2024 :: week 26

June 23

Sunday LMC families members began to leave Bennington. The Wilsons left in the morning and the Allreds after church. In the early evening Pepaw gave us a "family history tour" of Bennington and surrounding area. We drove past the Maple and Buttercup Fields where my dad owns land and stopped to see the area where my Grandma Crane was born 1917. We drove up into the beautiful Pine Canyon and walked to the Red Fern bus and to an overlook with a gorgeous view of the valley. We visited the cabin my grandpa built to homestead the land in the 1930s. We visited the Bennington cemetery and found the graves of my dad's paternal grandparents, parents and siblings that have passed, as well as his maternal grandfather and Miles Franklin Weaver--my great-great grandfather and father of my great-grandmother Idella (my middle name comes from her). Anthony and I loved all the family history, and hope our kids will remember what we saw too.

June 24

Monday morning we stopped at the Butch Cassidy Museum at the Bank of Montpelier. The Bank of Montpelier was established in 1891 as the first chartered bank in Idaho and became famous after Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch Gang robbed the bank on August 13, 1896. It is the only bank in the United States that was robbed by these infamous outlaws that is still standing.  The old building was restored to reflect the 1890s time frame and original elements and artifacts were preserved, though not in the same layout. The museum docent was very knowledgeable, though he seemed to be a big fan of "hearsay." The kids were good sports and agreed to pose for this picture. After the museum we headed down to American Fork. We made a pit stop in Logan and picked up In-n-Out for lunch. We agreed the burgers were pretty good, but the fries were just okay. We arrived at Nana & Papas around 3pm. That evening around 8:45 we walked to their neighbors home to witness moonflowers bloom. They were fascinating to watch!

June 25

Tuesday afternoon the Toms hosted our family and the Allreds for pizza and water fun. The Toms have an awesome blow up water slide and pool the kids enjoyed using. The adults visited on their patio while the kids cooled off and played. We feasted on Costco pizza, fruit and veggies. Then Trevor got out their snow cone machine and treated us all to dessert. Will helped grind the ice. It was great catching up with the Toms since we don't get to sese them as often. Madeline was born since our last visit to Utah seven months ago. She is very alert and happy, but rumor has it she isn't a great sleeper. While some of the younger kids were taking turns jumping on the trampoline in their basement Trevor let Elliott and Miles use his workout equipment. He coached Elliott and Miles on their form as they attempted to do sit-ups at an incline. 

June 26

Tuesday evening the Maxfields arrived from Oregon! Since none of our kids had ever been to Salt Lake, and it is shrinking at a concerning rate, we decided to drive up to Great Salt Lake State Park and float in it at least once. We were warned that there were a lot of bugs, and there--gnats!--and that because the water was so salty it would really hurt if it splashed in your eyes--it did! But everyone in the John family (besides Miles) successfully floated. The Maxfields floated as well. After our quick visit the the lake we drove the the Cottonwood Heights pool. We visited the pool back in 2022 after cousin camp and had a great time. It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon. 

June 27

Thursday was a very Harvey Fletcher themed BYU day. First we hiked the Y. Apparently Elliott told his Maxfield cousins that he had hiked the Y, and they were bummed they had never done it. Turns out Elliott had never done it either. When we hiked the Y back in 2016 with Will & Lauren, Elliott stayed back with Carly. How is the Y connected to Harvey Fletcher? Before the Y was originally whitewashed on the mountain in 1906, Harvey was one of three BYU students in the Junior Class that surveyed the letters "B," "Y," and "U," on the side of the mountain. When class members assembled to begin the letters, they started with the "Y" to keep it centered. Students stood approximately 8 feet apart and created a human chain carrying buckets of lime, sand and rocks to construct the letters.  It took hours to create! Because it took so long the students never completed the other letters. I can testify that it is a very steep incline and not for the faint of heart.  When we hiked the ~1 mile trail Wednesday morning it really pushed me. Will called me when he was sitting on the Y and it took me another 15 minutes to get there.  After the hike we met Doug and Tina for lunch at the Creamery on 9th. After lunch Tina arranged for us to visit the anechoic chamber Harvey Fletcher built at BYU when he was a professor in the 1960s (after he retired from Bell Labs). It is inside the Eyring Science Center, so we walked across campus and marveled at what has changed and what hasn't. An anechoic chamber is used to study sounds. The walls, ceiling and floor of the room are covered in acoustical wedges that are held in place metal grates. When you walk into the room you walk on a wire floor that is several feet above the actual floor of the room. Being in the room is a lot like wearing noise cancelling headphones. We were in there for a few minutes and my ears adjusted to the muffled sound, but as soon as we walked out the cacophony of noises hit me. The BYU professor that gave us the tour is married to a friend that also grew up in the Lenexa Stake. We found Nana's name on the wall, listed with other BYU physics students throughout the years. After the tour we walked to the BYU Library and the enjoyed the hand-on Lego exhibit.

