Weekend in KC

Joel and I learned W-A-Y back last fall that the Cubs were coming to Kansas City this year to play the Royals--so we knew that game was a MUST. It ended up that my sister was able to come stay with the kids--so we got a weekend with just the 2 of us!

We found TONS of fun stuff to do--and we ate just as much. (We visited McDonald's *NOT ON PURPOSE* 3 times in one day.)

First, we went shopping at the Legends Mall...(but not being big shoppers...we mainly just walked around for a while!)

Then, we checked into our hotel--the Westin at Crown Center! Wow, was that nice. We were on the 15th floor--our view from the room:

The fountains were right across the street, and so was a Panera!!! (Yummy breakfast the next morning!)

We chose to go to an evening game, and I'm glad we did--we were dying of heat--and the next afternoon's game would have been WAY worse! It's always fun to visit another ball field--I'd never been to this one.

One highlight of a weekend away in a hotel for us is....the cable TV. Seriously. We watch a lot. This time, our newest obsession was the show "Dual Survival". Those guys are CRAZY.

The next day, we ate breakfast and then hit the College Basketball Experience. It was like an interactive museum (but not very museum-y). Joel LOVED it.

(*this was his 3rd pose, and his only non-gangsta pose. Sheesh.)

He tried to set really impossible records on every game so that no one could beat him. (I bet they didn't, either!!!)
*Can I just say--we were SORE from all that shooting??? I hardly did any--and my hip hurt for 2 days!

We also got to try our hand at sports casting. I'd say we did QUITE well.

*This was our playback. We didn't even know it was being recorded!!!

Next, it was my turn to pick: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art! It was a lot of fun, but as usual--you could spend HOURS there...so we just picked a few favorite areas and wandered through those.

Here I am in front of one of my favorites--a Georgia O'Keefe painting!

Finally, we left for lunch at Jack Stack BBQ. Wow. The BEST ribs we'd ever had! We cleaned the whole plate!!!

(eating this many ribs takes I.N.T.E.N.S.I.T.Y)

After all that excitement, we drove home exhausted. But what a fun weekend--and a great chance to get away!

Real Men...

Drive Pink Barbie Jeeps.

(Oh, and Lily really likes it, too!)
Funny story about Lily--she hasn't figured out the whole 'driving' thing yet...so she'll get in, sit there, and slam on the pedal.

E-v-e-n-t-u-a-l-l-y she'll put her hands on the steering wheel and decide to steer...somewhat. I just DIE laughing anytime she drives it.

Swimming

Since the summer has been, a bit, *warm* so far, we got our pool out early...and swim in it OFTEN. Actually, our poor pool from last year bit the dust, so we bought a new one at the end of May...and now that one is on it's last leg, too.

But either way--water is FUN!!! And the kids love to run, and jump, and splash and play in it.

Oliver bought a snorkeling set with his birthday money (and bought Lily one, too) so they spend their time looking for sharks and other assorted tropical fish underwater. (He's gotten quite good at putting his face in the water, thanks to that $5 set!)


Lily likes the water, but prefers to jump in, jump out, and run to find comfort in her towel. (It's much like a glorified "blankie" to her). Her favorite spot is on the trampoline, laying in the sun. (But usually covered up by the towel)

(this is a happy face...)

They also love to run as FAST as they can and JUMP into the pool--splashing all the water out. One day, they decided to do it together:

"One, two, three....GO!"

We LOVE swimming!!!

Girl's Memorial Day Get-Together

While in college at Bethel, I had the opportunity to live with 6 other girls in the mods one year. We had such a good year together--and since most of us were dating our future spouses at the time, we got to know them quite well, too!

Since college, we've gotten together at least once each year for a girl's weekend away. But, once the kids started coming...that became difficult. Now--we see each other 2-3 times a year, usually WITH kids. But it's still so much fun, and it's amazing how quickly we can catch up again!

This time, we were missing a couple girls--but we had so much fun talking, watching the kids swim, eating lunch together....so we had to get some obligatory "look how big they're getting!" pictures in.


Oh, and here we are with our kids: (from left to right)
Lori (with Emily), Tina (with boys Noah and Levi), Me and the kids, Yvette (with Corynn)


**Tina T. and Kara--we missed you! Maybe next time???

Ducklings

Who knew that when we moved a mile south, we'd be entering a whole new ecosystem???

Since we're just a 3-minute walk from a little lake, we often see geese, ducks, frogs, turtles, even a crane! in our neighborhood. One morning, we woke up to the sound of a goose, sitting on our garage roof, just 10 feet from the kid's bedrooms.

About a month after moving in, we suddenly noticed a duck that had come to make a nest 8 feet from our front door, right next to a prickly barberry bush. A day later, we noticed 3 eggs in the nest! Then, another, and another--until later that week, the duck had laid 11 eggs!
(ducks must have amazing hearing--if we were just standing at the window watching her, she'd cock her head like this and stare at us...)

At that point, she started sitting on them almost constantly. She thankfully became quite okay with us leaving and coming, the kids screaming and playing, and stopped flying away every time Lily would scream at her.

She got to the point where she was sitting on those eggs the ENTIRE day, except for a little while each evening, right around dusk. We did a little research on the web, and found that typically, the incubation period for ducklings was 28 days. So, we knew that somewhere in the 3rd or 4th week of June--we'd have eleven little ducklings walking around our yard! How exciting!!!

Finally, on a Wednesday evening, we noticed that one egg had a small crack in it. Would this be the night??? The next morning, when Ollie and I came down just after 7am, there were ducklings!!! We opened the door, snuck out to take a peak, and found 4 or 5 little heads poking up. We took pictures, and went inside to eat.

By the time Lily woke up (an hour later), the ducks were gone!!! All that was left was a few broken eggs.

We have no idea what happened to the other 6 eggs, and haven't seen a duck since. We DO get to peak at little families of ducks on the lake, and we're assuming one of those families is ours...but hopefully next year the momma duck will be back to build another nest! (And maybe this time, Lily can see them, too!)

Baby Smith #3

Is a....

























BOY!!!!!

Preschool Work

Ollie finished preschool in mid-May and decided that he wanted to continue "homework" throughout the summer. Typical first-born.

So, thankfully, we have a few books that he can work in. This particular page asked him what four things he wished for. He drew pictures in each box: (from upper left clockwise)


"preschool (desk and chair), a hug and a kiss (circle and lips), Jesus, candy."