Weekend Getaway

 Our family took a little weekend vacation to Branson. It had snowed on Wednesday here and Thursday down there, but the roads ended up being pretty good by the time we left on Friday morning.

 We had been on the road for about 20 min. when I realized I had forgotten my wallet :( so we had to turn around back north and get it. Which was a disappointing way to start the trip. We stopped in Springfield, MO for lunch at Chick-Fil-A and then to visit the big flagship store of Bass Pro. The kids loved seeing all the animals and outdoor gear. Zoë and Naomi both picked out new stuffed animals to add to their collection.

Next, he headed down to Branson. We checked into our WorldMark location around 4:30 pm. The kids got situated, started up the fire place, and checked out what was on TV. I hadn't realized the Winter Olympics were starting that night, so it was a nice surprise to get to watch some of the opening ceremonies and a few of the events! We ate pizza and had brownies and ice cream to keep our Friday night tradition alive. The kids enjoyed taking turns in the jetted bath tub. Then we went to bed! 

On Saturday morning, we woke and ate eggs and blueberry pancakes. Around 9 am, we headed out for our first ever family show! We drove up to the Grand Country Music Hall to see "Amazing Pets". Applejack was our host and shared lots of funny jokes and included the kids in several activities to keep them entertained. We watched cats jump and climb, dogs stand on their back legs to dance and spin, had parrots fly over our heads, and a few other fun tricks. The kids went onstage to sing a song and participate in some of the activities Applejack led. 

 After our morning show, we went back to our suite and made lunch. Then we went to the huge hot tub and played for about 30 min. before we headed back for rest time. We watched some TV and then picked up bbq from Big D's BBQ. We ate dinner and then headed over to the rec center where we played ping pong, pool, foosball, a driving game, Levi played a shooting game, and then the kids all tried out some of the equipment in the fitness center. We had a blast! 

On Sunday morning we ate breakfast, packed up and headed out. We went to Mochas and Meows, a cat café we were very excited to visit. But as we pulled up to the the store front, there were no cars in the parking lot and there was a paper on the door that simply said "We are closed February 1-15. Sorry for the inconvenience." To say we were disappointed is an understatement. But we walked up to the windows and checked out the cats inside. Some came to the window to check us out as well :) We returned to the van and began the trek home. On our way, we stopped in Bolivar, MO at Lotus Tea Co. The kids enjoyed excellent boba smoothies and Jeremiah and I tried some coffee and tea. It was a board game store as well so the kids had fun looking around and we made a nice little stop of it before finishing the trip home. We were very thankful for our weekend away! We don't take many trips, but we're hoping to add in a few more here and there to add a little adventure and fun to our days and years, as well as make some great memories with our family! 

October Memories

 October, in pictures. 

- While the boys were up in NE with Mimi, Jeremiah and I took the girls out to dinner at Red Robin. Followed by a dusk stroll at Amity Woods trail which was lots of fun! 

- A few days later we had finally gathered all the ingredients to make our first batch of soap! We made carrot and calendula soap. We had to wait until November 8 for it to cure, but we are finally using it and it's very nice! 

- Afternoon hike at Green Hills of Platte Wildlife Refuge with our friend, Zelda. 

- Morning hike with our Wild+Free group at Maple Woods Natural Area. 

- I, unexpectedly, spent many days up in Lincoln, NE visiting Mom in the hospital. On the days I couldn't be in the room (due to Co-Vid restrictions) I spent some of my hours here at this beautiful lake, Holmes Lake.  

- Naomi got off her cast!! 

- 13th Annual Caramel Apple Party! 

- Zoë got to wear her Halloween costume to dance the Wednesday before Halloween :) 

- On Halloween day we went to Red Barn Farm for the Restore Family Fun Day! We rode ponies, went through a corn maze (Zeke has been waiting years to do one!), ate lunch, served lunch, the girls went on a hayride, and we painted and decorated pumpkins! 

- Later that evening, Pop-Pop arrived from CO and we went trick-or-treating! 

October went very little like we planned, but we still made many good memories and enjoyed the beautiful Fall weather! 

