Second Grade!

First day of second grade

Sam at his desk during meet the teacher.

I can hardly believe that my little guy is a second grader! He is growing way too fast. Despite his whining about starting school the last week of summer he was up early and ready to go on the first day. This year he was ready for me to just drop him off in the carpool line. He could make it to his classroom "just fine." We are three days in and so far he really likes second grade. Let's hope he still feels that way when homework starts coming home next week.

Silver Dollar City

On the tea cups!

Sam and Dawn on Riverblast!

Ellie and Ella on the swings

It may be hard for some of you in my area to believe but my kids had never been to Silver Dollar City. Noticing on Facebook how many of my Kansas City friends had taken their kids I decided it was time to go.

There is one problem taking my kids to an amusement park. They are at the wrong ages to ride things together. Ella isn't tall enough for most of the big rides and Sam is too tall or not wanting to go on the kid rides. That coupled with the fact that John refuses to go to Silver Dollar City makes it hard to go. Luckily, we recruited John's sister and her daughter to go with us on our adventure. They have season passes and were more than willing to accompany us for the big day. It was great because Dawn or I could stay with Ella while Sam experienced the roller coasters.

Despite the heat my kids had a great day. They rode everything that they were able to ride with the exception that Sam did not want to ride the roller coaster that went upside down. I had a good day too. I hadn't been to Silver Dollar City since I was a young kid so it was like a new experience for me too.

Ella's favorite ride was the large swings. She went on them three times and I think would have rode it some more. Sam's favorites were Fire in the Hole and Powder keg which are both roller coasters. It was a great day and I have a feeling this will become a popular summer time activity in the future.

Crown Center

Sam in his Fritz' hat & Kaleidoscope glasses.

At Fritz's

Ella making her glasses at Kaleidoscope

Ella at the Clifford exhibit.

One of my favorite places to go as a child was Kaleidoscope. It is this fun place run by the Hallmark company at Crown Center in Kansas City. It is a place where you can make all sorts of crafts and everything is free! When I knew we were going to spend a week in Kansas City I decided I wanted my kids to experience Kaleidoscope. While it has changed quite a bit from when I was a kid, my kids still had a great time. They drew, painted and assembled for over an hour. They left with a bags full of their wonderful creations! I enjoyed watching them create and was a little jealous that I couldn't sit down and craft too. Now don't get me wrong their were parents making their own creations, it's just that my kids finish a project in about two minutes and it would take me much longer than that.

While at Crown Center my mom treated us to lunch at Fritz's. My kids were in absolute awe! At Fritz's there are small trains that deliver the food to your table. Each time they would see a train they would get so excited and wait in anticipation to see if it was our food. They are still talking about the restaurant weeks later.

Crown Center was also having a Clifford Exhibit while we were in town so we had to check it out too. Ella says the Clifford exhibit was her favorite part of the whole trip to Kansas City. They had little buildings set up like on the Clifford television show and you could deliver mail, cook in a restaurant, drive a boat, etc. Ella and Sam both enjoyed it and Ella was not ready to leave. It was a nice way to spend a day.

Family Time

Of course the best part of a trip to Kansas City is spending time with my amazing family! I can't put into words how awesome my family is. We stayed at my parents house so lots of time together. My kids love to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house and as soon as we leave are asking when the next time is that we will be back to visit. They love playing games, reading, going to the park, and just soaking up the attention from my mom and dad.

We also got to spend time with Uncle Jono and Aunt Laura who came over Sunday afternoon and evening. It was nice to hear what all they have been up to lately. Saturday night and again Wednesday night we spent time with Aunt Christy, Uncle Dale and Kylie. Seeing how much Kylie has grown in the last few months was amazing. She is crawling, clapping, walking with help and doing all kinds of fun things. The kids and I enjoyed singing to her and watching her clap along with the music. It was so adorable. We can't wait to get back to Kansas City to see everyone again soon.

Worlds of Fun!

