Kansas Part 2 (more fun)

Friday after playing at McDonald's for lunch (a favorite with the kids...), we headed to a local apple orchard. This place was great too!

They took us out to the orchards on a hay rack ride.

The apples were pretty picked over because this was the last weekend of the season, but we still found some good ones that were the perfect size for our kids!

The kids each picked out their best apples to fill one bag I think we ended up taking almost all of the ones they picked. Well, except Norah's...she liked to pick apples off the ground...

I had such a fun week with Katie!

And I honestly had such a fun week with my kiddos too!

I just love these two.

Nana came to the apple orchard with us. Leah stayed cuddled up to Nana so she could stay warm.

After we payed for our bag of apples, got apple slushies, apple cider and apple donuts, we headed outside to roast marshmallows at their fire pit. Yes, more sugar. This place was amazing!

And they had ducks to feed. Joey, Kylah and Naomi were all about it. Norah didn't want to get close to the ducks. I don't blame her; they were pretty aggressive too.

I love this picture of my three kids. I love that Norah walks just like the big kids and keeps up with them (because she thinks she is a big kid!)

Back at Nana's house, Norah got to help Nana make cooked apples. And by help, I mean spray that can of Crisco all over the place. :)

We skyped with Josh and Val and their kids later that night which was really fun. We wish they were in Kansas with us too!

On Saturday Grandpa took everyone to Power Play (think ChuckECheese with more games and more grown up activities).

The kids wanted to hit the go carts first. (I forgot my camera here, so unfortunately these were all taken with my phone.)  Joey looked pretty serious.

This was the first time Kylah was tall enough to ride the go carts, and she just looked adorable.

Then it was the adults' turn to ride.

That blur you see below is me; I won. (although Jake thinks I only won because I started in the front...)

The flash of pink is Heidi and Jody is close behind her.

They have a great little kid place just right for Norah and Naomi. I joined them on the slides. (Actually Katie went up first, but then I took pity on the pregnant lady and followed the girls up the next time.) :)

Joey did the high ropes course with Hannah and Kylah. Joey rocked it. He must not have gotten my fear of heights! Kylah went up and did great, but didn't venture out onto any of the obstacles.

The night ended with a bath in Nana's bath tub. Always a favorite!

After jammies were on, Kylah tried to teach Hannah some gymnastics maneuvers. Kylah was a really good teacher, and they were really funny!

Sweet Sarah has gotten so big too. She was playing peek a boo with me. Precious!

We were all pretty exhausted by the end of the week. We had a great time!

Kansas Part 1 (cousins renited)

 During week 2 of Joey and Kylah's fall break, I took a few days off of work and took the kids up to Kansas to stay at Joe's parent's house. We spent 5 days there and had a great time. We did so many fun things that I am going to split this into two posts!

It was my first solo road trip with all three kids, so I was a little nervous starting out (mainly because of my two year old who doesn't have the best history in the car...)

This was the view in my rearview mirror.

The kids all did so good on the way there. They watched movies and we played car games (ABC game and My Father Owns a Grocery Store...)

We haven't been up to Kansas since Josh and Val left in June, so needless to say my kids were so excited to get there. We had some awesome cousin time this week, which was so fun. (Although the cousin clan was not complete with Mackenzie, Bella, Deacon and Caleb! On the way to Kansas Joey summed it up best when he said, "I wish Mackenzie, Bella, Deacon and Caleb could have lived here TWO years...")

But they did have fun with the cousins that are in Kansas. Jake and Katie came over right away on Tuesday night with Naomi and Leah. Naomi and Norah play so well together now. Naomi gets a little overwhelmed when all three of my kids are running around together, but when it's just Norah she comes alive and plays and talks. It was so fun to listen to their little conversations together. Somehow Leah got to hold my phone instead of the bigger girls. :) Leah has grown so much and is just precious.

 Nana went to pick up Hannah after school on Tuesday so she could come hang out too. Joey and Kylah were ecstatic. I love seeing how excited they get to see their cousins!

This was the first time we have seen the completed fort that Josh rebuilt. It is awesome! Joey, Hannah and Kylah spent hours out here while we were in Kansas. They all loved seeing their names on the walls. And did you know that the drawbridge door in front actually works! Way to go Josh!

They got to eat their pizza out in the fort that night. A little chilly, but they were loving it.

Norah and Naomi cuddled up on Grandpa's lap to watch a movie. 

I love watching Joey with his little cousins (and just little kids in general). He is so patient and loving. I love these attributes about him!