June 28

Thursday Elliott headed to Liz's cabin with Nana, Papa and the cousin camp crew. The rest of us went to the water park formerly known as Seven Peaks--Splash Summit--in Provo. Carly and her family had been at a family reunion with Daniel's side of the family until Thursday evening. Will, Lauren and Elliott were anxious to spend time with Sadie, Elise and Grant (Elliot and Millie were at cousin camp). Anthony and I got season passes to Seven Peaks in both 2006 and 2007, so it felt a little like coming home for us. We spent most of our time in the tadpole area with Miles, while Lauren and Will went down the various slides with cousins. We floated through the lazy river a few times for old times' sake. We stayed until closing, then headed to the Nielson's for dinner. We got Costco pizzas for the kids and ordered Costa Vida for the adults. It was such a gorgeous evening we hung out on the back porch after dinner. Will and Sadie challenged Anthony and Carly to an epic game of pickleball. The John adults do not go easy on their kids, and the kids will be better competitors for it, though they didn't seem to pleased in real time.

June 29

We were all pretty tired Saturday. I wanted us to have a relaxing day because we would be driving the entire way home the next day. I did some cleaning and prepping for the trip. Anthony, Meredith, Carly and kids went up to Harvey Park and played a lot of pickleball. That evening we got the kids Chick-fil-A and then the adults got tacos at Holy Taco in Orem. We finished the night with s'mores in the Nielson's backyard, visiting while the kids jumped on the trampoline, played "ghosts in the graveyard," and games of pickleball and pick-up basketball. I made the kids go to bed around 11pm while Anthony and I finished packing. We probably stayed up too late visiting with Meredith (considering we had a 17 hours drive ahead of us), but the late night chats with siblings are one of the most important parts of getting together. We had a great week in Utah!

2024 :: week 21

May 19

Sunday evening Anthony and I joined the John Family adults for a discussion about the book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. We had a good conversation about the various concerns we have for the increasingly digital/online world our kids are growing up in. We shared examples (both good and bad) of ways we've seen digital childhood (verses play-based childhood) affect our families, and tried to brainstorm ways to help our kids be as successful as possible in navigating this new frontier.  

May 20

Will enjoys plants and has been watching Creative Explained--a life hacks account--online and got the idea to attempt to grow blueberry, apple and strawberry plants from seeds. He has dutifully been watering them for the past few days and is hoping to see some sprouts soon.

May 21

Tuesday evening was Lauren's 6th Grade Promotion. It was a simple program, a few kids gave brief speeches, then each of the kids was recognized by their teachers. Lauren's soccer coach compiled a slideshow with both a baby and recent picture of each kid. The slideshow also highlighted the 8 sets of twins in their grade. The class of 2030 at OPC is made of up 94 kids! It is bigger than all the other grades by at least 20 kids. Afterwards there was a reception with cake and popcorn and lots of picture taking. Lauren has had a great experience as an OPC Husky. She has had wonderful teachers and made friends for life. 

May 22

Wednesday afternoon was Will's final band concert of the year. They scheduled it early--4:30pm!--because the gym gets really hot and the district graduations were happening that night. Anthony attended the concert for our family and for the first time had a good angle on Will. He could tell that Will was playing the correct notes. Their big finale was a compilation of Michael Jackson songs. Meanwhile, Elliott had a baseball game at 6pm. He played well, though his team lost by double digits. Lauren went swimming with her friends at Brena's house. Later that night I went up to the church for a "donation swap." Several ladies in the ward and I saved up our stuff that is still usable, but that we don't need anymore. We brought it to the church and then let the others "shop" our stuff. At the end of the night we loaded up the extras toys to donate to a daycare and the other stuff to be taken to Savers. After the boys were in bed Anthony met some friends to play pickleball. It was a busy night for the John family!

