Ironwoods

Every Tuesday in June we went to a kid event at Ironwoods Park.  We saw a puppet show, Dino O'Dell concert, Funky Mama concert, and a juggler.  I think every time we had some friends show up- the Finleys once and kindergarten friends other weeks.  I only took pictures of the last Tuesday and that is because Olive got up on stage!  She helped the juggler with a lasso trick and she was very proud.  Two years ago Hannah did the same trick on stage.

Central Library

Our first time at KC's Central Library.  Well, I ran through it on Wendy's birthday scavenger hunt, but I didn't explore it.  It's taken me this long to bring the girls.  It was worth it.  We saw...

the coolest parking garage

the coolest kid section

and the coolest chess set on the roof

Longview Lake

I love a summer afternoon at the beach, even if it only a lake beach. :)

Olive wore Hannah's old floatie swimsuit for the first time.  She asked if she could go out as far as she wanted in the lake.  I said yes, thinking she wouldn't go in past her waist as usual.  But she went way out where she couldn't touch all by herself!  The purple dot is her. 

Steve built an elaborate sandcastle that impressed all the other kids.  The girls helped (a little).

Father's Day

Mother's Day and Father's Day are admittedly silly holidays.  Because of course parents should be celebrated and thanked EVERY day.  But since that rarely happens, at least we've got once a year. :)   Every year Steve runs the Corporate Challenge duathlon on Father's Day, which is his favorite event.  (He placed 6th this year).  And he chose kayaking for the family acitivity.  Yes, he bought a kayak last year.  Then Granny bought us all life jackets to go with it.  But we never got to take it out until Father's Day.  Steve and Hannah were very excited for the maiden voyage.  Olive and I were less so.

We went on the Blue River in KC.  It is super shallow and we had to carry the kayak over some spots.

The girls were most excited about "islands" they could walk on.

Butterflies!

We bought a butterfly habitat at a flea market and it had info for how to order caterpillars.  

me: I ordered the caterpillars, isn't that awesome?

Steve:  So you are going to get LIVE caterpillars in the mail?

me:  Yep.

Steve:  So REAL caterpillars are going to be shipped to our house?

me: Yep.

Steve:  That's disgusting.

So only 3/4 of the family was excited about the project.  I didn't take a good picture of the caterpillars because there were cobweb-like things in the jar and it was hard to see.  In fact, one the caterpillars got caught in them and couldn't make it to the top to form a chrysalis. :(  But the remaining 4 survived!

We waited for a week...and then we missed them actually emerging because we weren't home.  But we still had fun with them.  Olive had a little too much fun because she liked to shake the habitat to get them to move.  We released them after a couple of days because I didn't want to give them PTSD.

Adventures with Ollie and Penny

We love hanging out with the Wedmans!  We went to the zoo and Science City together.  We were lucky to catch them in between trips to New Jersey and Oklahoma.  They are busy!  Oh yeah, and they are also moving into a new house this summer.  

I love these cuties.  I thought Ollie and Hannah looked like brother and sister when they were little.  Now Olive and Penny are the look-alikes.

I wish this picture wasn't blurry.  Although it makes it even trickier to tell who is who. :)

Anniversary

11th Anniversary- Definitely not as exciting as our 10th, but we still had a good time.  Steve's mom volunteered to babysit so we could go to dinner and a movie.  We went to Prairie Fire (newish entertainment district that Steve had never seen) and the movie was Ex Machina.  Highly recommend.

photo by Hannah

Blueberry Picking

 We went back to the Berry Patch like last year.  This year we took along Brooke and Gwendolyn and Emily, Brody, Levi and Conner.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the whole crew together. :(

Silly Finley boys

For Dad and Steve

I've heard the best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.  I think this is especially true of fathers with daughters.

I grew up with parents who were best friends.  You could tell they would rather spend time with each other than anyone else.  Dad valued Mom's opinion and vice versa.  I heard them laugh together, discuss decisions, and even argue.  I saw a few kisses and lots of hugs.  I saw how much Dad loved and respected Mom.  He also took us on nature walks, cooked us pancakes on Saturday mornings, washed the dishes, and even did laundry (when Mom let him).  And so when I grew up I had pretty high expectations of what it meant to be a husband and father.

Steve is very different from Dad in lots of ways, but exactly the same in the ways that count.  My girls are growing up seeing their dad love their mom.  They hear us laugh together, discuss decisions, and even argue.  They see a few kisses and lots of hugs.  They have a dad that takes them on bike rides, makes pancakes on Saturday mornings, picks up toys, and even occasionally does the dishes.

And it makes me happy when Steve does the dishes.  Because every day he is showing our daughters what it means to be a husband and father.  And someday my girls will marry a guy who does the dishes.  Which means they will marry a guy who loves and respects them, treats them as an equal partner, and does his share of the housework.

Also, I really hate doing the dishes.