Weekend at Grammie and Pops

Katelyn spent her first weekend away at Grammie and Pops recently. One of Jack's good friends was getting married in TN and it was an 11 hour drive from our house. Although Katelyn is a GREAT traveler, we knew she wasn't going to have any fun in the fast trip. We drove 5 hours the first night, 6 hours the next day, got there just in time for the wedding and left the next day to drive back to Jack's parents house which was an 8 hour day in the car. So, we asked if she wanted to spend the weekend at Grammie and Pops and of course the answer was a very excited YES!!! She had been asking to spend time at the grandparents houses' for some time, but it just hadn't worked out. And even better, her cousin was going to be there too!

She was so excited the week that we were leaving, I bet I heard a million times... "Are we going to Grammie's today??" Her and Sadie had a blast! And we hadn't even been home a day when she was asking "Can I go back to Grammie and Pops'?" Guess it's pretty boring at our house!

Here are some of the happenings from their weekend! Poor Grammie was probably worn out by the time they left. I'm sure she didn't get to sit down for a second with 2 busy 3 year olds!

And before we left we had to get a new picture with all the grandkids and Grammie and Pops! 2 new little boys to add to the mix! Next year is going to be WILD at Christmas! Those girls better watch out, the boys will be holding their own by then!

It was great getting to meet our newest little nephew David! He seems so small compared to Will. It is crazy how much 3 months difference is at this stage. In about 2 years, it won't be a big difference at all!

3 generations of Johannes "Men"

An impromptu family photo with Grammie and Pops!

Father's Day 2012

Katelyn made Daddy this shirt at school the Friday before Father's Day. She was very excited to give it to him and repeatedly "gave" it to him over the weekend. So cute! I just love these homemade gifts that we are already getting. I remember making these sort of things for my parents in school and I'm so excited that we are on the receiving end now!

Goofy Father's Day pictures!

Daddy and his 2 loves!

We had a great weekend! Saturday afternoon the Watkins' came to visit and spent the night and Sunday with us. Katelyn and Reagan had a blast and another slumber party. Those girls laid in bed talking for 2 hours. It was well after 10 PM before they conked out! Apparently saying phrases that include the word "poop" and then laughing afterwards is just hilarious. Gotta love 3 year old girls! We always have a blast when we are with Justin, Rachael, Reagan and Kennedy! And then the icing on Jack's Father's Day weekend - Dale Jr. won the Michigan NASCAR race!

Pulaski County Fair

The fair was in town and since there isn't much else to do in our small town we decided to go. Katelyn had been talking about riding a ferris wheel for sometime. I'm not sure where she saw one at but ever since she'd seen one she has been talking about it. So we met some friends there, had a little fair food, paid an exuberant amount of money for ride tickets and let the kids bribe us into paying $5 to "fish" for a piece of junk fair toy. The kids had fun and we were home by 8! Can't beat that!!

Riding the love bugs with Liam

Liam is one of Katelyn's best friends here. They go to "school" together on post and will also go to the same preschool. His mom and I laugh at these two because they talk and argue with each other just like an old married couple. They are so cute together and play pretty well for 3 year olds!

Time for the ferris wheel! It only cost $8 for Jack and her to ride a whole 3-4 minutes. Gotta love rip off carnival rides!

Carnival rides make me nervous, especially ones that go several stories high. The little kiddie rights - they are ok.

Up high, waiting for the rest to get on. Good thing they loaded first, they got a longer ride...or longer sit.

Fishing for ducks to win their blow up piece of junk that also squeaks!

And where are the pictures of Will you might ask--- well he slept the whole time in the stroller! Smart boy!

Sesame Street

A mini version of Sesame Street Live came to Fort Leonard  Wood.  There were only 5 characters and the story was about a girl that had to move to a new post. So she was sad that she had to leave her neighborhood and all her friends. I'm not really sure that the kids really listened to the real meaning of the story but they were sure excited to see Elmo! And they got those toys they are holding that spin around when you push the button. They were given them as we walked in the door so you know what they played with the entire time. Yep! Those darn things! Katelyn had fun though, so that's all that counts!

And there's her ridiculous smile again! One of these days it'll be normal...right?!

I'm not looking forward to dealing with these kind of emotions when it comes time to move. I'm glad we don't have to deal with that for the next couple of years because I'm afraid that this move may be a bit harder; she has already made some great friends.....and she's only 3! Lil miss Social Butterfly haha!

Family

We went to Emporia during our trip back to Kansas and were able to spend a little bit of time with more family. It was great to see family that we hadn't seen since Christmas! It would have been more fun if Will was feeling better.

Papa and Will hanging out

Katelyn doing one of her poses

Cousin Hayley LOVES babies and couldn't wait for Will to wake up from his nap so she could hold him.

And since Hayley wanted to hold Will, so did Katelyn!

All the second cousins.....It doesn't happen very often that they are all in one spot!

With Great Grandma!

Hopefully we make it back soon!

Botanica

The kids and I went back to Wichita for a few days. We went because my aunt and uncle were being thrown a surprise anniversary/birthday party and none of the extended family had seen Will yet. It's only 5.5 hours, without potty and food stops. The kids did pretty well but Will got a cold a few days before we left. I'd taken him to the doctor the day before and the doc said there was nothing they could do and that it would just have to run it's course. So, he was on the miserable side and wasn't sleeping so hot because he couldn't breathe = tired momma. I decided to go anyway because nothing would be different if we had stayed home. So the trip took about 7 hours, which wasn't too bad considering we stopped and sat down for lunch and of course had to stop for potty breaks along the way too. 

We had talked about going to the zoo, but decided to hold off on that excursion until it was a little cooler, the kids were well and Jack was with it. So I suggested going to Botanica (gardens in Wichita). They just added a kids section and from pictures I'd seen it looked fun. Even though I grew up in Wichita, I'd only been to Botanica for a short minute to take a few senior pictures, so I was pretty excited to see it. (And i knew Jack wouldn't be too disappointed that he missed out on this adventure). 

Top right - Butterfly garden

This butterfly was just hanging here not moving a bit.

In the kids section

Her favorite part of the kid area - pumping water

This is how Will spent his time at Botanica. It was good because he needed his sleep.

Being a goof ball!

Everything was beautiful and I'd love to go again when different flowers are in bloom.

Preschool Bumper Bowling

Post had a program that was a couple hours long and for preschoolers to learn how to bowl, bumpers of course were up. It was a tad unorganized but none the less, the kids had a blast!

Katelyn with her friends, Liam and Katy

She always got so excited when she would knock down any pins.

The ball is almost bigger than she is. It weighed 6 pounds. The little ones just put it on the ground and try to roll it down the lane. Let's just say some of them BARELY made it to the pins.

Notice the speed in the right hand corner! I think grass grew faster than some of the rolls.

They provided a snack - popcorn and juice boxes. At the end, the were starting to lose interest and the snack was more exciting and popular than bowling. (Click on the photo to see the score of this high scoring game. ha!)

For the second game, they brought out the ramps. Thank the Lord! This game went remarkably faster! And the score was MUCH higher too!

Katelyn even got a spare!

The bowling alley on post is participating in the free bowling program for the summer. So we have been a couple other times since and Katelyn enjoys it. She still gets excited when she knocks over the pins but doesn't get bummed when she misses. She just says "I didn't get any."  Watch out pros, here's a bowler in the works. HA! Just kidding! But it is fun!