Last Day of Summer

We made our last day of summer count by going on an adventure downtown.  We started in the City Market and the girls actually looked at shops with me!  Everyone was in a great mood and we made some great memories to finish off our summer.

Then they rode the streetcar for the first time.  They loved it!

We rode it to Union Station then walked the skywalk over to Crown Center for lunch and the Mr. Potato Head exhibit.

We stopped at the Power & Light district to find this rooftop park.  It is on top of a grocery store.  Hannah loves exploring downtown with all the tall buildings (kycapers as Olive calls them).  We even saw window washers.

We rode the streetcar back to City Market and bought some strawberries and surprised Steve at work.  It was a really fun day!

Summers are so sweet with these two.  And each summer is special.  We'll never have another summer with a five and seven-year-old.  The girls have always played well together, but this summer they were inseparable.  Best friends.  It was tough for both of them with Hannah in school all day in first grade.  Olive was overjoyed when school was out and she got to play with Hannah all day.  And play they did.  They would spend hours in the morning playing legos.  Or making up plays and puppet shows.  Or setting up a town with stuffed animals.  And we spent plenty of lazy afternoons at the park or swimming pool.  We actually got tan this summer!  And I don't think I've had a tan since before I had kids!  We had some firsts this summer: geocaching, tennis, first baseball game, first time diving for Hannah and going underwater for Olive, and exploring new places like Old Shawnee Town.  And we did all the usual summer "must-do" list: camping, kayaking, catching fireflies, swimming lessons, Corporate Challenge, and 4th of July parade.  I think I say this every year, but it was the best summer!

Firsts

first time sitting in the front of the cart

first time in the highchair

A Party for Justin

Aunt Becky moved to Idaho in August and in February, Uncle Justin joined her.  We had a family party for him in Chillicothe.  I didn't get many pictures. :(  It is the first time he has lived outside of Missouri so there will be many firsts and new things for him.  We can't wait to hear all about Justin and Becky's adventures in the great white north!  

Aunt Marissa and the girls made him some awesome chalk art on the porch.

Olive's favorite phrase.

Hannah drew a forest scene.

5 year Blogiversary

Don't get excited.  There is no giveaway involved.  Well, I could send you some hairbows or tutus.  I have way too many of those.

Steve and I started this blog five years ago.  I was pregnant and we wanted to share sonogram news (and eventual baby pictures) with everyone.  We thought it might get obnoxious to constantly email people.  We weren't on Facebook.  Who else but our mothers cared about my morning sickness anyway?  So we started blogging mostly for our immediate family and a few close friends.  With both of our parents two hours away, we knew they would appreciate seeing pictures of their grandkid. Maybe other people wanted to check in on our life, too?  But if they didn't, that was okay.

We both wrote posts.  I wrote about pregnancy, holidays, and the house.  Steve wrote about bikes and savings plans.  Steve lost interest, and now it's just me.  Why am I still here?  

While I started writing for family and friends (and now family of friends and friends of family), I continued blogging for me.  I liked looking back and remembering what we did last Christmas and what Hannah looked like when she was 6 months old.  The current state of my mommy brain means I often have to look up things like: What was Hannah's Halloween costume two years ago?  Nobody but the blog knows.  True story.

But now I am really blogging for the girls.  My mom's dad died when she was just four years old and she doesn't have that many memories of him.  It is weird to think that if something happened to me tomorrow, Hannah wouldn't remember much of our time together, and Olive might not remember anything.  Those girls changed my life and I have a billion memories of them (you know, except for Halloween costumes).  I want to share that with them.  So through this blog they will get a glimpse their silly parents, family trips, our friends, all their firsts, and (most of all) how much they are loved.