May 23

Thursday was Will's 8th grade recognition night held at the high school. Will and I went (Lauren had YW and this wasn't an event for Miles or Elliott). Will was recognized with a "certificate of scholarship," "Presidential Award," (awarded to students with a cumulative GPA above 3.75), and "Science Award," (awarded to students in the top 10% in the advanced science classes). Will is a great kid! All the time Anthony and I feel like he's spoiled us into thinking we are great parents because he makes parenting pretty easy. He knows who he is and is comfortable with himself. He has chosen great friends--his BFF since 1st grade was given one of two grade level awards for citizenship. After the ceremony Will and I went to CFA to get nuggets and I had such a great time with him. 

May 24

School is winding down, the weather is great and the kids have been spending a lot of time with friends at the park after school. I have enjoyed visiting with other parents and avoiding making dinner for as long as possible. That evening Kendall came over to play with Elliott and Miles, then TJ and I hung out with Stephanie and Spencer for over and hour when they came to pick her up.

May 25

Saturday was a work day! Tony has been working on updating our bedroom for my birthday off and on over the past few months. This weekend we had no games, practices, graduation parties or church commitments so he was able to finish most of the painting. He worked on the ceiling and walls while I specialized on the trim. The Svezias had Elliott over for most of the day, while Will spent the day mowing a few yards and then hanging out with the Bensons. In the evening Miles and Elliott asked TJ to push them on the swing along with neighbors Steffi and Mable.

2024 :: week 20

May 12

We had a pretty quiet Mother's Day. I got to sleep in, then Anthony made me scrambled eggs, toast and a yogurt parfait for breakfast. At church the primary kids sang and Miles not only went up with the other kids, but he sang! Anthony bribed him beforehand and told Miles he would make him a dessert of his choice if he would sing. The kids did great! I was proud as both primary president and mom. I took a bit of a nap when we got home and then we went to my parents' house for dinner. I feel like I am entering a new phase in my "mom-ing." I am proud of the responsible, capable kids Anthony and I get to parent. But as they get older and more independent they need me less (while at the same time my own parents need me more). For the better part of the past fourteen years I have had at least one very young child around me most of the day that relied on me to meet many of their needs. In a few months Miles will be starting all-day kindergarten and my days of getting things done with a toddler in tow are over. I used to look forward to the kids bedtime as the beginning of some "me time," but now my older kids go to bed around the same time I do. Any time I get to myself is during the day while they are at school. I guess the point of all of this is to say that the only constant is change and I while intellectually I know that to be true, I think I am finally starting to really believe it.

May 13

Lauren and several of her friends walked to our house after school to play some knockout. It seems that basketball has become the activity of choice during recess for the 6th grade girls. Most of them have never played on a team before, and they are having fun learning how to dribble and shoot together. 

May 14

Will's appetite has really grown this past year. Most nights between 9 and 10pm he starts jonesing for a snack. He often settles on either a huge bowl of applesauce, several ounces of cheddar cheese, or three slices of bread slathered with nutella. Sometimes he has more than one snack. But he always eats them while watching baseball on his phone.

May 15

Miles and I met Stephanie for lunch at Costco Wednesday. We've enjoyed many lunch dates at Costco over the years, and as the school year is coming to a close realized this might be the last one with just the three of us. Undoubtably we will meet up this summer, just with more kids. And when school starts up again Miles will be gone all day too.

May 16

Thursday after school Miles and I met Jill, Henry and Claire at Wonderscope and had a great time! It wasn't too crowded and the boys were able to play at most every exhibit.

May 17

Friday night the John family was spread out. Anthony took Will and the Benson twins to the Royals game. The boys paid for everything themselves--including Anthony's ticket!--with money they have earned mowing lawns this spring. Lauren spent the night at the Hagmans. Elliott had baseball practice, and Miles and I hung out at the park visiting with friends and playing. Afterwards we got McDonalds and paid a quick visit to Memaw and Pepaw. At bedtime Miles was sad and said he didn't like it when the whole family wasn't home together. 

May 18

Saturday morning I went to a baby shower for my friend Amanda. I am so grateful to be part of such a great community of moms. I love them and their kids. In other news, Anthony worked on painting the wall in our bedroom and Will went to a four hour training at Bluejacket for his cashier job.

