The Bench

I found a great bench on the side of the road with a "Free" sign on it. It still didn't fit in the car after about 10 minutes of finagling, so I went home, put the racks on top, and sped back to strap it on top of the car. I don't know why I HAD to have it, but I guess it spoke to me or something.

This is what it looked like after just a little cleaning up:

Laura and I got busy sanding.

And painting.

And painting.

And we love how it turned out!

And you can hold Adam's hand while sitting on one side...

And Laura's hand while sitting on the other side. Ahhhhhhhh, how sweet.

Good work Laura!

(Sorry it turned out crimson and cream, Dad. It wasn't intentional)

Road Trip with the kids - Day 1

As I have mentioned, I had some strange urge to take the kids on a long, leisurely road trip on the way back from Oklahoma...by myself. Not sure what prompted this, but it seemed like a really good idea at the time. Looking back, I would say that Adam was almost ready for that sort of thing, but will be more fun when he's a little older. Naps in the car were tough, but everything else went swimmingly.

Our first adventure was a surprise. We planned to caravan with my parents up to Wichita and meet Jim's mom and aunt for a quick outing at their zoo and then lunch. Well, Laura spent the ride to Wichita whining about her eye where she had run into Adam finger earlier that morning. I realized that after 3 hours, she probably wasn't making it up, so we went to an Urgent Care clinic and had it checked out. Sure enough, she had a tiny scratch. Glad we went to the doctor! But that meant no zoo. We still had lunch with everyone and Adam got some quality time with the relatives in the waiting room.

Our first stop after the doctor was Rock City, KS. I saw a sign on the side of the road and was intrigued enough to stop. We did that a lot on this trip, in fact that was the whole point of the trip.

A bunch of mounded rocks in the middle of a field. Its actually the largest group of this kind of rock in the world. Who knew? I could describe how they are made, but I bet you don't care. If you do, go here.

We looked at the rocks from the car.

Because Adam was doing this. FINALLY.

Bye Rock City!

Guess where Rock City was? Minneapolis, Kansas. Crazy.

We stopped by any historical markers that we saw. Here's one for the Oregon Trail.

And the Pony Express.

In between the history lessons, which the kids just found riveting I'm sure, the kids entertained themselves with the best toy ever. A fan. When we visited my grandma, she had a handheld fan with very soft blades. The kids thought it was great, so we sent my dad (thanks Dad!) to Walmart to get them each one (he got me one too!). Thank you so much for the idea, Grandma. These kept the kids happy during many, many boring miles.

At the hotel, we loaded up the cart with stuff and kids.

And went for a swim. Not surprisingly, the pools were the biggest hit of the whole trip. I loved it too. Very refreshing.

And then bedtime! (Adam slept in a crib or with me, but they cuddled together for books.)

Produce!

A very successful morning at our favorite pick-your-own farm! Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, snap peas, 2 tomatoes, 2 mediterranean cucumbers (small), and 1 dozen eggs. And we're all still smiling!

On the way to bed

Want to watch a little boy melt? We try for 3 books, but sometimes 2 is enough. He just can't keep his eyes open long enough. Keep in mind that this is 6:45, not 10pm.

More of our trip....

The only time I took pictures this trip seems to be the last 3 days while the kids and I meandered our way back from Oklahoma to Minnesota. Ooops.

But here's what I've got.

A replica of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie in Kansas. Jim and I took a picture from the car for Laura because we passed it on our way from his parents' house to Tulsa. She's been reading the series and we thought she might like to see a picture.

In Tulsa, we were kid free for 3 days. I knew it would be relaxing, but I was still surprised. I enjoyed every minute. We followed very little schedule for eating, sleeping, TV, snacking....no diapers to change or potty breaks, no cutting anyone's food or trying to decide if the $5 kids meal is worth it when the child may scarf it down or may just as easily refuse even one bite. And having plenty of time to actually have conversations with college friends was priceless. We spent the first evening catching up with Sarah, the bride, at her sister's house. And the next night, we joined Scott and Terri for drinks an hour before the rehearsal dinner, and chatted with them all night. And we sat with Justin, Samantha, Sarah, Brad, Brooke, Scott, and Terri at the wedding reception. I would have loved to see all our kids playing together, but it was really great to just be together as adults and catch up.

After we forced ourselves to leave our little vacation, we went back to Jim's parents' house to check out the kids. They seemed to have had a great time all around. The next day, Jim went to the airport to come home and the kids and I went to Oklahoma to see my parents.

We stayed in OK 3 days and had a great time. It was very relaxed as we had very few commitments in town. We went to the water park, played outside, gardened a bit, and just had fun.

Adam fell into a mud pit

washing off was half the fun!

"Dance"

Laura just finished a week long "dance" class. It was mostly just songs like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and animal movements, but she had a great time. She is dying to try the next step up, which is more ballet based, but that is for 4 1/2 year olds. Sorry, kiddo! Not until the fall.

The class and Miss Paula

The teensy tiny spider

(lives next door to the itsy bitsy spider and the GREAT BIG SPIDER)

"Hi Mom!"

And she finally mastered skipping, which she has been working on for a year:

Fantastic car trip

Our trip down to Kansas was by far the best long car experience we have ever had as a family. We did it in a straight shot. Left about 2:30 pm and arrived 9 hours later at 11:30 pm. We stopped 3 times, and the kids only got out to wiggle twice. The kids were awake until 10:00 pm, which was a surprise to us all, but everyone was so easy going the entire time. Laura spent several hours coloring quietly and Adam was completely astounded by several small toys that he hadn't seen in a while. Laura and I imagined shapes in the clouds and asked every trucker between MN & KS to honk, with about 50% success. We each got an Oreo at every new state, which was something exciting every once in a while. It just went plain old great!

Fancy Schmancy

The morning of the first day of our trip, I let Laura pick out some polish and paint her nails for the first time. We weren't leaving until 2:00 pm and I guess I was tired of packing.

I had to get in the fun too!

And by the time we got to Gramma Ann and Grandpa Phil's, we needed another coat.

Gramma Ann wanted to be girlie with us!

Strawberries

So much to catch up on, but this is all I feel like posting.

The day before our trip, the kids and I picked strawberries in the rain with Michelle and Odin and made jam. It went surprisingly well and now we have a start on our year's worth of jam. Much more jammin' to go, though! Next up - raspberries.

Road trip!

Take 2 preschoolers on a road trip alone? Sure! Why not? Hahahahah

Just got back from a very interesting trip.

Dropped kids off at Jim's parents while Jim and I spent 3 days alone in Tulsa at a college friend's wedding.

Spent one day at Jim's parents.

Dropped Jim at the airport to come home while the kids and I headed down to my parents' house.

Kids and I took a leisurely 3 days to return home via Nebraska and South Dakota.

Here are all the pictures since its going to take me some time to pick out the good ones and blog about them. Browse as you wish...