Great escape run

Justin participated in a 10k race Saturday morning. We went to support even in the rain. While he was running we walked to the stables to check out the horses. The kids were able to feed some of the horses and they loved it! Then we walked back and got ready to cheer daddy across the finish line!

All better

Justin took Will's stitches out Sunday night! He is so excited to ride his bike again!! Actually earlier in the day on Sunday we were out biking as a family and Will fell and bloodied his knee.

Potty time!

Eric is using the potty. Yes a pink princess one! It's the only one the store had. Tomorrow marks one week of training down. We've had our good bad and ugly this week.
More later this is just a teaser!

Grandma and Grandpa were here!

Firday afternoon Grandma and Grandpa pulled into town!!  They had been on the road for 42 days and had driven 10,000 miles by the time they pulled into our driveway!  We were so glad they got the chance to see us!

My sweet mommas boy!!

Will still trying to swing.  His hand is doing so much better and he is already asking to ride his bike again!!

 Saturday morning we went to what is called PAIR day here on post.  It is a chance for local businesses, churches, groups, and restaurants to come and let us new people know what's going on.  There are also local groups so we can sign up for things.  Pretty neat idea.  There was also bounce houses, face painting, balloon things, and horse riding.  The kids loved it!!

Bounce house fun!  He got in trouble for this! 

Despite the look on her face, she was thrilled to ride!

He loves to ride horses!!

But I think this was his favorite!  A Gee (what he calls a motorcycle!).  Now when he sees one he says, "Gee, ride it? fast!"

I think they both wanted to go for a ride!!

Thanks for coming to visit!!

An ER visit

Today I had to take Will to the ER.  This is only the second time we have had to take him and the first time he has gotten stitches.  He was riding his bike down a small hill (really!) and tried to turn on a patch of loose dirt/gravel.  It didn't work and he fell and cut his hand on some rocks.  

It was time for lunch and I told Will he could ride down the hill one more time and then come home.  Eric and I started walking back.  I got home and turned around to see where Will was and saw him fall.  Then I saw 3 other adults go over to him and he didn't get up.  I couldn't see him on the ground.  So I start running holding Eric to get to Will.  He is crying and the other adults have gotten baby wipes out to help him stop the bleeding (there was lots!).  I pulled a wipe off to see the cut and tell him we are going to the hospital.  He doesn't like that response at all!  I try to carry him back to the house, but Eric won't let a stranger carry him, and another kid walks back with us bringing Will's bike.  I put the boys straight in the car and I go in and grab some snacks and lovies.  Then off-post we go to the hospital.  The strange thing is last Friday after staying out late in Kansas city Justin wanted to find the hospital on our way back into town.  I didn't want to since it was so late.  Now I am very thankful that Justin wanted to find it and didn't listen to me!!

We were in and out of the ER in 2 hours and Will did great.  He had some tears when they were numbing his hand but after that nothing.  He ended up getting 7 stitches!!!  His hand and arm have bothered him this evening and he wanted the bandage the nurse put on to be taken off.  I loosened it up some and then his fingers started tingling and he really didn't like that!!  He was able to go to sleep so we will see how he feels in the morning!
I should mention I had Eric with me the whole time at the ER and he was a super star!  I laid on the gurney with Will and Eric sat on my stomach and carefully watched what the DR was doing.

After we got in the car Will said it wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be.  Which is good but also got me thinking.  What did he think was going to happen.  I can only imagine!  But wonder too if he thought it might be like a machine since the only thing he knows about is when you "sew" something with a sewing machine or "stitch" something it looks nothing like what they do at the hospital!

Another Restaurant Review

We typically don't eat out this often!  But we had an errand to run down in KC so we decided to try another kid friendly restaurant that some neighbors had been telling us about.  The place is called T-Rex.  Any guesses on the theme!?  The kids loved it and Justin and I couldn't really sit and have a nice conversation with everything going on in there but that's ok.  It was noisy, had an abundance of really neat things to look at, and a meteor shower every 30 minutes!  We sat in the water section I guess, since there were great fish tanks to look at.

Happy campers!  See the fish tank behind the dino?

Eric didn't like the dino.

Happy now!

Outside

Will climbing.  Notice the sign!

There was also a scavenger hunt in the kids activity book and we went around looking for different dinosaurs, wooly mammoths, giant ants, moons, and other such fun treasures!

And if you ever wondered why we might not go out to eat very often or what it might be like to join us, here is a little video for your enjoyment!

First day of School

Last Thursday was the first day of school!!  The kids hadn't even been home for a week yet before starting school.  They had a pretty short summer since they got out of school June 15 and started again August 9!  They were both happy and excited to go.  There are 3 elementary schools (k-6) on post and the one they attend is really close and they ride bikes (by themselves!).

Will is doing Kindergarten again.  The cut-off is Michigan is so late (Dec. 1) compared to other states (here is Aug 31) and we wanted him to be with the kids his age instead of being the youngest kid in the class.  Caroline went ahead to 3rd grade but will also be held back when we move next year. 

Eric had to be in each picture!!  Drop off went well the first day.  Caroline wouldn't let me walk her in! And Will didn't even wave or give me a hug, just turned and walked in!  That afternoon they took off home while I got stuck behind some walkers on the sidewalk.  Now Caroline rides to school in the morning with the neighbors and she had Will come home together.  My independent kids!!

Restaurant review- Pullman Place

The kids came home Sunday afternoon! It has been great being back together after 3 weeks. We are getting back in the groove and will so even more since school starts tomorrow!!
But tonight we went out to eat since I got the cold the kids brought back with them and don't feel good.
The Pullman Place is a family diner in downtown Leavenworth. The theme is trains. And with kids you can't go wrong with trains! Even better than the food (which was good), and the price (even better, less than $40 for 5 meals!), was our table. It was glass topped with a miniature city and electric train going around! Built in entertainment!!! That table makes eating out with kids seem easy!

Marital kryptonite

Justin and I have struggled in the area of picture hanging in the past. It has been a hot issue every time we get to that point in the setting up a new house stage.
Well, not this move! We hung 71 items on the walls of our house yesterday!! And not a single argument. I might have had something to do with not having kids around, or we are a few days removed from the mountain of boxes, or we are just growing up! Whatever the reason the pictures are hung and we are still happily married.

The picture is just an example of some of our hard work.