2024 :: week 19

 

May 5

This year the primary children are singing "Mother, Do You Love Me?" in Sacrament Meeting on Mother's Day. The kids are singing the first verse, and Barbara is singing the "mother" verse. To make practice more engaging Kasey brought hats for each of the kids to wear while they sang. Each hat represented one of the many hats a mom has to wear--a graduation hat because mom's are smart, a police hat because mom's have to lay down the law, a ball cap because mom's spend a lot of time watching their kids play sports, etc. 

May 6

Cat and Sally came over for awhile after school Monday. Lauren crafted "nails" for them out of tape. Silly, creative girls.

May 7

Tuesday afternoon Miles and I met Jill, Henry and Claire at the Arboretum after school. The first Tuesday of every month the arboretum offers free admission, and because of this, these first Tuesdays are very crowded. I wasn't in the mood for so many people, but it was nice to be outside and enjoy the sunshine. I actually got a little burned on my neck, but the SPF in my face lotion did it's job and my face was fine.

May 8

Our flowers are starting to look pretty good. The excessive rain we've had this past month has made our yard look extra beautiful. The flowers look especially good against the bright green lawn. I finally got around to weeding our beds while I talked on the phone. Now we need to get new mulch and repaint the fence. 

May 9

Thursday evening was the first annual Indian Woods History Fair. Each of the 8th graders in Advanced Social Studies picked a historical topic to reseach during the 4th quarter. Kids chose things like Genghis Khan, Alexander Hamilton, the Battle of Verdun, the Chernobyl disaster, etc. Will chose the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The kids had to have "artifacts" that represented their event. One of the artifacts Will used was a boot because when John Wilkes Booth jumped out of the presidential box and onto the stage his spur ripped the Treasury Guard Flag. He also printed some theatre tickets and "aged" them. He read Chasing Lincoln's Killer as part of his research. I read the book many years ago and remember enjoying it.

May 10

When Miles and I are out running errands, one way I try to curry favor with him is to let him climb in the van via the trunk. He likes to climb over the back seat and then up to his chair. It is quite possibly the least efficient way of executing this task, but that seems to be the way he likes to do things lately.

May11

Graduation season has begun, and this weekend we went to two graduation parties. In the morning we went to Derek's, and in the afternoon we went to Spencer's. My favorite part of graduation parties (besides celebrating the graduates), is running into mutual old friends. The snacks are fun too. In the evening I took Lauren shopping at Turn Styles and Plato's Closet to find some new shorts. Will mowed a lawn. TJ caulked our basement shower. It was a good day.

2024 :: week 18

April 28

Sunday evening I insisted on taking a quick photo of the boys with their freshly cut hair. Over the weekend I cut Anthony, Miles and Elliott's hair. Tony took Will to Great Clips for his cut because his style requests exceed my abilities. 

April 29

It is rare to have an evening go by when some combination of our boys aren't outside playing a quick game of baseball. Miles is starting to hold his own when he's up to bat too. It makes me feel so happy when I see the boys having fun together. I know I'll miss this when they're older and have more going on.

April 30

In 2020 Dana gifted me this clematis plant for my birthday. Every year since it has only produced one flower. This year it has already bloomed three flowers and there are a few more that look ready to blossom in the next week. I love spring flowers!

May 1

Miles loves to swing! I love watching him swing and I also love that he can pump and have a good time on the swing without me having to push him. He is becoming increasingly independent, for better and worse. I love the swing independence. I do not enjoy his insistence on buckling his own car seat independently at all. 

May 2

Lauren and the OPC choir performed Thursday evening. They sang four songs. "Are You Ready," "Let it Be," a Taylor Swift medley created by their choir director/music teacher, and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," in round. They did a great job! Choir has been a bit of a grind this year. They meet Wednesdays and Friday before school from 7:30-8am, whereas last year they met after school once a week for an hour. Their choir director is very young and has a pattern of biting off more than she can chew. They spent so much time working on the Taylor Swift medley that they had to scrap their fourth song and sing "Row Your Boat," which many of the kids were upset about. 

May 3

Friday evening I took Will to KCK to cut our friend's lawn. A few months ago Will and his buddies Jude & Adrian came up with the idea to start a lawncare business to earn money to go to Royals games this summer. They made a flyer and website, and handed out flyers to neighbors in both our neighborhood and theirs. Anthony and I shared their flyer on facebook, and they posted their flyer online at Nextdoor and on the community board at the library. We love their initiative and willingness to work! They have been pretty successful too. This weekend alone Will worked on 3 lawns and earned over $100. 

