We ended the school year off with the annual time killing field trips. Lance loves to get time off for those and go as a parent chaperon with the girls. Katelyn's kindergarten class went to the Discovery Center; a hands on, learn how a ton of stuff works, kind of place. We had been there before but they discovered a whole new area we had never seen, and it's more fun with classmates and Dad.
Rebekah's field trip was to the Springfield Cardinals game. Now before you say "How is that educational?" they did get to watch weather balloons being launched and learn what they can teach us. No pictures of that though, so I guess we know which Lance thought was more exciting.
Playing dress-up and reading are always favorite past times for the kids. Believe it or not they really do get along most of the time. This particular dress-up picture we have husband wife dynamic duo Mr. and Mrs. Superman/Girl, with their daughter the cheerleader (no super powers) and their son Buzz Lightyear. I am not exaggerating when I tell you they played this game for three days straight. As for the reading on the stairs? I don't know, but they sure were enjoying themselves and not messing up their clothes before church, so you will not hear a complaint from me.
I think we wore them out.After school let out we travelled up to St. Louis to visit some cousins we hadn't seen in a while. Thank you Dan and Sylvia for letting us come to your lovely home with our four rambunctious kids. They still talk about the great time they had and Benjamin and Josh want to go back and play with "Poppy".
In June we all headed down to Texas to meet the newest cousins on my side. Welcome Matthew and Seth. My girls enjoyed being big enough to actually help a little with the babies. And it was great having all the cousins there to play with. We are definitely going to have to make a habit of getting together annually.
Of course while we were there we had to check out what Texas had to offer in the way of caves. My kids are pretty comfortable with the cave thing, and I think everyone was just happy to get out of that Texas heat. There is something to be said for that constant temperature. Warm in the winter, cool in the summer, hmmm, if it weren't so wet we could just move in. While visiting the caves we discovered that the old saying "everything's bigger in Texas" applies to their insect life as well. Rebekah wanted to keep that thing as a pet. "Dad, since we can't have a dog, can we have this huge bug? I think I'll name him Buddy." No we didn't keep it.
After the Texas trip everything else kind of blurred into one long day. A few highlights: an afternoon at the theater to watch a production of Peter Pan (the boys had a new hero for about a week), an amazing professional fireworks display right out our back door, a David and Goliath family home evening complete with marshmallow stones, and a trip back to the San Luis Valley to visit with friends and family. Despite all of that the kids always like to go back to the favorites, a good book, a great game, or a quiet afternoon coloring at the kitchen counter.
We had a great summer and look forward to a productive and fun school year. With a third grader, first grader and afternoon preschooler we are always on the run. What am I saying the two year old alone keeps us on the run. You should all look forward to many more exciting updates from us.
