Spring Break...thank goodness it's over!

Oh, were we busy over spring break; road trip, museum visits, art projects...a filthy house. It's nice to have the kids back in school....now where IS spring??? It's kind of windy and cold outside but there were sure some nice days to remember from last week!

 

We took a trip to Wichita to hit up some museums.

 

Outside the art museum the boys struck their best "statue pose"!

 

Ah!! A Chihuly! I love his stuff!

 

After the art museum we went to Cowtown, which the boys love.

 

Cowtown is a rebuilt 1800's town with mostly original buildings. As you walk through there are reenactors and plenty of antiques on display.

 

And look at that...a honest to goodness real grain elevator.

I thought I was able to get DR away from work for a day...guess not!

 

But guess what the biggest hit was with the kids at Cowtown....a bowling alley...in an alley! Wooden pins, a canvas backstop, a rail/ramp to roll the ball back on. We could have stayed there for hours!

 

After Wichita we went up to Manhattan to the Flinthills Discovery Center that had a great display about the ecosystem of the plains.

 

 

They even had a really neat exhibit about the science and physics of football. It was really neat!

 

 

We had one gorgeous day over break where ther was no wind and it was up in the 70's so we went down to Meade State Park and enjoyed the great outdoors!

 

There aren't too many trees out here in Kansas but this is the one spot where we can enjoy them occasionally. They were still bare but they were still lovely!

 

Now we are back to the grindstone of work and school....but we are still waiting on spring!!

I'm raising a risky little Monkey.

I had taken these photos way back in February when we had some exceptionally warm and sunny days. 

Warm enough in fact that it was comfortable being barefoot. Of course, we took advantage of the nice weather and spent some time at the park. 

You know sometimes at the park when some big kid has thrown the swing chains way over the top so the little kids can't reach them? Well, Yip found some that weren't attached to swings but had been thrown up around the top, probably for good reason, but he insisted that he could untangle them. 

The shoes had to come off to get a better grip on the slick pole. He spent a huge chunk of time on this endeavor. He must have tried climbing to the top a couple dozen times. 

Yip had to take lots of breaks to gather his strength. 

But eventually he made it and proudly untangled all the chains. 

I think our next home should be in a forest or a jungle, then my little monkey would feel more at home don't you think? 

Yeah, I know...."What if he fell and got hurt?" Well, then he would have fell and gotten hurt. But he didn't. Instead he learned that with perseverance he can accomplish any goal he sets his mind too. I'm never going to tell him he doesn't have the ability to do something. He learned that risk sometimes yields great rewards. 

He has a little sister watching too and I'm all for her growing up learning to take risks too. What will they ever learn if I protect them from every little possible harm? They'll learn that they can't do anything by themselves and that's not the kind of kids I'm going to raise! 

A day at the park.

You'd think that with my kids' grandparents 900 miles away I would have figured out how to post videos on my blog for them a long time ago. Well, no, I didn't. But I think I've finally figured out the easy way to do this. 

We had a very nice Sunday afternoon at the park and I tried to take some videos for grandparents to take a look at. So if you are stopping by and don't want to watch videos of my kids, you won't hurt my feelings :). This post is for Grandma anyway! 

It cracks me up that we go to the park and this is what Yip and Yap end up doing most of the time! 

Yahoo, always the social butterfly :) 

And...are there any child psychologists, or linguists, who'd like to explain this for me?? 

Going for a Spin

Last weekend my brother Mountain Man came to visit us for the weekend.

We went to the park because....well, because it's just what we do.

And I brought my camera because that's what I do.

And I played with shutter speeds because I think it's fun.

Mountain Man convinced me I should lay down on the merry go round taking pictures while he pushed.

After a few shots like this I put away the camera because I was too busy getting sick in the bushes. I can't handle the round and round rides anymore!

I once heard that a woman's sense of balance (her inner ear) goes to pot after she has children. Any of you mothers out there find that to be true?

Wacky Wild West Weather

These photos were taken Saturday, yes only four days ago...January 29, 2011.

Yes, my kids were barefoot. It was 74 degrees.

But today it's 2 degrees...with wind and a little bit of snow.

With the whole Midwest and Northeast getting hit with blizzard levels of snow and ice, I REALLY wish we were getting some of it! My garden needs the moisture.

But nope, just a dusting of snow here.

 We've had these wild shifts in temperatures a couple times this winter here in Kansas.

It's weird. My kids don't know how to get dressed in the morning.

I tend to throw them outside in their underwear with a huge pile of clothes and they pile on the clothes until they are warm enough. Just kidding...if I did that Yip wouldn't wear shoes no matter what the weather was!

We get awesome, sunny weather that makes me think of getting to work in my garden when a glance at the calendar jerks me back to reality. January....it's only January.

(Well, February when you are reading this but still....)

 Only six more weeks til spring though! Of course  this year around the country spring may be stuck under snow!

At the park, on picnic tables..

A day at the park....monkey bars....slides....but then we found....

The Picnic Tables!!

The highlight of the park. Jumping and running down this row of picnic tables.

This went on forever.....

Hopping....

Skipping....

Running....

But most importantly...smiling....