May 4

We had a busy Saturday morning. I went to water aerobics. Anthony went to our ward EQ's "Men's Conference." Will had training for his pool cashier job. Elliott had a baseball game (he went 2 for 3, scoring twice and also pitched his team to victory). Saturday afternoon was the final hurrah for the Pink Thunder. We met at the green space behind Indian Valley Park for one last families vs. team scrimmage and picnic. The scrimmage was intense, with John family members scoring on both sides (Lauren-2, Dad-1), though ultimately the girls came out on top. There was plenty of delicious food, including two large plates of chick-fil-a nuggets that the John boys happily devoured. Genny's mom Heather collected photos from parents and "favorite memory" cards from the girls to make scrapbooks for Coach Luke and Coach Travis. Being a member of the Pink Thunder soccer team has been an amazing blessing and experience for Lauren. She has really grown as a soccer player. He coaches pushed and her and helped her gain confidence in herself. Her teammates have become great friends. I have learned a lot about soccer, including the rules. Pretty much the only rule I really knew before Lauren started to play was "no hands." Pictured in the team pyramid photo are Bottom--Genny B., Grace D., Kenzie M., Mattie S., Allie C., and Lauren. Middle--Taylor P., Annabelle R., Madelyn W., Reese P., and Sofia C. Top--Ella S. and Dailey F.)

2024 :: week 17

April 21

Sunday evening Anthony introduced Miles to the fine art of armpit farting. If the picture doesn't make it obvious, Miles thought it was hilarious. He was close to weeping, he could hardly contain his joy.

April 22

Monday evening Anthony helped Lauren with some difficult math homework because she was feeling very frustrated. Lauren is in the integrated math class and was tasked with figuring out surface areas, but had not yet been taught the Pythagorean Theorem. Anthony taught it to her and then she was able to get the correct answers. The next day her teacher confirmed that they needed to use the Pythagorean Theorem to get the correct answers and that the questions were in the wrong section of the textbook. 

April 23

Elliott has me bring a bat, ball and glove up to the park after school. If I am not there waiting at the bottom of the hill he and his friends come running to find us to get said baseball equipment. Elliott has a great group of buddies to play with at the park after school this year.

April 24

Miles and I met up with Leo and his family at the zoo after school on Wednesday. It was a gorgeous day, so of course it was crowded. We had to park the farthest away I've ever parked. We still managed to have fun. Our zoo experience included riding the train, playing at the playground, trying to feed the goats and being told they weren't doing that for the time being (some new zoo policy), feeding the camels instead, and riding the carousel. 

April 25

Wednesday evening Will played his euphonium at the South Area Band Festival. This is the biggest concert of the year, all the bands associated with Shawnee Mission South get together and perform in the SMS gym. The elementary school bands, middle school bands, and various high school bands all get a chance to play. This year Will's band played "Semper Fidelis," and a Michael Jackson Hit Mix. They also played "America the Beautiful," combined with the other bands. 

April 26

Friday evening marked the end of an era. The Pink Thunder played their final competitive game together, winning 7-1. Several of the girls scored, including Lauren, who scored a goal towards the end of the first half. With this win the girls secured their  A handful of the girls and a few of the parents were in tears as the team walked off the field together for the last time. Being part of this team has been a great experience for Lauren. Immediately after the game we headed to OPC for the annual carnival and had a blast. It was the best OPC carnival in our 9 years of attending.

April 27

Saturday morning Elliott played his first official game of baseball for the 2024 Spring Season. His team is playing "up," which means they are second graders playing against third graders. The kids are pitching for the first time, which always changes the nature of the game a bit. He was the starting pitcher, and pitched well. He gave up 2 runs and several hits (though there were a few fielding errors that allowed players to get to first base). He went 1 for 2 when up to bat, but didn't score. Elliott had a great attitude and I am excited to see how he develops this season. There was a mix-up with his uniform and he had to wear an orange shirt of Lauren's to match his team. We were out of town when they handed out uniforms, and then the head coach was out of town this week.

2024 :: week 16

April 14

We spent most of Sunday driving home after making a slight detour to Hewitt to attend the Hewitt Ward Sacrament Meeting. The kids had pretty great behavior on the trip. We stopped at the Fort Worth area Buc-ees for a late lunch, then again at a gas station on the NE side of OKC for gas and a bag of candy each. At some point I restarted my phone and it reconfigured my google maps to the "avoid tolls" settings. As a result we spent about 30 mins avoiding I-35 and driving 55mph on Kansas State Highways. Everyone had a pretty good attitude about that too, though we were all pretty anxious to get home. While we drove Anthony and I listened to the audiobook The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. We stopped it several times on the drive to discuss what we were learning. 

