papa/nana 4th of july weekend

Papa and Nana have had an extremely busy summer. Helping kids move. Helping out with newborns. Opening their home to people needing a place to stay in Boston. Over the 4th of July weekend they came to town to visit with us and (hopefully) relax a bit.

Because they flew in from different cities we had about 2.5 hours to kill between pick-ups. Papa arrived first so we ate some pizza at Minsky's and then walked around the temple until it was time to pick up Nana.

 Will took some artsy shots of the adults talking

Papa and Nana had been apart for a few weeks so they were excited to see each other.

The first day they were here was the 4th. We invited a few friends from our ward over and they helped us pick a few last-minute groceries and clean up our back porch in preparation for the festivities.

On the way home from watching the fireworks Will proclaimed it was the best day of his life. By the time we got home it was almost 11pm. Everyone was beat. We had a few things we wanted to do Saturday, but decided we would play it by ear and see what everyone was up to doing the next day.

 
We walked over to the park in the morning and just as we were loading in the van to head to the splash park Anthony got a call that only one guy had shown up to help a new family move into the ward. Change of plans--Doug and Anthony went to help at the move and Tina and I took the kids to play.

The kids had a fun time running around in the water and Tina and I enjoyed chatting for a bit. Will got in and ran through the water, much to my surprise. On previous visits he stuck to the periphery of the park. We decided his swimming lessons must have made him feel more comfortable with getting water in his face.

After grabbing some BBQ for lunch we stayed around the house. Nana played with the kids and Doug made us a veggie/meat spaghetti dinner.

After dinner we finally had enough energy to go to the Plaza and explore. Shakespeare in the Park was going on that weekend so it took us awhile to find a place to park and we ended up walking more than we anticipated.

Standing in front of an iconic Shuttlecock on the lawn of the Nelsen-Atkins Museum.

The kids had a great time playing a race-freeze game with Nana and Papa. Pretty much they would all start running and as soon as Nana or Papa got anywhere close to Will he would make them freeze.

Fountains!

It was a pretty humid night and we heard some pretty menacing thunder. We decided ice cream would be the perfect way to end the night. Unfortunately, about 15 people thought the exact same thing and got in line at Coldstone immediately before we did.

Good things come to those who wait.

The next day was Sunday. Church. Naps. Dinner. Then time to take Papa to the airport.

Papa taught Will how to tie knots. Will has been trying to tie piggy tails all over everything ever since. Unfortunately he has yet to completely master the skill.

Nana made cookies with the kids when we got back from the airport. The kids tried their hardest to steal as much dough as possible.

The cookies were delicious. After we put the kids to bed we watched the Mormon movie The Saratov Approach and then went to bed.

Monday morning we headed to the Deanna Rose Farmstead. There are animal feed vending machines located all around the farm with pellets you can feed to the various animals. That is probably my kids favorite part of the farm experience.

Will's favorite animals to feed are the goats. His main objective on this trip was to show Nana how he can feed them right out of his hand.

 We couldn't leave the fish out of our feeding frenzy.

 Just looking at the mountain lion. Nothing for guests to feed there.

 Feeding baby goats in a pen.

 Riding a "horse."

For special Nana treated us to ice cream. Lauren was a big fan.

That night we ate a light dinner and showed Nana one of our favorite pools. After we put the kids to bed we tried to find something interesting to watch on Amazon Prime and ended up watching a strange show about the secrets of the Tower of London. It wasn't worth our time and we ended up talking and heading to bed.

Tuesday we took Nana to the library. It was their annual outdoor summer activity--digging, bubbles, chalk, worms, etc.

For her last night in town Nana generously treated us to a fun dinner at the T-Rex Cafe. After dinner we did a little shopping (can't go to the outlets without at least looking).

The kids weren't quite sure what to think of the monstous T-Rex.

The next morning the kids and I drove Nana to the airport so she could get back to helping Meredith with her twins. Will was in a bad mood all morning and wouldn't talk to us because he was sad Nana was leaving. A bit annoying, but nice to see that he loves his grandma.

Thanks for coming to visit us! 

will swimming lessons

I signed Will up for a session of swimming lessons this summer. The city offers three sessions each summer and the middle session is my favorite. The water is a bit warmer and because the session is so close to the 4th of July the classes are slightly smaller. Will's class had 6 students.

Lauren and I watched and waited for him during class. We stayed after class and swam half the days and left (and came back) the other. A few days Lauren was barely up and going by the time we had to leave, so she sported pj's.