On Wednesday Jake, Katie and I took our kiddos to a little farm/petting zoo. Again, it was a little chilly but well worth it. It is free to get in during the week, so pretty much all we had to pay for was the duck/chicken food!

Norah and Kylah loved feeding the chickens. I think this was Naomi's favorite part as well.

We walked through the enclosed chicken house. Norah is very sensitive to smell, and this was her face the whole time we were in there. I think she might have gagged a little. Oh what a little drama queen. :)

Joey got to practice milking a "cow."  It reminded me of my pumping days... I'm so glad those are over!

We put Norah to work pulling Leah and Kylah in the wagon.

The last few months Kylah has really started loving babies. I guess she loves baby animals too, because she loved feeding the baby goats their bottles.

Big boy on a little tractor... (anyone else humming the song from Tommy Boy???)

There weren't a lot of ducks, but the fish would jump out of the water to get the food. Pretty cool.

This is my new favorite picture. I know there is a goat in the picture, but I just love Joey's expression. The goats were a little aggressive if they knew you had food, but Joey held his own and loved it.

Poor little Norah blindly followed Joey in the goat pen at first without knowing what she was getting into. I knew she would probably be scared, but I wanted to see her reaction. I wish I would have had my camera ready because her reaction was priceless. She bolted out of the goat pen screaming and crying.   

What a fun day!

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On Thursday morning the kids and I headed over to see Great Grandma. The kids loved spending time with her, and they really did good about not being too loud and crazy. She seemed to love all their chatter, and Joey sat at the kitchen table with her while we ate lunch and just talked away. Love it!

I think both Norah and I took a nap that afternoon, and then we headed over to Katie's house that evening for dinner. Jake was at work for the night so it was just us girls and the kids. (Jennifer has been getting ready for the school play that she accompanies for, so she had practice a few nights while we were there.)

We helped the kids make caramel apples for dessert (thank goodness for those caramel "wraps" which make the process so much easier!)

Whew...and we still have two more full days to go!! :)

Florida

 Joe and I went to Orlando, FL this past weekend ALL BY OURSELVES. Yes, you read that right, ALL BY OURSELVES. For FIVE nights. 

Joe had a work conference to go to, and we decided to extend our time there by a few days. :)

It was fabulous. Joe's company had two nice dinners that they invited spouses to, so on Friday night we headed to the outdoor dinner. It was beautiful outside and we had a great time.

Joe played golf with his company on Friday afternoon before the dinner Friday night. Other than asking the CEO "so, what do you do for IRG?", Joe had a great time golfing. (The CEO actually thought it was funny that Joe asked that and kind of liked it that Joe didn't really know who he was. Joe's other co-workers gave him a hard time, though!) 

On Saturday Joe had meetings during the day, and then we had another nice dinner Saturday night.

The president of the company (who Joe does know...) honored Joe by giving him the President's Award for the year. Joe has done a great job for the company, and it was so fun to watch him be honored for all his hard work!

This was the view of the hotel from the President's balcony. It was a beautiful night, and he invited everyone to come hang out on the balcony and enjoy the night.

 So fun!

 Oh, and what did I do during the days while Joe was golfing and in meetings?

This...a whole lot of nothing (although I did read three and a half books, so I call that something!) :)

On Sunday night after lounging by the pool with Joe for the afternoon, we decided to head over to Downtown Disney, since we were only 2 miles away. We walked around all the stores and listened to some fun (and sometimes interesting) live music. We haven't told the kids yet how close we were to Disney World.

 Joe talked me into going golfing with him Monday afternoon.

I didn't have golf clubs and just wanted to relax, so I drove the golf cart and gave Joe some good pointers.

 

Meanwhile back in Arkansas, my mom flew in to watch our kiddos (thanks to Dave and Mere for letting them stay overnight Thursday night until my mom got here on Friday!)

My mom came armed with experiments and activities, and the kids loved it. Here they are making flubber.

 She had the great idea to make a president of the day. The president got to be the helper to get the experiments ready for the whole day. A good example is this text between me and my mom.

Norah made a pretty cute president.

Gramma got Joey to his baseball game on time even! (and that was after taking all the kids to church by herself earlier that morning!) Impressive!

Kylah lost her first tooth while we were gone, so the Gramma had to step up and be the Tooth Fairy as well! (and let me tell you, Gramma tooth fairy was much better than parent tooth fairy. Not only was there money under Kylah's pillow, there was a super sweet letter from the Tooth Fairy just to Kylah.) :)

A huge thanks to my mom for coming and to my dad for sending her! 

We may not have been ready to leave the relaxation of our vacation, but we were ready to see our crazy munchkins!