April 15

The kids had no school on Monday and we took it nice and slow that morning. Around 10am we went to CFA to get the free "mystery breakfast item" of the day, which was a 4 count chicken mini. I also bought a greek yogurt and hashbrowns to share. On the way home from CFA I needed to pick up an order from Target, so I dropped the kids off at the back of the parking lot so they could run home. In the afternoon Jude and Adrian came over to hang with Will, while Townes came over to play with Elliott. It was a nice slow day to recover from the trip and ease back into regular life. 

April 16

Cat and Sally came over to hang out with Lauren after school. When Charlotte came to pick them up we ended up talking for close to an hour, even though we told the girls we wouldn't talk because the Hagmans had a busy night. Oops! This is a picture of our backyard--where the girls snuck off to via the front door because the parents were chatting in the kitchen. While we were gone our backyard neighbor to the left replaced their section of the fence.

April 17

Wednesday evening we attended our final Kindergarten round up. Miles was very excited to go, a little nervous when we first got there, and absolutely beaming when we went to pick him up. The incoming kiddos were assigned a kindergarten classroom where they did a few activities and met the specials teachers while the parents filled out paperwork and listened to introductory spiels from the principal and school nurse. I laughed out loud at one of the questions on the ASQ (ages stages questionnaire). It asked, "is your child too friendly with strangers?" This child is rarely friendly with people he knows! Though a lot of that is his about being shy instead of being rude.

April 18

Elliott is in his grade's advanced reading group. This month they have been working on "research projects" about famous inventors. Elliott chose to research his great-great grandfather Harvey Fletcher, the inventor of the early hearing aid. 

April 19

Friday morning was the annual 6th grade balloon launch. Lauren worked with Allie and Osmar, though the girls did most of the work. I think the weather was better suited for the launches this year than when we went up for Will's launch back in 2022. Their balloon went really far! It went up over the playground, and landed on the other side of the trees in the park. I was so proud of them!

April 20

I had big plans for Saturday, but a headache got the better of me. It has been so windy lately! And the pollen count is so high! We went to IKEA to pick up and a new dresser and then bought lunch. While we were sitting in the bright cafeteria my head really started to hurt. I ended up needing to go home and rest for a few hours. I recently started taking a new migraine medication (Nurtec) that I like better than sumatriptan. I took one of those and my headache went away, but so did my energy. Elliott got invited to Carter's birthday party in the afternoon, and they invited the younger siblings to come and use the bounce house at the end of the party. Miles counted down the minutes until we could take him over. In the evening we zoomed with Nana & Papa. 

2024 :: week 15

April 7

General Conference has been a bit of a struggle for our family lately. It is hard for the kids to stay engaged without lots of candy incentives, but then all the candy leads to hyperfocusing on how to get the candy, not conference. Then there is usually worse behavior after all the candy is consumed. Elliott and Lauren worked on making church-related Lego builds during the morning session. Elliott built this first vision scene, with a temple in the background. Lauren built a model of the KC Temple. In the evening we invited over a few families in our ward to hang out and eat dessert.

April 8

Monday afternoon Miles and I went over to my parents to watch the eclipse with my mom. I brought out a colander and made a rudimentary eclipse viewer so we could see cool shadows. Miles kept saying that the sun "looked like the moon" because all we could see (from our glasses) was a little sliver. We experienced 89% totality, but it was still quite bright. It felt like an overcast day, or early evening when the sun is still out, but not high in the sky. 

April 9

Miles and I spent the day getting ready for our trip to Texas. We stopped at the library to pick up books and DVDs for the drive. One of the books we got was a collection of BOB Books. BOB books are great for beginning readers. I was shocked at how much he was able to read on his own. After the library we went to Costco to get our tires rotated and balanced. We bought a few snacks for the road, but didn't have to wait long for our van to be ready. I was impressed that Miles was able to read most of the book with little help from me.

