Worlds of Fun!

We took a "mini-vacation" to the KC area the 2nd weekend in August and spent a day at Worlds of Fun. Paul and Preston rode the rollercoasters together: the Boomerang (3rd car from top, front seat in pic below), and the Mamba 3 times, while I braved the Timberwolf with Preston myself (after downing a few dramamine, of course!). The girls and I hung out at the Camp Snoopy section while the boys were riding the big stuff, and then Paul took all the kids on the Flying Dutchman and the Sea Dragon (too much for my tummy!), and we all rode the Fjord Fjarlane and the Viking Voyager (twice!) together. The weather was perfect that day, not too hot and mostly sunny. We were exhausted at the end of our visit, but we had such a great time!!

Hula Girls

Our neighbors (and good friends!) Trey and Chas just got back from a family trip to Hawaii. They were kind enough to gift the girls with these adorable hula outfits that they've been wearing non-stop! Preston is pretty proud of his new sharktooth necklace, and Paul and I got some yummy chocolate-covered pineapple!

Fishin' with Nana and Papa

Saturday afternoon, Nana and Papa came over from Hutchinson and we went out to Todd and Sarah's pond to go fishing. It was very hot temp-wise, but a little cloud cover kept it tolerable and even pleasant as we got into the evening. Paul got his line snapped by a big bass about 5 feet from the dock and was pretty upset. I brought in the biggest catch of the day, while Papa "hauled in" the most adorable baby bass I have ever seen!! Nana was bringing in the bluegills right and left, and Preston even caught one when he stopped playing long enough to fish for a minute, which is something the girls never did! After we ran out of bait, we headed to McDonald's for dinner before Nana and Papa went home. It was a great day!!

Twilight Tuesday

Every Tuesday night through the summer, our Zoo is open until 8:30pm. We've taken advantage of it twice so far this year, including this last Tuesday. We picked Daddy up from work then headed to Jason's Deli for a yummy dinner before heading to the Zoo. We had a blast seeing all the animals and enjoying the cooler evening temps. I told Paul that I am dreading the day our kids outgrow their love for the Zoo - I think I like it more than they do!!

Fishes

It has been so nice having a pool here in the neighborhood to enjoy whenever we want! We spent part of every day swimming while Christal and Mitch were here, and I took these pics:

Happy Birthday America!!!

We had our 2nd Annual 4th of July Block Party last Friday, and it was quite literally a blast! Christal and Mitch came up for the long weekend and it was so nice having them here! We went out for a nice dinner Thursday night when they got here to celebrate their anniversary and my birthday. Friday morning, the guys went fishing while the kids went next door to play on the inflatable water slide that our neighbor rented for the day. That evening, we had a Mexican feast (Quatro de Julio?), the traditional egg toss, bad karaoke, an even worse dance competition, and (of course) fireworks. Happy Birthday to this wonderful country we have the great pleasure and privilege of living in!!!

Summer-ing

So far, we've had a pretty standard, but no less wonderful summer. We've been doing a lot of:


growing

swinging

slip-n-sliding

cannonballing

snuggling

rollerblading

slide surfing

batting

riding

Chuck E. Cheesing
Zooing

and, of course, resting!!

Papa's here!!!

Papa rolled into town on his motorcycle from Alaska last Thursday afternoon after about 8 days and 5,000 miles. We went to Preston's baseball game that evening, then out for pizza. He had to head to Attica the next day to get started getting the combines, wheat trucks, and tractors ready for my grandparents' harvest, but we went down there yesterday and spent time at the pond fishing and having a BBQ after the men were done working. We all caught quite a few fish and had a great time, but I forgot the camera! Hopefully we'll be able to get back down there in the next couple of weeks to fish some more and "wade" in the wheat trucks. They hope to start cutting on Tuesday if the rain stays away and it dries out enough!

Preston prepares to catch a ball


The kids pose with Papa and his bike

Campaign Rally

Last Sunday afternoon, we went to a campaign rally for our brother-in-law (Paul's sister's husband) Bruce Brown, who is running for District Court Judge for Sedgwick County. There were snow cones, cookies, carnival games, moonwalks, and all kinds of fun things that we enjoyed. The primary is in August, and we're really pulling for Bruce - he's definitely the best and most qualified candidate for the job! If you can - BE SURE TO VOTE!!!

Bruce gives his rally speech

OUCH!!!

Paul and I joined a few of our neighbors on a co-ed softball league this summer. A week and a half ago, we were in the backyard having a little batting practice. Paul was pitching to our neighbor, Chris, who hit a line drive right at Paul, hitting him hard in the thigh. That night, it was obvious that he was going to have a pretty good (bad?) bruise, but as the days have passed, it has been amazing to see the bruise spread well beyond where the ball actually hit his leg. The pics below start from that first night and go every day or two, ending with one I took this evening. And just for the record, we won our game this afternoon by 1 point, thanks in part to Paul's 3-run homer!