A Visit from Flat Stanley via Mila in California

An exciting visitor came to Kansas to see William from California via Mila & her her first grade class. While he was here, we were to show Stanley what Kansas is all about. We took him on quite a tour!

Flat Stanley came to my classroom to see where I teach!

 We took FS to Lawrence. We showed him the iconic Allen Fieldhouse! We checked out all the Jayhawk sports memorabilia and trophies. Of course, FS needed to see the original rules of basketball.

 

For some family history, we needed to stop by my & Aunt Meg's college sorority, Sigma Kappa. William had no idea what the house was, but he gladly sat for the picture ;)

Next, onto Topeka! We stopped at Bret's grandparents, Mary & Bill's. They are in their 90s and they are doing great! We wanted to take some time to visit with them. Most of the time when we see them, it's at a large family gathering so just having the three of us (plus Flat Stanley) spend time together.

Also in Topeka, we stopped at Bret's aunt & uncle and cousin's farm to visit the cows. It's calving season so we got to see the mamas and their babies. W got to feed them and get as close as the mamas would let him.

 

 William's PreK celebrated Read Across America Week with a popcorn & book tasting event. Luckily, FS was still in town and got to come along for the visit to W's school.

They even found & read Flat Stanley's books!

Just before FS needed to head back to CA, he checked out William's first soccer practice. He is old enough to be on a "real" team now (3v3, no goalie).

Weekend in Wichita

This year, we purchased season tickets to the Tanganyika Wildlife Park. A few times this year, we have driven down for just a day trip a couple of times to visit the park and drive back. We had a rare weekend free and decided we would stay the whole time. William loved staying in a hotel and getting to swim in October! It was also the park's Halloween celebration weekend, so W was able to wear one of his (many) costumes to the park.

The best part of the park is the ability to get up and close with the animals! All the animals they have at the park are rescues. We were able to pet some of the animals and had feeding passes along with our season tickets.

Since we had an extra day in Wichita, we visited the Old Cowtown Museum. It's a fantastic little place and I so wish we had something like it in Kansas City to take my students to visit! It was a mock up of a pioneer cow town. You could go into the buildings and see what the businesses were like then. There was even a shootout (!) we got to witness! William got hi photo with the sheriff and then the whole cow town shootout ensemble.

Wrote his name all on his own!!

Couples' Trip to Nashville

Bret and I met Megan & Robert in Nashville, TN for a couples' vacation! It was a city none of them had been to & I hadn't been in ten years. We had fun exploring the area and visiting the bars & restaurants downtown. It was nice to get away for a bit and just be with Megan & the guys. I'm thinking we should do this more often!

plane rides are so relaxing without a toddler to entertain!

No way were Bret and I going to be in Nashville and NOT stop by Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Plaza & studio. It was a day Dave was out of the studio (of course!) so we didn't get to meet him, but we did get a tour of the facility and a free cookie & coffee cup for visiting. Bret and I wouldn't be where we are today financially or relationally without going through FPU. It literally changed our marriage.

We got to visit the Grand Ole Opry on our Nashville trip as well. It was so fun to see performers on such a famous stage!

LOVED having sister time!