We spent a few days this month exploring Kansas City for a fun little family vacation. Since we were at Disney just a few months ago, we decided on an easy, close destination and planned some fun activities. We all had a great time playing, relaxing, and spending time together. There were so many times during our trip when I just looked around at the four people I was around and thought, "Wow, I love them all so much." It's always refreshing to spend some quality time together.
We left early Saturday morning and made it to Kansas City just as the Johnson County Museum opened. When I was researching fun activities for our kids in Kansas City, I stumbled across this random museum that had an awesome children's exhibit. It was a little town all set up with a grocery store, jail, post office, farm house, diner, hospital, fire station, theater, school and morel. I knew my kids would love it because they all three love to play pretend. It did not disappoint. We spent close to three hours playing.
Matt and I spent a lot of time being put in jail by some little police officers. Good thing it wasn't too hard to escape.
Nathan and Samuel had a good time playing mail man. Each of the "rooms" in the exhibit had a mail box and address and they had fun sorting and delivering the mail to each of them.
Our kids weren't the only ones having fun :)
Elisabeth had to go to the hospital to get the baby out of her tummy :)
Amazingly, the children's exhibit was just one part of the museum, so as we were leavingb we walked around the rest of the museum, and Matt and I were pretty impressed! Having just come back from DC and the pinnacle of museums, we thought this was rivaled some of the things we saw in DC. It was all about suburban Kansas City life, and I really enjoyed it.
We walked through a 1950's house that had all the state of the art technology of the time. All five of us enjoyed it!
We grabbed a quick lunch and drove the thirty minutes or so to our hotel. Elisabeth caught a quick (but needed) car nap on the way.
When the kids have traveled to Iowa with my parents, they've stopped at this hotel just outside Kansas City that has a fun little water park. They love it, so it was a no brainer to stay there during our vacation. They were as excited about the water park as they were about any of our other planned activities during our trip. We checked in, changed, and headed straight to the pool.
The boys climbed these stairs over and over to go down the water slide.
Elisabeth had a blast on the "turtle slide." She'd go down on her tummy, on her back, sitting up, and the little dare devil even jumped off of it a time or two during our stay.
We swam for a couple of hours and then cleaned up and went out for dinner. Then it was back to the hotel to rest up for day two!
We spent the first week of June in Weatherford for Bible School. We started the tradition of spending the week of Bible School with Granny and Grandaddy when Nathan was two years old and Samuel was a tiny baby. It's been such a special and fun tradition that we all look forward to.
We made it to Weatherford Sunday afternoon and spent the evening playing outside and doing puzzles.
After Elisabeth went to bed, we played Fast Track. Samuel was big enough this year to play with us, and he won the first game! The boys asked to play it every single night.
Monday morning, these kids were super excited for their first day.
This is actually the first year that Nathan is technically old enough to
attend. Since my grandma works at Bible School, all the kids have been
able to attend as "workers' kids." But in no way have they just been
stuck in the nursery. FBC Weatherford puts on a fantastic Bible School,
and the teachers put just as much effort into the Little Ones classes as
the older kids. This year Nathan was big enough to get to go to the
auditorium for the opening celebration every morning. He was thrilled to
march in and learn all the songs. I remember the opening celebration
always being one of my favorite things about VBS, and it was so true for
Nathan. They had a great first day!
We spent the rest of Monday playing, getting tractor rides, and eating snow cones.
We played more Fast Track that night and the boys stayed up too late playing in the basement. That basement is such a magical place for kids!
Tuesday, they were ready for another fun day!
We spent Tuesday afternoon at Momoo's house playing and visiting. Nathan was proud of the army man scene he created.
Day three of VBS! The kids were good sports to let me take a picture every day. They put so much thought into choosing where to take the daily picture.
After VBS on Wednesday, we went back to Momoo's house for lunch and cousin playtime. We all thoroughly enjoyed Momoo's famous chocolate cake for dessert.
Elisabeth had the best time with her big cousin Alyssa.
Some of the second cousins. I had a good time visiting with my cousins while all our kids played.
Wednesday night was family night at VBS and Nathan got to sing some of the VBS songs on the stage. He was proud.
This spoiled girl also stayed up late and slept with mommy every night.
Day 4!
I caught a cute picture of Samuel enjoying his snack at Bible School on Thursday. The kids were proud that their Granny made all the snacks and they always knew what was on the menu for snack every day (and got to eat the leftovers, ha!).
Thursday afternoon we drove to Cordell to spend the afternoon with my good friend Mindy and her three kiddos. We all had the best time. I always enjoy catching up with Mindy, and our kids had a blast playing too.
My kids thought it was the coolest thing ever to jump on the trampoline with the sprinkler. I had to drag them off the trampoline.
It was an awesome afternoon!
We went back to Granny's house for the evening for more playing
and Fast Track of course :). The boys thought it was the best thing ever when they got to "get" someone and send them back to start.
Last Day!
The kids came home with a million crafts, reciting Bible verses, retelling Bible stories and singing catchy songs. It was a great week of VBS for all of them. They were so proud of everything they did and learned.
And we're always so very grateful for quality time with two of my favorite people. My grandparents have had such a huge influence on my life, and I treasure my relationship with them and the relationship my kids have with them.
It was a wonderful week. We can't wait for next year!