Will's skills did improve over the course of the class. He got pretty good at kicking and jumping in. He never completely overcame his fear of putting his head under the water, which prevented him from passing the class. Hopefully we work on it a bit before he starts class next year because Lauren mastered that this summer.

He did do this:

and this

Will's a pretty cautious kid. It was good to see him face his fears a bit and do things that challenge him.

2014 :: week 40 (better late than never)

September 28

Anthony's middle and high school friend visited us Sunday evening. Jacob was in town for a wedding and stayed an extra day to sight see and visit us. We enjoyed a relaxing evening chatting and watching Joseph and the Amazing Techincolor Dreamcoat on youtube. Why that? Because our kids love it and Lauren was so pleased that Jacob was at our house AND there's a song about him in the movie. She kept singing "Jacob! Jacob and sons!" to him as she danced around the house. Jacob stayed in her room, we moved her crib to our office, and she referred to her room as "Jacob's room" for days after.

September 29

The Chiefs don't get a Monday Night Football game every year. But this year they did and they were playing the Patriots. We decided to go and Anthony organized a group of friends to come too. We had a really fun time, even TJ. The game was never very close. It was fun cheering for a team and not having the gnawing feeling in my stomach that my team was probably going to lose most of the time.

September 30

Tuesday morning the kids and I visited Louisburg Cider Mill with a group of friends my friend Lauren put together. The kids and I were tired from the night before and were a bit grumpy, but it was good for us to get out of the house and enjoy a fall activity with our friends.

October 1

Rainy day. TJ was out of town and the kids and I laid low most of the day. I kept Will home from school because we were all tired. Will did ask to do a rain dance, so both kids played on our back porch for a few minutes.

October 2

The rain continued on Thursday. It was day 3 of TJ being out of town and day 2 of being stuck inside and we were all a bit stir crazy.  The kids got increasingly whinier as the day went on and I couldn't take it any longer so I said we were taking a walk. We walked around the perimeter of the park and then over to the playground. We ended up staying at the park for about 45 minutes which was just what we needed to get through the rest of the day.

October 3

It was still a bit cool Friday, so we went to the mall. The kids had fun playing in the play area for a bit, then we rode the carousel. Lauren absolutely insisted that she ride on this rabbit. Will wanted to be close to her so he got stuck with the horse (he wanted to ride on the dolphin pretty badly). With the onset of cooler weather I'm on the lookout for more fun indoor places we can frequent, so if you have any spots to share, please do.

October 4

Anthony verti-cut and aerated the lawn Saturday morning before general conference. Later in the day he spread out grass seed and fertilizer. We're hoping to fill in some patches in our front lawn.

2014 :: week 39 (better late than never)

September 21

I've been cross-stitching in the evening to justify all the television I consume. This little boat took me a few episodes of Downton Abby to complete because I am slow, but also because there are a lot of stitches!

September 22

We made a family trip to the grocery store after dinner. The kids had fun squishing each other in the cart. We picked up some cookies from the bakery for our FHE treat to round out the night.

September 23

Will took several selfies to keep our picture streak alive Wednesday. Our relief society soup and bread activity was that evening, so I was making soup while Will was taking these pictures.

September 24

Lauren and I spent some time at the Johnson County Museum Wednesday morning while Will was at school. I enjoy it when I get to spend some one-on-one time with my girl. She loved working the register and stacking the ice cream cartons in pallets in the grocery area. As a former grocery store employee I found it really amusing. We had a great time, Lauren was perfectly pleasant until it was time to leave. I had to carry her out kicking and screaming.

September 25

One of the perks of having Dad work from home is getting to play in his office. A few years back I bought a bunch of pinto beans for a preschool activity. We keep them in our office closet and occasionally TJ gets them out and lets the kids play with them. For some reason they can't get enough!

September 26

I have a series of pictures similar to this one. Lauren refuses to nap, but if we go anywhere in the car between the hours of 2 and 5 pm it is very likely that she will fall asleep. We go somewhere during those hours almost every day, which makes the frequency of this occurrence really annoying.

September 27

Saturday we went to the Overland Park Fall Festival. Will was incredibly excited to see the marching bands. Of course, the only picture I snapped of the kids watching the bands had a non-performer walking on the side. There were four high school marching bands and about thirty politicians which made for lots of music and candy. Also, the Royals had clinched a playoff spot the night before, so there was a lot of blue in the crowd.