Summer Outings: June 3-8

June 3: New Century Airport (near Gardner) has a Commemorative Air Force wing. Once a month, they open it up to the public to see their planes and enjoy the history of the Air Force. We toured the hangar and William played with some toys they had out. They had a mock/wooden plane for Will to sit and an rock around. We even got to ride in a WWII jeep around the airport with the cutest old man ;)

That romper! :)

June 6: Today was park day! Slather on the sunscreen for this ginger baby and let's get outside! Will was able to explore and play on his own. I am still so nervous to let him climb around on his own, but I'm trying to get better about it.

June 7: Lazy day at home today. Some of these days are getting toasty to be outside so we have to entertain ourselves indoors all day. Today, we read books, played in our police car tent, and played with Snapchat filters.

Shoutout: Happy Birthday to Papa Fish!

June 8: I pride myself on finding free things to do to get us out of the house. Just because we don't want cabin fever doesn't mean we need to go broke! This evening, we went to Mahaffie Farmstead for one of their Free Family Nights. The theme this evening was Kansas Cowboys! William was able to pet a real, live horse and sit in a saddle. There were cows and chickens at the farmstead as well, so we practiced our animal noises. We toured the farmhouse and watched them shoot off guns from the 1800s (note: William didn't get scared of the noise at all, Bret was proud!).

Summer Outings: May 29-June 2

May 29: We went to Gieringers Orchard today to pick strawberries! Aunt Andrea came with us as well to get our fresh fruit. Andrea and I each stayed at an end of the row we were picking from and William just ran and ran between us, "helping" us pick berries. Andrea and I also enjoyed some strawberry donuts (we gave Will a taste, no worries!). He had a blast!! They have blueberry, blackberry, peach, and tomato picking as well. We will definitely be back!

May 30: On Tuesdays, our local library has Toddler Story Time. We went to library story time when I was on maternity leave (a lifetime ago!). Sitting still is not William's best talent, but he did pretty well. We listened to a story about an elephant and there was event a puppet! On our way out, we picked up a summer reading challenge for William. He will get a certificate if we read enough books this summer, totally doable!

May 31: Anyone know where William is? Peek-A-Boo is a favorite around our house!

June 1: We went into Topeka to pick up our side of beef from Bret's uncle. While we were there, we stopped by Bret's grandparents' house. They just celebrated their 89th and 92nd birthdays and are as feisty as ever! They got out a wooden rocking horse that was made by someone in the family. Apparently all of Bret's mom's siblings rode on it as kids and all of Bret's cousins. It was even at Bret's house in Auburn, KS for a while. I couldn't let this moment pass by without getting William on it!

Summer Outing: Deanna Rose

A teacher friend, Natalie, and I with our kiddos went to Deanna Rose Farmstead this week. William is getting to be to the age where he can interact with his environment and is interesting in the things around him. Natalie's three kids are so good to him and were good protectors and made sure he was doing everything & having fun. We saw all the animals (there was a 3 day old baby goat!) and checked out their old time shops (did you know the barber was also the dentist?!). We had packed a picnic lunch to enjoy before William and I headed home for afternoon nap time. It was a fun day and I'm looking forward to more outings this summer!

 

Whew! School's Out For Summer!!

Our last day of school for this year was Monday, May 22nd. It's summer now! Time for William and I to keep busy and have lots of fun together. We are excited to be around on Bret's days off and plan on having some fun family days as well.

On field day, I was challenged by one of my students to compete in the Balloon Blaster! Each of us had a water balloon hanging over our heads and an air pump at our feet. Our job was to pump our competitor's balloon full of air to pop faster than they could pop our balloon! It was a lot of fun, but that water was COLD!! Good thing it was a hot day!

We celebrated the students' multiplication & division skills with an ice cream sundae party. We introduced them to a movie classic from when we were kids: Homeward Bound! They loved the movie and were excited to hear there's a sequel. 

This is my 3rd season being a Girls on the Run Coach. The organization celebrated its 10th year this spring! I have loved getting to know the 3rd, 4th, & 5th grade girls who participate. Each season ends with a 5K around Kaufmann & Arrowhead stadiums.

the sparkle at our school: Jen

this year's coaches: Ashley, Jesse, Jen, me, DeAnn, & Elise

William's daycare runs only during the school year, so he said goodbye to Miss Alisa this month as well. She has been so completely amazing for us this year. It's hard to believe we started him in the fall as an 8 month old baby and we end the school year with an almost 1.5 year old! She has been so understanding of our schedules and caring for William. She even gives him his haircuts! We couldn't have asked for a better daycare provider.

of course, who is the one kid not looking at the camera...

William in Bret's Childhood Clothes

Bless her heart, Susie (Bret's mom) saved every Easter & Christmas outfit Bret wore growing up! I am so very happy that she did!! I love dressing William in them and looking at him compared to Bret around the same age.

 

Ready to pick up his prom date! 

Bath Time = Best Time for William

One of Will's favorite things is bath time. He hears us turn the water on and starts pointing toward the bathroom or will run over to the door and wait for us to open it. He can hardly wait to get his clothes & diaper off to get in the water. Then, he plays with his toys and strainer cups. He now loves to splash which leaves the entire surrounding area dripping with water, which cracks him up!

Rough Life for Will

Sometimes being William Brown isn't easy ;) He has so many toys and stuffed animals, it's hard to choose which one to play with. Then, he gets a pretend phone call and just doesn't have time to take it. Busy little guy.

Then, he finds time to snuggle with mama and life is a little better again!