August Adventures!

 We had a fun August -- quite a few road trips, the start of a new school year, Zoë's 5th birthday, and more. Here are some pictures! 

Zoë turned 5 years old! We had a fun unicorn party! 

The next day, August 3, we started our new school year! Now I am teaching three kids and I think it's actually better this way, I have more of a plan and they can stay focused for longer periods of time. It's more work for me on the planning part, but the result is better and smoother days! 

Our first grader <3 

Awesome 3rd Grader! 

Naomi wanted in on a picture too -- starting some preschool activities with her. 

First day -- filling in their SuperKid sheets! 

Zeke was so happy to finally get to crack into the U.S. geography puzzle. It is really neat and shows the shape of each state. Levi and Zoë like putting it together too! 

Showing off her new dance gear from her birthday! Her first class is 9/16. She is very excited to begin!

Zoë finally has her own room :) 

A fun preschool activity -- reading Caps for Sale. Zoë hid caps around the house for Naomi to find. Then we stacked them up on her head to see how high we could stack them. 

Zeke got in on the action too because he remembered doing this activity as a preschooler. 

Dress-Up fun! 

SpiderGIRL 

A little frightening... 

We went up to Mimi's a few times. Naomi helped snap a bunch of green beans! 

She loves this new spot to sit at Mimi's house! 

We came home from Mimi's with lots of zucchinis. We made an assembly line to shred it all up and ended up with about 40, 2 cup bags. Looks like we'll be making lots of bread and brownies this winter! 

We explored a new trail -- Amity Woods. It was a nice, easy trail. The kids had fun riding their bikes out and back. 

Exploring! 

We made some refrigerator dill pickles. The kids were not big fans, but I thought they turned out ok!

Pickle making -- Levi had fun chopping the cucumbers. 

Proud of all of his hard work! 

One Friday I made finger paints for the girls. They started out very daintily with just one finger dipping into the paints. 

The colors were bright and the paints were a fun texture! 

After their first papers, I gave them cookies sheets to paint on so they could be washed and reused! 

The boys joined in the action!

Zeke mixed up all the colors and came up with some fun creations. 

By the end, she really got into it! 

Later that morning, we did another hands-on project! We were reading about Norman castles in our history, so we constructed a castle out of reese's pb cup cereal! It was fun and delicious :D 

They worked hard to make the walls, towers, the tall "Keep" in the middle, and a drawbridge. 

Naomi's contribution to the project :) 

Zoë helped build a moat. 

We took Zoë out for her birthday lunch to Jason's Deli 

After her birthday lunch, we went to Target so she could use her birthday money. She picked out some rings (that actually fit her instead of wearing mine!) and this cute Ariel nightgown. 

One evening Levi helped me make this delicious Cobb salad for supper. This was actually just the boys' bowl of salad and there was another bigger bowl for the rest of the family. He loves chopping veggies and helping in the kitchen! 

They enjoyed this giant watermelon very much!

Summer fruit is the best kind!

Near the beginning of August, my cousins and I went to Grandma's house to pick out some of the items we wished to keep before Cody moves in. One of the items I'd always wanted to have was this grandfather clock. It hadn't been working for several years, so after I brought it home I called the Clock Shop here in KC and they sent someone to come bring it back to life. I am so excited that he was able to get it up and running with relative ease. The kids and I are enjoying hearing it all through our day! 

Zoë is creating her own Kindergarten textbook. She has made pages of letters and numbers and she is also working on different flowers as well. This one is a Wood Rose and I thought she did an excellent job!

Jeremiah and I attended the wedding of a friend from high school, up in Lincoln, NE. We had a nice time and I was able to visit with several classmates that I hadn't seen in quite a while. 

The last Sunday of August, Levi, Zeke, and Zoë were all able to attend the Gracie Game night up at Kick MA. Naomi was feeling a bit left out, so we decided to get her a special treat from Sheridan's -- the Razzle Dazzle! It was quite delicious and a special little time for Naomi with both of us, which rarely happens! 

Well, that was August in a nutshell! It was quite a fun month! 

To life... full of road trips to NE!