Fritz's

 On night we decided to take our kids to Fritz's. We had heard all about it since we moved here. You order your food on the phone. The food isn't great, but the restaurant is fun.

 There is a train track that goes around the ceiling of the restaurant. And that is how your meal is delivered. The train comes around and then drops off your food at your tables stop.

 Then it is lowered down to your table.

 Carson did not want his picture taken!!

 The kids all loved this place. It was super fun and just a different experience.

 Shan even got in on the fun and wore the hat....in the car.

The fourth of July

 

The fourth of July this year was pretty fun. We started the morning by heading to our friends the Williams house. They had invited us over for breakfast, games and a scavenger hunt.

 

They did a great job on the games and we all left with a ton of loot!!

 

Afterwards we headed to Kurtis and Jenny's house. We played with them the rest of the day. Kurtis smoked some yummy ribs for dinner and then set off some awesome fireworks.

 There were not suppose to be any fireworks lit this year .... because of the drought. But people still did a ton. And they do huge ones! It was fun. We did miss having the fourth of July at my parents house. The traditional parade, bar-b-que, peppermint ice cream and fireworks at the high school.  We have had it there almost every year since we were married and it's one of my favorite days of the year! But with my parents gone we did our best to make it a fun holiday!

Toothpicks and Gumdrops...who knew!

When we decided to move out here to Kansas I realized that we were going to have a long summer of no friends or camping. Honestly it worried me quite a bit. I didn't want my kids hating Kansas right away and I don't do well with just sitting around the house. So I started pinning ideas on pinterest. Stuff we could do this summer. Then when we got here I made a big list of stuff off pinterest and places to go here in Kansas. This is one of the ideas I got from pinterest.

 It was just letting the kids build with gumdrops and toothpicks. They all really liked it and it entertained them for close to an hour.

 Kambree wasn't so skilled at it yet. She just stuck a bunch of sticks into one gumdrop and then called it a "Popsicle".

 But the boys did really good at it. And for two dollars in gumdrops and toothpicks it was totally worth it!

Shawnee Mission Park

Out here they have the biggest park called Shawnee Mission Park. I have never seen a park so huge! One night on our way home from the gym we decided to stop at the park and go for a hike. They have a bunch of trails to hike on.

 We didn't get to hike far because it was getting dark, but we saw tons of spiders, a deer, a rabbit and......

 lightning bugs! This is one that Michael had caught. We have caught a ton of them here. The kids love them and really I do to. I had never seen them before moving here and I still get excited when I see them glow!

It was fun to get out and explore the park a little!

Bowling

I signed the kids up for free bowling this summer. So we finally made it to the bowling alley. Their cousins came with and we had a lot of fun!

They have these cute alligator ramps that the little kids can roll their ball down. It give the ball some momentum and direction. Blake and Kambree loved them!

They all had fun and Carson and Michael are getting better every time we go bowling. I feel like I always say this, but we want to come back to the bowling alley again before the summer is over.

Kidscape

Okay, so like always I have got a ton of pictures! I took the kids to kidscape a couple weeks ago. It's a fun little museum where the kids can just play in a small "city". The first thing they did was the little putting green.

 I was disappointed that they had a wii. My kids will always pick that! And if I wanted them to play the wii we would just stay home! But with a little encouragement they did the other stuff too.

 It had a jewelry shop where you could make your own beaded necklace or bracelet. We invited Jenny and her kids to come with us. They only got to stay for a little bit, but we stayed for hours. My kids loved it!

 It had a stage with costumes, sound effects and lights they could turn off and on. My kids all liked this and i was constantly being asked to come watch them on stage.

 These are the cute theater seat they had set up for people to watch the play.

 Bailey, Kambree and Riley loved the hospital. It had a fun "patient" that you could take out all their organs and open the body to operate. It was fun for them.

 Carson really like this set. You could move around the trains, cars, building and mountains to make your own town. I was surprised that he played in their for so long, but he loved it!

 He even took some time to make me a bracelet.

 We also played in the farm. In this picture Michael is pretending to milk the cow.

 Blake on the tractor.

 Carson owned the grocery store.

 They even had stuff to dress up like farmers.

This is Blake in the middle of the street. You can see the hospital to the right and the theater in the back.

 They had the farm set up cute. You would plow the fields, then feed the cow, then milk the cow, then take the milk to the factory, then deliver the milk to the store, then sell the milk. It was a cool little learning experience.

We had fun there, it was free and air conditioned. So I am sure we will be back before this hot summer is over!

Drive-in Movies

Saturday night we took the kids to the drive-in movies. It was so fun. I think I have only been to the drive-in once before, but I love stuff like that and knew it would be something fun for our family.

 So we loaded up the back of the car with sleeping bags, pillows, chairs, popcorn and drinks.

 And we headed out to see the disney movie Brave.

 The kids were so excited. Mostly because they wanted to see the movie. They didn't really know what a drive-in was. Shan wasn't very excited at all. He was just going because I wanted to. He thinks I'm pretty "back woods" when it comes to stuff like this!

 We got there about 45 minutes early and found a spot. Then we got all set up!

 They still have the old speakers that you attach to your car window! I was in heaven, I love stuff like this.

 The kids loved the drive-in. They loved hanging out in the back of the car and watching a movie. I loved that I didn't have to worry about them being noisy.

And by the end of the night I was getting hugs and thank you's from all the kids. I was the hero. Even Shan was saying how much he enjoyed it. And yesterday I even heard him making plans with my brother about the "next time" we go!

Madagascar 3

Jenny and I took all the kids to see Madagascar 3 on Wednesday afternoon. They loved it. I could hear Michael cracking up through most of the movie - though afterwards he denied it.

 You can't really tell but when we take all our kids somewhere it's a ton of kids - eight. It's been pretty fun hanging out with our cousins and Jenny has been brave to bring go so many places with a new baby and a two year old! We're glad, because it's been fun.

Play group

Our ward does a "play group" on Wednesdays. They just go do something different together every week. It's been good for the kids to go meet other kids in our ward. This week we went to the park. They have had fun and enjoy playing with the other kids.

Swimming Lessons

 These pictures are totally our of order, but I don't want to take the time to put them in order. Sorry! The kids got to do swimming lessons just a couple weeks after we got here to Kansas. On the last day Carson and Michaels class got to jump off the diving board. Michael has great form with his dive. I was so impressed! When I try to dive it looks more like a belly flop!

He also can do an awesome front flip!

 Carson is a little more nervous when it comes to diving, but he can do a pretty neat twist in the air!

 This is Kambrees swimming class.

 And her certificate and popsicle after the last class.

 This is Blakes class. He was lucky to be in class with his cousin Sammy. As you can see he froze the whole time.

 This is Michael on the high dive. He was so brave and jumped right in!

 Blake and his sweet teacher.

 Carson and Michaels class. They didn't have enough people sign up so they combined the two classes. It was fun for them. And Carson only attended the last week since he missed the first week because of scout camp. So they were happy to be together!

 This is Kambree and her cute girl class.

 Blake - love that kid.

 Carson practicing his dive.

 Kambree loved being in class with Bailey and her new friend Piper. They had a lot of fun together...maybe more than the teacher would have liked :)

 All the kids together after swimming lessons. They had fun, but since class was early we'll be happy to have some lazy summer mornings back.