Terrific Two

Haley Julianna turned the big two this past Friday. To celebrate we barbecued one of her favorite foods (hot dogs), played games, opened presents, and enjoyed cake and ice cream. If I wanted to highlight Haley's true love I should have made a Barney cake, however, I was uncertain of my abilities to pull off a giant purple dinosaur. I resorted to Blue's Clues Cake and was pleased that she seemed really excited to eat a giant blue dog. Really, eating her favorite dinosaur might have been too traumatic, but Blue's place in her heart has not yet been solidified enough to cause her any true anxiety.

Haley J has brought an immeasurable amount of joy to our family. She has a million dollar smile and is our sweetest "trouble maker" yet. Fortunately for her, the million dollar smile frequently pardons her increasingly frequent indiscretions.

Fun With Gelato

We had a fantastic visit to Kansas City last weekend. Friday evening we headed out on a group date to Jack Stack BBQ- Memphis got a run for it's money. We spent Saturday playing every game imaginable, riding horses, and experienced our first taste of gelato. Which was AWESOME! Since Steven was set to teach Sunday we headed for Manhattan that morning. We are so grateful to Wendy, Brian, and their family for having us in their home. We had a great time and were reminded once again how absolutely wonderful it is to have family nearby.

Insects And Ice Cream

Kansas State has a fantastic Insect Zoo and Botanical Garden. It's filled with more creepy, crawly things than I would prefer to meet in my life time, but Steven and the kids loved it. We spent a Saturday afternoon there recently and completed the outing by visiting K-States nearby creamery. With over forty flavors to choose from you might guess what our kiddos picked, that's right...vanilla. I was just happy the menu didn't resemble the one hanging in the zoo.

The walking sticks were pretty amazing

Haley J

Happy Monday morning!

(You'll have to mute the music to the right)

Lovin' Labor Day

Friday night we headed for Main street where Kansas State held their annual "Purple Power on Poyntz". Basically it's a pre-game party and carnival to get K-State fans fired up for the upcoming football season. They had a huge amount of crafts, games, food, inflatables, and freebies of all kinds to keep the crowd and kids happily entertained. It all concluded with a performance by the marching band, football players, and cheerleaders, with a large display of fireworks being the grand finale. It was tons of fun and made us excited to be a part of this small college town.

Saturday the kids and I ventured to a new park on base while Steven attended the K-State game with some friends. We had heard there was a train next to one of the parks that you could climb and play in. It was true. You could even walk around and see all of the knobs and gears that were once used to run the train. There was enough room to sit down inside so the kiddos opened their happy meals and had a picnic before finishing our day at the park. Steven had fun at the game, but we all know where our loyalties lie. The evening was spent putting together our first grill while yelling and screaming for the Cougs!

That's when the real fun began. Steven took the first holiday call and thus we were confined to the local area. To fix the situation Wendy and Brian, along with their awesome kids, came to our home for the weekend. We played tons of games, ate tons of food, and enjoyed visiting with them immensely. There is nothing like having family living close by, nothing.

Cops and Robbers, along with the Animal game,were among the favorites.

Thatch very upset that his "best fwiends" were leaving him.

We promised he would only have to wait one weekend before

we head to Kansas City for a visit with the cousins again.

That fixed the problem quickly.

Omaha Outing

We decided to hop in the car Saturday morning and take a day trip to Omaha. Steven and I wanted to visit the lds temple and show our kids the Mormon Trail visitors center and pioneer cemetery as well. Omaha also happens to have one of the best zoo's in the nation, and if you know our kiddos you know that the zoo is at the very top of their "favorites" list. Both destinations are just fifteen minutes from one another so with the kids happily discovering the zoo a switch off worked perfectly.

The temple and visitors center were amazing. Thousands of saints had encamped in this area as they waited out winter and regained their strength before continuing West. Learning even more about this historic time was inspiring, but to stand there, near the cemetery, looking at the Missouri River that so many crossed, was truly humbling.

The zoo was wonderfully huge and full of fantastic exhibits. Even with a full day we still only made it through a few of their larger ones so we purchased a membership and have resolved to return to the Omaha area frequently. It was one of our favorite outings yet.

Restaurants Vs. Recreation

Steven and I love date night. It's our moment to get out and enjoy one another as husband and wife, rather than "Wow, how many kids are you going to have?"

The Memphis area was filled with lots of unique restaurants. We would frequently use our date nights to try out the local cuisine, which was always fun. We always look for any good Indian and Thai places, and there were two good ones in Memphis. We also discovered Bonefish Grill and Firebirds out there- I'm hungry just writing about them.

The Manhattan area is quite different when it comes to restaurant options . . . which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just a new thing. It appears the Olive Garden is about as upscale as it gets here (which we do enjoy) or the newly built BBQ place (which is hard to get excited for after moving from a BBQ capitol).

Being short on eating options however has made us look elsewhere for date night possibilities. We recently found a Racquetball Club not five minutes from our home. On Friday night we were the only ones there- the manager told us that weekends are always dead and invited us to come and play as much as we wanted. I fully understood that this new experience would play out much like the time Steven and I went snowboarding, with Steven flying down the hill and me close behind - on my backside. As always he was a great teacher. So good in fact, I even won a few games myself (or maybe he let me). Either way, it was a blast learning to play what will surely become our new date night hobby.