April 10

Wednesday morning we headed to Texas. A few months ago we decided we wanted to visit some more baseball stadiums. Elliott's buddy's family went to Texas last summer and so that got us thinking. I would much rather visit Texas in the spring than during the summer. The kids had a four day weekend this week, so we decided to tack on a few extra days and make a road trip out of it. Over the next four days we traipsed across Texas to visit baseball stadiums, presidential libraries, and a few other points of interest. Our first stop was a Texas Rangers game in Arlington. The defending World Series Champion Rangers were playing the worst team in the MLB, the Oakland As. It was dollar dog night, but the family in front of us had connections to an employee from the catering department and they shared lots of great snacks with us--fries, chips, Powerade, cotton candy, cracker jacks, etc. We made friends with most of the people sitting around us, and several people were happy to point out their connections to KC star and Colleyville native Bobby Witt Junior or "Junior." Will and Elliott both wore Bobby Witt Jr. Royals t-shirts. The people in Texas really are quite friendly. Lauren carried Elliott on her back for the entire mile walk from the stadium to where our van was parked.

April 11

Wednesday morning we got up and headed to Dallas. I have always wanted to visit the site of the JFK assassination. While researching the area I came across the Sixth Floor Museum and decided we needed to go there too. I definitely have a better understanding of how the assassination was executed, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend the museum for families. It was expensive, crowded, and not at all geared towards kids. A fun moment was when Anthony overhead a father and daughter speaking Finnish. Anthony being Anthony he greeted them in Finnish and proceeded to have a ten minute conversation with them. After the museum we said goodbye to Dallas and headed to the Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco. That museum was much more kid-friendly, and even included a complimentary soft drink prepared by a soda jerk. I can honestly say it was the most delicious root beer I have ever tasted. We got back on the road and stopped at Buc-ees for a late lunch. That place is huge! We arrived at our hotel in Austin and the kids hit the outdoor pool almost immediately. In the evening we drove into Austin and ate at Hopdoddy, which was delicious.

April 12

Friday was another full day. Our first stop of the day was the LBJ Presidential Library on the campus of the University of Texas. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but when I asked Miles what he liked best about the visit he replied, "none things." Clearly my positive feelings weren't universal. LBJ was president during a tumultuous time period. I feel like I see variations on the same issues going on in the world again today. We hit the road and headed for Houston with a quick detour to Brenham--the home of Blue Bell Ice Cream. I was sorely disappointed we didn't make it there in time to go on the observation deck and watch them prepare and package the ice cream. We did each get a huge scoop of ice cream for $1 each, so it wasn't a total bust. We drove on to Houston, dropped our things at the hotel and then headed into the city for the Astros game. The game was really fun! They were hosting the Texas Rangers in the "Silver Boot Series." I felt like it was a little less smart to wear Royals gear to this game, being that the Royals swept the Astros in the three games leading up to this weekend, but Will and Elliott were pleased to proudly wear their KC gear. The fans got really into the game! Will said Minute Maid Park is the only place Jose Altuve doesn't get booed. Adolis Garcia garnered a fair amount of boos every time he was up to bat. After the game they opened the retractable roof and put on a fireworks show to the music of Taylor Swift. It was the perfect end to the evening for our family, and a great treat for Lauren who likes baseball just fine, but isn't nearly as into it as her brothers. We were exhausted by the time we crawled into bed just before midnight.

April 13

Saturday we were tired and reevaluated our plans for the rest of the trip. We decided to pare back a bit and spent most of the day in College Station. We drove up and first visited the George Bush Library on the campus of Texas A&M. This was the consensus favorite presidential library of the trip, it was much better suited for kids. Elliott was excited he got to touch a part of the Berlin Wall. After the library we drove around town to visit some personal history landmarks. My family lived in College Station from August 1986-April 1992 while my dad attended A&M. We visited the two houses our family lived in, the institute building my parents cleaned, the church building we went to and both of the elementary schools I attended. As we were driving between Rock Prairie and our Bluestem Circle house I gasped when I saw the pool my family spent hours at while we lived there. My love of swimming and summertime expectation of pool attendance was nurtured right here. Of all the spots we visited in College Station, this one was the most fun. We weren't able to book a hotel in College Station because it was parents weekend so we decided to start the drive back home. We stayed the night in Waco. Lauren mentioned that she was in the mood to watch National Treasure 2. We checked into the hotel and turned the TV on. We saw that National Treasure 2 was scheduled to come on in about 90 minutes. That gave us just enough time to go swimming, then watch the movie while we ate pizza in our room. It was a perfect relaxing end to our time in Texas.