Monday was an adventure to Worlds of Fun. The kids were very excited and this was Sam's favorite event of the week in Kansas City. They remembered how much fun they had last year and were ready to go. We were joined again by Grandma, AC, Uncle Al, Emma and Aiden. 

Ella was very adventurous and ready to ride on everything she was tall enough to ride. She still enjoyed the kids rides but also had fun on some of the bigger rides too. She said her favorite ride of the day was the mini detonator. She lasted much longer this year and was complaining about leaving after over eight hours at the park.

Sam also got his own taste of adventure going on the large roller coasters for the first time this year. I went with him on the Prowler and the excitement in his voice during the ride was priceless. After it was over he said, "That was so awesome! That is the fastest I have ever gone in something without windows!" He tried a few more roller coasters with Grandma and his favorite ride of the day was the Timber Wolf.

We had a great time I just wish the weather could have been a little cooler. We are already planning a return trip for next summer. Maybe next year we can work it out with Daddy's schedule so he can join in on the fun.

Dinosaurs

Aiden and Ella digging for dinosaur fossils.

Sam, Emma and AC checking out the dinosaurs.

Grandma and Ella with the baby stegosaurus

How Sam would measure up to a T-Rex

While John went on his big fishing trip to Canada, the kids and I decided to head to Kansas City for the week. We wanted to spend time with my family and enjoy some sights around the city that we don't have much time for on our short weekend visits. The first day we headed to Union Station. We met my mom, aunt and uncle and my cousin Scott's two kids to see the dinosaur exhibit they currently have there.

I thought the exhibit was pretty neat and so did almost everyone else. Ella was not a fan. You see they have these large models of dinosaurs that move and make noises. I will admit dinosaur roars are a little scary sounding but we could not convince her that the dinosaurs were not real and would not get her. She wanted my mom to hold her the whole time (my poor mom) and would only take a picture next to the smallest dinosaurs at the exhibit.

Sam enjoyed running around and pushing the buttons to make the dinosaurs move. He was not as interested in listening to me read about each dinosaur and where it came from so after a while I gave up and just started telling him the dinosaur's name and maybe one quick, interesting fact.

We finished off the morning with a trip to Winsteads on the Plaza. I must tell you that I love Winsteads and visit the drive through many times on trips to KC. Their cokes with cherry and cream are the best! The kids were excited to eat inside and loved watching the tables get Skyscraper Sundaes. Skyscrapers are these huge shakes that feed four people. They yell out "Sykscraper" and play a tambourine when someone orders one. I think I am seeing a Skyscraper in our future but I will wait until the kids get a little older and I don't have to worry about food particles getting into my shake.

Splashing, Golfing and Go Kart-ing!

Before John's big fishing trip we wanted to have another mini family vacation for the summer. So, we packed up and headed down to Branson for a few days. The first day we all played miniature golf. Well, three of us did anyway. Ella would just put the ball right by the hole and knock it in from there. John and I like to have a friendly little competition and were tied after fifteen holes until I hit the ball out of bounds. With no time to catch back up he was the big winner for the day. It was hot but we all had a nice time.

Then we headed back to the hotel where the kids and I did some swimming in the pool. After that it was off to dinner and then the go kart track. Sam wasn't able to drive the regular go karts on his own so he rode those with Daddy. But they did have rookie go karts that don't go as fast and he enjoyed driving those. Ella had fun riding on the bumper cars with me and some bumper boats. We ended the day with some yummy Andy's custard!

The next day we went to White Water. John has been wanting to take the kids since it was one of his favorite places to go as a child. We all had fun going down the tamer water slides together, playing in the wave pool, and riding along the lazy river. John and Sam tackled some of the bigger slides while Ella and I played in the kid area. Sam and I hit his last ride later in the day and John got to play with Ella. I was very impressed that Sam was eager to go down the big, steep slides and he loved them! Can't wait until we are all big enough to do everything together.