We just got back from a fun filled vacation to Kansas. Many thought we were crazy for driving the 1800+ miles but overall it went rather well. Thank God for DVD players and cheap "prizes" from the dollar store. We decided the trip is about 6 hours to long though because that is when we are driving on that nasty road in Nebraska and both kids were tired of their car seats. The trip started in Wakefield and ended in Bern.
Here are some of the highlights and pictures: *Shelby went swimming in the big pool with Emma(a family friend) and Mommy. *Shelby played in her playhouse at Grandparents Avery's house. *Grandma and Grandpa Avery had get together where we got to see lots of people and eat really good smoked brisket, ribs and chicken. *Stu and Quinn got to go to Manhattan by ourselves and eat at Carlos O' Kellys and buy some KSU gear at Varney's. *We went to the Clay Center zoo and played in the park. *Shelby, Bradan and Quinn traveled to Waverly, Kansas to see Katie and Dustin's new house. *Shelby got to stand in a field of corn and ride the four wheeler with Grandpa Robert. *We got to meet Craig and Jessica's new dog Bo *We surprised Grandpa Robert by taking a family portrait with everyone dressed in John Deere shirts. *Haverkamp Brothers hosted their annual summer picnic while we were in Bern. *Stu went golfing with the boys and Quinn and the kids went to Schilling Bridge winery with the girls.
We celebrated the 4th at our place last night by inviting over a few friends, eating some good food and shooting off some "kid-friendly" fireworks. It was a nice relaxing time which we wanted since we are about ready to drive back to Kansas this week. We are leaving Friday as close to midnight as possible (so we can drive a good 7 hours with Shelby sleeping) and get to Wakefield Saturday afternoon. Stu will be driving his new 2006 F350 and pulling his new car trailer with his dad Lawrence's 58 Impala that he bought up here. Maybe I get Stu to blog about the details later. I am busy trying to get everything and everyone packed, making sure we have enough food and plenty to keep Shelby busy on the road. We will stay in Wakefield until Wednesday afternoon and be in Bern until we head back to Washington on the 20th. Hopefully, while we are there we can catch up with family and friends and get Shelby swimming. Here are some pictures from the 4th and also what we will driving and hauling back to Kansas.
Best picture I could get of the two. Shelby with a sparkler. She loved the fireworks. Bradan's 1st 4th of July Shelby's 1st 4th of July 2006. Do you see similarities in the two? Bradan was born 5/6 and Shelby 5/20 Stu's pickup and trailer Lawrence's car
No pictures to post with this one but this story is to funny not to add.
Yesterday afternoon, I was in Shelby's bed in the process of trying to get her to take a nap by reading her books. We were both lying on the bed and in the middle of the story of "The Jungle Book" when all of the sudden a chipmunk jumped on Shelby's bed, ran across our legs, jump off the bed and jumped on Shelby's window sill and tried to get out the window. After discovering it could not, ran into Stu and I's bedroom underneath the bed. So after I calmed down from having this thing scare the s*** out of me, I called Stu who thought it was hilarious. He told me to catch it with a bucket, chase it out of the house or let Elsie, our cat, take care of it. (I think he forgets that Elsie is a house cat and has no idea what to do with other animals beside just play with them) Before I move on, I just want to add that Shelby in the morning had come to me and said "Mom, there is a chipmunk in my room." Knowing that my daughter is in her pretend stage, I just laughed it off. I also noticed Elsie laying by our bed on the floor right before Shelby and I got into bed to read which I thought at the time was odd because she usually takes naps on our bed under the covers. Little did I know she was watching a chipmunk under the bed. No, I don't know how long the chipmunk was in our house. So anyway back to the story, after telling Shelby she needed to stay in her room and checking to make sure Bradan was still sleeping, I grabbed a broom on a mission to scare out the chipmunk. I closed all the interior doors and opened all the exterior doors so the chipmunk would have several ways to escape. Well, while I was trying to get the chipmunk out from underneath our bed, a bird flew into our sun room. This has happened before when our french doors have been opened because we have the 2 big windows that they think they can just fly through. Most of the time, they soon realize that they cannot get out through the windows and eventually find their way back out with a little bit of coaxing from the broom. So I stopped trying to scare out the chipmunk and tried to help the bird which I thought after five minutes of coaxing had flown out the door. One animal down, 1 more to go. After talking to Stu again, we decided that since Elsie was doing such a good job of guarding (scaring the chipmunk so it wouldn't come out) in our bedroom that I would just close our bedroom door and let Stu take care of it when he came home. Thinking that I was done with the zoo that apparently decided to visit our house today, I went to grab Bradan out of the swing. As I did that, the stupid bird that I thought had left our house flew up from behind our pellet stove. I moved Bradan to his room and told Shelby to stay in her room so more which she didn't listen to because it was way to exciting watching mommy chase wild animals out of the house. After five minutes of searching, we found the bird perched on our china hutch in our kitchen. So trying to coax the bird out with the bird again, it started trying to get out through the kitchen windows. That's what I get for having such nice big windows in my house (that I usually love). After several minutes of trying to get the bird to go towards the sun room to get out of the house, I realized that there was only going to be one way to get that bird out of my house. I made Shelby go to her room and then did what I needed to to get the bird out of my house. Not the way I wanted but at the point, I had no option. Now 1 animal down, 1 more to go. Shelby had invited her friends over in the afternoon to go swimming so the whole time they were at our house, we had a chipmunk in our bedroom. Stu came home, put on this gloves and proceeded to go catch himself a chipmunk. After several attempts of trying to grab the thing which he soon discovered chipmunks are fast animals, he decided to work on scaring the thing out. So I took the kids out in the backyard and he made a blocked off a path for the chipmunk to go out the front door. Eventually, it ran down our hallway and out the door. So again, I don't know when the chipmunk got in our house but we only can assume that it was chased/brought inside by Elsie. That previous night, we were all outside and Elsie was chasing something around our yard. Stu thought it was a rabbit which have been known to get into our yard sometime. She was also outside some that morning but I don't remember her chasing anything. For those who have never been to our house, we have a fenced in backyard and then trees behind that. We always see chipmunks in the trees but we have never seen them in our yard. But they are starting to come down because they have discovered that the birds drop their seed on the ground when they are eating from the feeders. So moral of the story: Believe your daughter when she tells you there is a chipmunk in our house.
Shelby had told me awhile back that she wanted to ride a skateboard. We found an old one of the boys while we were back - She thought she was so cool!
Aunt Katie holding Bradan for the first time
Playing at the Clay Center Park
At the zoo
Eating the bread she was suppose to be feeding to the ducks
Bradan was very interested in Great Grandma Gean. He would just stare at her.
