2018 :: week 31

July 22

Sunday evening we went for a walk around the neighborhood. It was a gorgeous night and it felt good to get out and really enjoy being outside.

July 23

Monday evening we went out to dinner at Pie 5. On Mondays you can get a personal pizza for $5.55. We ordered four, though learned that three is probably sufficient for our crew. The kids like the carbonara pizza, I like to build my own with ranch sauce, and Anthony likes the meatlovers. After dinner went went to Young's Pool again. The community center is working on the indoor pool filtration system and all water aerobics classes are outdoors for the next three weeks. I worked out while Anthony kept tabs on the kids. It was a fun night.

July 24

Elliott adores our neighbor's cat Max. And lucky for him our neighbor Jan adores Elliott. If Elliott goes outside and sees Max he will wander over and make himself at home. If Jan sees him she will bring out a bag of fruit snacks for him and whatever other kids are around. Unfortunately, Max is getting old and has a variety of health problems, the most troubling being that has been losing weight. I'm not a cat person, but Max is pretty sweet and so gentle with my kids. I will miss him when he dies. Elliott tries to feed him grass and leaves, and is usually unsuccessful.

July 25

Wednesday morning we drove to Lee's Summitt to check out the new splash pad at the Lea McKeighan park. Several friends posted about it on facebook and I figured it was worth a trip. We met the Throssells and the park and had a fun morning. We all agreed it is the best splash park in the area. It is fenced in, with lots of covered seating for parents and a neat fenced-in playground right next to it. The playground has a lot of climbing structures, zipline and musical instruments. All three John kids had a blast! The only downside is that it is so far away. It is worth the occasional drive, but with at least twenty minutes of driving each way it won't be a weekly thing.

July 26

Thursday morning we all slept in a little bit due to overcast skies. By mid-morning it was raining. The older kids played Legos for a few hours and even let Elliott join in. At noon we headed to the $1 movie of the week--Paddington 2. It was really good! I was pleasantly surprised. We stopped at the Dollar Tree on the way to pick up treats. Will and Lauren got gummy worms, Elliott got Mini Oreos and I got Kit Kats.

July 27

Friday evening we went to the pool. It was a cool evening for the pool, but we had fun visiting with friends.

July 28

Will spent many hours playing with our neighbor Curran this week. Curran is a few years younger than Will, but they have a lot in common. They will play catch for hours, pitch to each other and explore in our backyard. It's fun to see them together. We met for lunch at the Mansing's house to celebrate Blaise's birthday.