Gulf Shores Vacation- Part 1

We did our first real family road trip the week of Labor Day!  Before this the longest trips the girls took in the car were to Omaha or St. Louis.  So I was nervous about driving 14 hours with them.  I shouldn't have been.  They were great.  They did lots of activity books, looked at kid atlases, read a book about each state we visited (Hannah), played road trip scavenger hunts (kids vs. parents), did mad libs (toot was a popular noun and verb), and built lots and lots of lego creations.  They were thrilled that I put several ocean themed legos in the box like sharks, scuba divers, and an octopus.  And when all else failed, we had our trusty ipad.  But we usually didn't get the ipad out until late afternoon.

We mainly wanted to take the girls to the ocean for the first time (we don't count Seattle since we didn't really play in the water).  But we also wanted to show them more parts of country, too.  Before the trip they had visited six states (Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, and Washington.)  And on this trip they visited six more (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee.)  They doubled their state count!  It was an amazing family vacation with lots of "firsts" and lots of memories.  And now that we know they are good car travelers, we are looking forward to more road trips!

Warning: Part 1 of our Gulf Shores vacation doesn't actually contain any pictures of Gulf Shores.  We took 3 days driving there and here's what we saw on the way...

Our first stop was for lunch.  We saw this restaurant IN A CAVE and I made Steve turn the car around to go to it.  And also, there were GOATS.  Olive was less than the thrilled at the free-roaming goats and insisted on being carried.

Next stop was Elk River.  Steve really wanted to do a float trip on it as part of our vacation.  I talked him out of it, but I'm sure we will be back in the future.  This time we just played around in the water a little just to take a break from driving.

Next stop was the Scott Family Amazeum in Betonville, Arkansas.  We got in free since we are Union Station members.  Score!

My favorite picture ever.  I wanted it to be my Facebook profile pic, but then I thought it *might* be a little too weird.

And since we were right next to it, we stopped at Crystal Bridges art museum.  The girls were not in the mood to tour the whole museum, but we wanted them to see the architecture.  They also recognized some sculptures we have in KC.

They were very excited to make pinwheels.  So Steve stayed with them to do that while I looked at some galleries.

 And we ended our day at Mount Magazine.  We wanted to camp, but the campsites were first come, first serve.  We crossed our fingers and drove there as fast as we could...and got the very last campsite in overflow camping!!  Hurrah!  The girls were jumping up and down.  After we set up our tents (somehow I didn't take any pictures), we got to see the sunset from the lodge.

The next day we saw more of the mountain and hiked the trail to the top.

These two are goofballs.  

Throwback picture to our very first camping trip when they were at the highest point in Missouri:

They were completely spoiled on the trip and every time we stopped to get gas we got a treat from the gas station.  Their favorite was wild berry sherbet.

Next stop was Crater of Diamonds State Park: the world's only "keep what you find" diamond mine. The biggest diamond found in the US (40.23 carat) was found here.  On the day we visited someone from Arkansas found a .03 carat diamond.

And I found this diamond!!  Just kidding.  It was quartz.  But it was fun to pretend.  We found lots of cool rocks (mostly jasper) and some volcanic ash.

I couldn't capture it in pictures, but the dirt actually sparkled when the sun hit it just right.

That is the original entrance to the diamond mine.

hot and tired

Digging for diamonds really wears a girl out.

Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana

We didn't spot any alligators, but we saw LOTS of spiders.  They were everywhere and they were as big as the palm of my hand.

We planned on camping on Day 2 in Louisiana, but it was 90 degrees.  We opted for a hotel.  On Day 3 we drove to Vicksburg, Mississippi.  We weren't going to visit the Civil War site because 1) Steve and I have been there before and 2) I didn't think the girls would get much out of it since they are so young.  But then we decided we couldn't drive through Vicksburg and NOT do it.  And so the girls got an intro lesson about the Civil War.

I remember seeing this when I was on a road trip with my family in fifth grade.  I wish I could find those pictures and compare it to now.

Catfish Row Children's Art Park:  our intended Vicksburg stop.  A little more kindergarten-friendly than civil war cannons. :)

Vicksburg Riverfront Murals

And that's where I'll end part 1.  Next up, we make it to Gulf Shores at the end of Day 3.