crafts using garden-grown dyes and play games all about wild moms
• Take a photo with our one-of-a-kind, naturally-inspired Ambassador Cottontail
• Participate in a Natural Treasures Hunt on our trail and follow clues to amazing nature finds
• Have an up-close critter encounter with a professional pet rabbit and learn from volunteers and staff that care for orphaned and injured native wild animals
• Get the word on birds with educators from Wild Bird Rehabilitation
• Learn about proper care of ducks and chickens with the Longmeadow Rescue Ranch Barn Buddies

 The pet rabbit

 Gift Shop

 Getting ready to go on the audio tour of their hospital

 Follow the numbers on the floor as the audio tour takes you through the numbered stations

 Turtles!

 Baby squirrels

 A worker told us that squirrels are the meanest animals they treat. Even worse than raccoons and coyotes. Vicious!

This activity was fun and educational. They taught us how rabbits make nests. They dig a hole in the ground, fill it with fur, and put the babies in there and cover them up with grass. They kids enjoyed making nests for the fake baby rabbits.

 They had timed tours on the nature trail. The kids really enjoyed this activity. The employee had laminated cards hidden all along the trail next to wooden eggs. She would pull the card out and read the clue. The kids had to guess what the clue was about and then search for it along the trail.

 The kids soon figured out that the next clue was at the answer to the previous clue and started searching for the eggs cause some of the clues were hard! One of them was trying to find a groundhog burrow. One was finding a squirrel nest. One was finding coyote scat (ew!) We learned that their scat (poo) almost always has hair in it because they eat the entire animal. We had to find deer hoof marks and we learned that they spread out when they are running and are closer together when they are walking.

 We had to look for turtles in the lake

 Groundhog burrow

 Scat

 Kiefer Creek

 Nest

This place does birthday parties, camps, and special events in addition to their regular daily hours. I highly recommend giving them a visit!

Bridgeton Indoor Pool, Bridgeton

Location:  4201 Fee Fee Road, Bridgeton, MO 63044

Phone: 314-739-5599

Amenities:

• Play structure 
• Lazy River
• 2 story tube slide

Website: https://www.bridgetonmo.com/452/Indoor-Aquatic-Facility

The Bridgeton Rec Center has an indoor pool and offers open recreational swim times, and is open to residents and non-residents alike (additional charge for non-residents). The rec center opened in 2016 and it is a wonderful facility.  The daily rate for non-resident adults is $8 and for non-resident children is $7. You can also buy a value card and get 20 visits for $140 which saves you about $20.

Some photos courtesy of the Bridgeton website. They were better than mine!

Bass Pro Santa's Wonderland, St. Charles

Location: 1365 S 5th St, St Charles, MO 63301

Website: http://m.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CFPageC?storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&appID=86915&cm_ven=redirect&cm_cat=mktg&cm_pla=bps&cm_ite=santa&cm_sp=SantaWlandNov2013_RD

Bass Pro Shops has been offering free Santa photos for years. They also have a bunch of activities for the kids.  We stopped by to see what it was all about and had a great time! Here's what they have:

Activity rug table with wooden cars

Laser gun arcade

 Archery arcade

 RC truck arena

 Ball pit with 2 excavators

 Lincoln log table

Craft tables (in the background)

Here's their schedule:

I think it's really neat that they offer all of this free stuff for the kids. Check them out if you're in the area!

CiCi's Pizza, Rock Hill

Location: 9745 Manchester Rd, St. Louis, MO 63119

Website: http://www.cicis.com/locations/mo-saint-louis-9745-manchester-rd

This place has an all you can eat buffet for $5.95 a person for adults, and $3.29 for kids.  It includes several types of pizza, salad, sides, and desert. They had several types of pizza, some stuffed crust ones, some flatbread ones with spinach, and even mac n cheese pizza. The deserts were brownies, cinnamon roll bites, and s'mores. For sides they had garlic cheesy bread, wings, and pasta bowls.

In the back they have a small game room with arcade games, air hockey, claw games, pac man, and more.

They have a ton of seating 

I'll be honest, the food was just eh. But if are looking for a cheap easy lunch with little kids then this would be a good place to go. They have additional locations on South Lindbergh and in St. Charles.

Castlewood State Park, Ballwin

Location: 1401 Kiefer Creek Road, Ballwin, MO 63021

Amenities: several picnic sites, two picnic shelters, playground, fishing, boating, trails, volleyball

Website: http://mostateparks.com/park/castlewood-state-park

Playground ground cover: wood chips

Castlewood park is a great place to hike and enjoy nature. The playground is situated between the 2 picnic shelters, and has tunnels, slides, steering wheels, a little rock wall, drums, and various bars and poles.

There is a creek that the road goes over, before you get to the playground. It is just a few inches in most parts and 12-18 inches in the deepest parts. It's very fun to play in on a hot day!

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The playground was replaced in 2016. It is located near the entrance of the park, next to restrooms and the creek. 

 A tire swing, 2 sling swings, an adaptive swing, and a baby swing. 

Turtle spinning seat

View from the road

Continue on in the park and you'll see these signs. This is where you can access the Meramec river.  Please don't swim in the Meramec River at Castlewood. There have been quite a few people who have drowned here in recent years. Because of this, I have not labeled this post as "swimming" in the search.