Saturday Adventures

Justin and I did completely different things on Saturday.  HE went with a friend and rode his bike 104 miles!  It was a hot day too.  While he did that the kids and I drove about an hour to Topeka for a chocolate festival!

The bikers getting ready.  Every 10 miles there were volunteers with food and drinks.

 Justin and Mike.

 This is the route they rode.  Between each number is 5 miles.

 Jayhawk on top of a building in downtown Topeka.

 The festival was sponsored by Mars Candy company.  You can see Eric on the left side of the car in a brown shirt.

 And of course we ate plenty of chocolate!  It wasn't nearly as enjoyable for Will since he can't have chocolate but we did find a vendor selling shave ice, so he was happy.

Just another Saturday in KS but not near as exciting or beautiful as they were in HI!

Happy Birthday, Justin

Sunday was Justin's birthday.  Now he can't tease me about being an old lady because he's now the same age as me!!  It was a great day.  The hot weather left and it felt like fall!  The Vikings beat the Panthers and all was good!  

This picture was from last Sunday, I think.  We were ready for the game.

 Of course the pictures aren't in order.  It was a cloudy rainy morning Sunday but during dinner the sun came out and lit up part of post and into Missouri.

 Eric helped Justin open his gifts!

 I had a little help with dinner.  Mark Morgan, the chef and guy Justin worked with in HI, is here for a 3 week class.  He's been coming over for dinner almost every night.  He asked if he could help so I had him grill the steaks.  They were incredible!  Notice the diamond grill marks on them.  He apparently gave Justin a lesson so I'm expecting great things!

The cake is one that I've made since Will was just 2 weeks old and had Susan's help.  This time instead of having just a white cake with crushed oreos mixed in, he wanted a chocolate layer as well. So I made a bundt cake with the white cake, cut it in half and put a chocolate layer in the middle.  It was yummy!

Happy birthday Justin!!  We loved celebrating with you.

Happy birthday, Will!!

Last Monday Will turned 10!!  He had a great day even though he had to go to school.  This kid is something else!  Such a joy to have in the family and a joy to others as well!  He is full of life and excitement for sure.  Moving is not easy for him and he has adjusted better than we could have hoped.  

 My handsome fellas!  I was so glad to see Will get out his bow tie for church last week.

Will, we love you and love the young man you are becoming!

Taekwondo

The kids have started karate (I call it that anyway) in the last month and LOVE it!  The place is right off post and Caroline and Will are in the same class and Eric goes before them so it's very convenient.

Will breaking a board.

 Caroline's turn.

 Eric's turn.

 He was so proud.

Caroline realized taekwondo was in the olympics and thinks she would like to try for that.  She actually practices her moves at home and does the homework they give.  So who knows, but for now I'm glad they are loving it!

A sports filled weekend

Friday night we went to see the Sporting KC team play against the Houston Dynamo.  The stadium was rocking and full!  It was a fun game with lots of scoring (always more fun win there's action) and the home team won ( I think).  We left the game 10 minutes early because there was going to be a huge thunderstorm.  We were in the car 10 minutes before the bottom dropped out!  Perfect timing!! 

 The pictures are out of order.  But Saturday morning we went to a kids fishing derby on post.  It was fun and the kids had a great time even though they didn't catch anything.  As Justin always tells them, "the don't call it catching, they call it fishing."  And Eric likes to tell people that he likes fishing on a boat in the ocean the best!  SPOILED!

Then after lunch we went to Lawrence to watch the Jayhawks play some football.  The kids got free tickets as part of their membership in the junior jay hawk program.  It was a beautiful day with a cool breeze.  Just like you want a September day when you are watching football to be.

 We sat behind the band, which made it not loud, but provided lots of entertainment for the kids.  The cheerleaders gave out an entire pizza for the loudest fan and Will won!  Of course!  And the kid can't even eat pizza.

 Sitting in the sun warmed us up so the kids convinced Justin to get some shaved ice!  The cup said Hawaii's finest, but it didn't compare.

 On the way home we stopped at a Sunflower field.  The farmer had planted a little over a million flowers.  It was impressive.  The flowers weren't facing the sun and had droppy heads.

 Can you spot my 3 sunflowers?

 The boys running up a hill on campus after the game.

 Soccer game

 Fishing with the same friends we went camping with.

 Will throwing a ball on the practice field.

 Eric trying out his accuracy.

 Touchdown!

 Cheesy grin Will.  He hasn't grown out of this smile phase yet.

And today is the first Sunday of the NFL season which means football all day long.  It's also nice to slow the pace down a little and relax before a busy week.

Camping

Over the long weekend we went camping.  Finally!  This was Eric's first tent camping experience and boy was he excited!  We went to the Lake of the Ozarks Recreation Area (LORA) for Fort leonardwood, Missouri.  It was 3.5 hours away and we got there after dark on Friday night.  Setting up a tent in the dark while getting 3 kids to help (after their bed time) was an adventure.  

The trip there was filled with the boys shooting things with gum wrappers turned guns.

 Sunset over the Osage River heading towards our camp.

 The next morning we were up and at 'em.  Justin got the slack lines up, I made breakfast, and then Justin got the fishing stuff ready.  Our friends weren't going to arrive until after lunch.

 So the kids went fishing!

 3 kids fishing means Justin does lots of work.  But the big kids put their own worm on the hook.

 The Dad-cliner is always a good place to sit and fish!

 After our friends arrived and got their camp set up we headed back up the road about 10 minutes to go explore a cave.  The cave ended up being closed so we did a little hike instead and then the welcome/info cabin had the snake out.  The kids thought it was awesome to touch.  I didn't get any closer than necessary to take the picture.

 After that it was back to camp and we worked on getting dinner going.  The kids enjoyed appetizers of watermelon.

 And of course there was throwing of rocks into the lake!  Our friends, the Mitchells, have 4 kids.  3 boys and a girl.  The kids all get along great.  We knew them in HI where their oldest was on swim team with Caroline and the second was on Will's football team.

 Sunday we rented a pontoon boat for all 11 of us and had a great day!  Miles loved being with everyone and even went swimming too.

 When 7 kids are all fishing off the same boat it makes for an interesting day.  But, no one got a hook in them and fish were caught.  So I call that a success!  The big kids were great about helping the littler ones too.  Caroline is the oldest of this group too but not by much.  The ages were:11,11,10,9,8,6,5.

 Tony took turns throwing the kids in the lake.

 Miles getting some cuddles in.

 And more cuddles in!  Abraham LOVED hanging out with Miles and you would find him sitting and petting the dog quite often.

 Eric did catch a fish.

 Caroline reeling in the big one, that got away! 5 kids were watching her.  Notice her bent pole and the look on her face!  That's serious fishing business!

 The moon rising over the lake.

 The last night and everyone is sitting around the campfire.  We had already eaten s'mores and scary stories were being told.

It was the perfect camping weekend!  As I was giving Eric a kiss goodnight the second night he told me, with his eyes half closed, that it was a great day.  And it was!  Great company, great location, great weather.