KMOS PBS Kids' Day

So I heard about this free event at the Expo center from my friend.  And since my nephew was in town, I thought, "let's give it a whirl."
It was a really cool event for being free.  They had Clifford the Big Red Dog, Curious George, Sid the Science Kid, and other PBS characters you could get your picture taken with.  They had projects kids could do and "learning" stations.  They also had a few screenings, like for kids' eyes that you could do for free.

BUT


There were probably 3,000 people there.  You had to wait in line for EVERYTHING.  I got there right at 10am, when it started and still waited in line to enter.  By the time I left, that line was out the door and through the parking lot.  Each character, you had to wait in line for at least 10 minutes.  And the only way you could get the "free" coloring book was to get a stamp from each character, forcing you to wait in line for each character.  We chose not to do that, as my nephew was totally freaked out by all the people and the giant characters.

I'd recommend going to this event only IF they make major changes to how it's organized.  Totally not worth it with 3,000 other people.

Super Pages Circus

The circus was in town last weekend and lucky for me, my nephew was in town so I had a reason to go!
I thought it was going to be a cheap night because I had a coupon for a free child admission, but little did I know it cost $15 for an adult admission!
As far as circus's go, they had elephants, camels, horses, people swinging on ropes, etc. Decent acts. However, for the cost, I'd recommend waiting and spending your money for Barnum and Bailey.
I did not appreciate between every two acts them trying to sell some "cool" toy to kids.  I could tell other parents were also not pleased.  Quite the money suck.  You could ride an elephant for the cost of $5 a child, and $8 an adult, but they crowded about 6 people at a time on each elephant.
So overall, it gave me something to do with my nephew and had some fun acts, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they wanted to spend a ton of money!
Here's some pictures:
Chick riding an elephant.

 My nephew and Laura and Bella, clearly engrossed by something.

 What they called the "Cage of Death" and yes, that is a woman standing in it with two motorcycles driving around her.

 The lions.  They were VERY large.

 I only included this picture, because yes, the woman on the right is swinging by her hair.

State Capitol Tour

Recently we went on the state capitol tour in Jefferson City.  It's only about 45 min. from Columbia and a free tour that runs about every 20 min.  The only downside is that those tours include school groups, so if you're there when a school group is, you're included in the bunch.  We happened to go when a group of 4th graders were there.

This is a decent tour, not very long, free, and gives you a brief history of the state.

I'd recommend it for probably kids around the 4th grade or older, and maybe on a rainy day.  The 4th graders we were with had a hard time paying attention.

Here are some pictures I stole from the internet.  :-)
The Thomas Hart Benton mural.  This tells a brief history of the state from his perspective.

This is the room the state representatives use.  They let you sit in the gallery even if they are in session.  They weren't, but I've been there before when they were.  It's pretty cool.

This is a picture of the rotunda.  It's pretty gorgeous.