Ross' Stuff

We went to Kansas City the first week of June for a mini-vacation and stayed with Ross' parents. When we walked in the door one of the first things I noticed was a pile of boxes in the living room. After looking a little closer I saw two Wheaties cereal boxes and knew right away what the pile of boxes was:  Some of Ross' old things that Wanda was ready to pass along back to him. I asked her if that's what it was and she happily said YES!

Ross looked through a few things while there and then the rest of the boxes came home with us. He had a good time going through some of it and the girls had fun looking at it all, too. Now to figure out what to do with everything............

Osceola Cheese Factory

On our way home from Kansas City a few weeks ago we decided to stop at the Osceola Cheese Factory. We pass this store every time we head north on Highway 13 and have never taken the time to stop. We've always talked about it, but never did it until now. We all had fun taking pictures outside and tasting all sort of different kinds of cheeses inside. We did buy two different cheeses - monterey jack and mild cheddar. Kind of funny that we got "normal" cheese compared to all the different types they had for sale. But, I guess that's fitting of us! Just kind of plain, normal people!

Independence

Lucy had an absolutely wonderful kindergarten year. She made some great friends and had the perfect teacher for her. Her teacher sent a very nice message to all the parents at the end of school and she also made a very special present for each child. She took a pillowcase and had each child in the class sign their name on it. Then Mrs. Williams wrote a message to each child on the pillowcase, too. Her message to Lucy brought tears to my eyes as the last sentence said, "You have learned so much this year and found your independence."

I didn't realize until reading this message how true that really was. I remembered how at the beginning of the year her teacher gave the parents a sheet to fill out giving her more information about our child. She asked us to write down anything we'd like her to know about our child and what we want our child to learn this year. When I filled that form out I was a little frustrated with Lucy because she had been going through a time of being really clingy to me. It was frustrating to me. We would go to birthday parties for her friends and she wouldn't play with them. She would just cling to me. Everyone told me this was just a stage, and blah, blah, blah, but it was frustrating!

Well, fast-forward throughout the kindergarten year and Lucy is now doing things on her own and does seem to be so much more independent that this time last year. I didn't realize that had even happened until it was brought to my attention by that note. I'm so very thankful for her independence, yet find it a little bittersweet because she doesn't seem to need me as much as last year. Funny how that goes......... :)

Vacation Bible School

We had Vacation Bible School at our church a few weeks ago and it was a top notch program. Both Lucy and Molly were able to go and we even took friends with us each night! The theme for the week was no matter what's going on in your life, God is good! This point was presented each night with...When life is unfair, God is good. When life is scary, God is good. When life changes, God is good. When life is sad, God is good. When life is good, God is good!

Our church always does such a great job putting on events like this. They have some fantastic people who takes so much time to make it perfect. The decorations were great. The skits were great. The teaching was even greater! Each night had the same format beginning with everyone together in the sanctuary for a few songs and to introduce the theme for the night. After that we moved through four stations consisting of Imagination Station (craft and science experiment), Wild Bible Times (Bible story), Play Station (sports and games), and Snack Station. I was a crew leader which meant I was in charge of four people for the week and we went to each station together along with a few other crews. It was a tiring week, as the time was from 6-8:30 and we didn't get home until 9 each night, making for late bedtimes, but it was a good week.

So good in fact that on Friday, June 14, Lucy and I were talking about the previous night's lesson where Jesus died on the cross and rose again. She decided she wanted to ask Jesus to live in her heart, so we did just that! She was very excited about it and had a fun time telling people about it at VBS that night. :)

Kansas City Vacation

We took a mini vacation to Kansas City the first week of June and had a great time! We stayed with Ross' parents and hung out with them on our vacation. We went to the Kansas City Zoo, which was such a nice zoo! We saw penguins, stingrays, cheetahs, and even took a boat ride and tram ride. We rode the carousel, too, which might have been my favorite. ;) It was such a nice zoo and a pretty good weather day for it, which made it even better.

After the zoo Gramma and Grampa treated us to Tropical Snow (snow cones) which were a big hit with everyone. They were yummy and quite refreshing after being outside all day.

Tuesday we went to Hallmark Crown Center to a place called Kaleidoscopes. It was a craft place for kids to make all sorts of different crafts. The girls each got to decorate their own puzzle and even cut it out into puzzle pieces themselves. Lucy had a great time and Molly would have had a great time had she not been so tired. :) Larry retired from Hallmark some years back and still has lots of perks for being a retiree. Hallmark has a Double Discount store for employees where Hallmark items are marked 75% off. I've been to this store once before quite a few years ago and we got to go again after Kaleidoscopes. It was great! I got a great deal on some note cards and wrapping paper.

After that we ate lunch at Fritz's in Crown Center. It's a hamburger joint where you phone in your order and then your food is delivered via train. You can watch a video of our delivery here. It was a fun experience, but I can't say the food was that great. After Fritz's we walked around Union Station and then Gramma and Grampa treated us to ice cream. The ice cream was so good and made up for the not so good lunch. Hahaha!

Wednesday morning we strolled around the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum and then headed home that afternoon. On our way home we stopped at the Osceola Cheese Factory and had fun sampling some different kinds of cheese!

We rounded out the rest of Ross' vacation week with a movie on Thursday morning. One of the movie theaters in town has a special summer movie series for kids and we saw Trolls. It was a fun movie and Molly's very first time to go to a movie theater. Friday was National Donut Day, so we celebrated with free donuts at Krispy Kreme!

All in all it was a great vacation! Very much proof that you don't have to go super far away or spend a lot of money to have a good time! Thanks to Gramma and Grampa Wiseman for the hospitality!

A Hallmark Double Discount store treat for the girls and a coffee treat for the Grampa!

Playing Bat and Ball with Grampa!

Looking at pretty art with Gramma.

Family portrait in front of the sculpture. Molly wasn't so much into it.