good-bye school, hello summer

grace and raegan had their last days of school recently. raegan (no pictures to document... lame) ended last thursday (20 may) and was so glad to be done... at least that is what she says. i guess she really likes to hang out with me. and grace was finished on tuesday (25 may). grace was a little more sad to say goodbye. i think she will miss all of her friends who will be staying at manhattan catholic, but grace will be headed out to lee elementary next fall. she keeps asking how much longer until she can start school. i think she is very excited for school and can't wait to start, but we have some fun stuff prepared for the summer that i'm sure will make her forget all about it.

father and sons campout 2010

oh yes... bryan took jack on the father and sons camping trip this year. how fun for both of them. i think people were a little surprised about jack being there, but bryan said he was great. apparently, jack was really in his element being outside. he loves it out there. and i'm so glad that bryan was able to take him and they had a good time.

bryan was pretty excited about the tug-o-war event they would have and i think it was a success. the elders quorum was in charge of the event and i think bryan and his counselors did a great job of getting things together and they really pulled it off with the help of everyone involved.




jack fell asleep easy, and slept great until the wonderful hour of 5:15 am. i guess you just wake up with the sun.



we sure do love the ellis boys (johnny and benji) who love jack and played with him most of the time. they are such great boys and jack really enjoys hanging out with them.




well, bryan was not brave enough to attempt the 5 mile hike with jack, so my boys came home after breakfast and told their tales of camping.

grace, raegan, and i had a girls night complete with a trip to ihop and dairy queen and relaxing with a movie. however, grace was practically devastated that she was not allowed to go camping because she was not a son. she really loves sleeping in tents and being outside. i can see a family camping trip coming soon...

finished: pinwheel quilt-along for nana

this one didn't take so long... thank heavens for not having to quilt it on my machine! happy mothers day, mom! i love you!

fritz's railroad restaurant

a few weeks ago, we took a trip up to kansas city. we were in need of a trip to costco, and along the way we decided to hit up fritz's. some friends had told us about it and we thought the kids might like it. you order via a telephone at your table (totally training table style) and then your food comes on a train attached to the ceiling. quite fun... the food... well, just ok. bryan did get the burger that has hash browns on it and it was delish, but mostly, the rest is just average. however, the kids loved it and it was quite the good time.

yes, manhattan, ks has a zoo...

who knew?

raegan's preschool class took a trip to the zoo and i got to tag along. i knew she was excited when she said she couldn't wait to see the giraffes and the lions. does sunset zoo in manhattan, ks have giraffes... or lions? why, no, they don't. but here are some things we did see.


a peacock who runs wild and is not fenced in (there are several of them)...



the petting zoo... a bunch of sheep and goats that we were allowed to feed. i think raegan was terrified of them, but put on a brave face to feed them...


a turtle... pretty big... keep your fingers away...

sunset zoo used to be home to the oldest brown bear in america (brownie), but unfortunately, she passed away last fall. we did see monkeys, prairie dogs, birds, flamingoes, a tiger, and a snow leopard.

as we were leaving the zoo, i asked raegan what her favorite thing to see today was... again, she said... the giraffe.

so scrumptious

jack, not the bananas

laundry day... a day for fun

until jack realizes that he is stuck inside the laundry bag and he can't figure out how to extract himself.

milk, it does a body good

well, at least that is what we tell ourselves...

this is just one of jack's daily rituals... spilling his milk all over his tray. then, on the good days, he rubs it around in his hair. he thinks he looks handsome.