KC, sans Mommy. Day 1: Legoland

That's right, even though I am the one from Kansas City, I was not along for this recent trip in which Sean loaded up the boys, drove 12 hours from Denver to KC (it took longer because 4 1/2 hours were with the windshield wipers on full blast since a torrential downpour followed him all the way to Topeka!).  Instead, I stayed home to work (start pity party now) while Sean went to the Beilman Family reunion and stayed with the boys at Mimi & Grampy's house.

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Hugging my boys goodbye.  It was hard to let go!

Now to the fun part: Legoland Discovery Center at Crown Center

Uncle Josh, Grampy and Mimi went with Sean and the boys!  

 Sean said that each Legoland has a miniature replica of the city where it's located, all made of Legos of course.  Here you can get some scale of how small everything was:

 Kauffman Stadium (where the Royals play, folks).  

 Downtown KC

The Emerald City (above) from the Wizard of Oz.  Let me just clarify that Kansas City (at least the cool parts) are in MISSOURI.  The fact that the Wizard of Oz is represented here is a bit confusing, since the movie takes place in Kansas.  However, the city does straddle the state line and there is an industrial, boring side of Kansas City that lies in Kansas.  *It is probably my biggest pet peeve when I tell people I am from Kansas City and they say "Oh, you're from Kansas?".  Okay, I'll move on...

 Dorothy's house, in black-and-white...

 ...transitions to Munchkin Land, in full color!

 The Country Club Plaza, complete with working fountain!

 Sean took this photo to show me that the bright green tees I packed for him to dress the boys, in an effort for them to stand out in a crowd, backfired since there was a huge group (there were about 50 more kids, not pictured) of summer camp kids at Legoland...all dressed in, you guessed it, BRIGHT GREEN SHIRTS!

 Taking in a 4-D Lego Movie with Grampy

 Riding the flying wizard ride with Daddy.

 Sorry for all the photos, but I loved the progression of the next series:

 How many Beilmans can fit on a Lego cycle?

 Mimi's in charge!

 After a full day at Crown Center, everyone met for dinner.  Including, Aunt Natalie (who is due to have our baby niece next month!!) and Sean's parents who had just arrived for the reunion.  What a day!

Daddy is the Birthday Boy!

Happy Birthday to the best husband a girl could ask for and the best Daddy ever!!  We love you, Sean!

On the way home from picking up Sean's cake at the bakery, Carter asked if Daddy was really turning 34 years old.  I told him "yes", then Carter asked "Well, how old are you Mommy?".  I told Carter that I was 37 and Carter said "What?!  You mean you're older than Daddy?  Does Daddy know how old you are?"  I was cracking up, but I told Carter that Daddy has always known I was older and I assured Carter that Sean didn't mind.  Carter still wasn't convinced.  He told me "Well, I think we'd better go home & tell Dad right away."  Seriously, he acted like I've been fooling Sean all these years...guess I know where HIS loyalties are!

The boys were more than happy to help Daddy eat his cake!  Carter kept referring to Sean as "the birthday boy"...it was pretty cute.  This is almost the same pose we got on my birthday--Davis smiling from ear to ear and Carter looking longingly at the cake.  

What a Bunch of Animals!

This afternoon, we had our hardwoods resealed for the second time, so that meant we needed to be out of the house for several hours.  What better place to kill some time but at the zoo!  We met our friends there and the kids had a blast seeing all the animals, sharing snacks and trying to stay cool on this hot day.  

  

 The Lions were napping in the shade & that gave us an opportunity to see these cats up close & personal.

 Amelia & Carter posing by a lizard.  

 These two first-borns were adamant about having maps to "see where we were going".

 Riding in an authentic Tuk Tuk--so cool!

 (And for those of you who are keeping track, this is officially date #2 for Davis & Avery.)

 Learning about elephants with fake elephant trunks (dryer vents) on their arms. 

 Watching this monkey eat a banana with his feet...

 Having fun on the Carousel (Sadly, the train was out-of-service for the day).

 Davis insisted on riding the hippo.  

Davis, Amelia & Carter in the penguin house.

Making Ice Cream

I am not super big into gimmicky type items, but this ice cream ball looked like the perfect fun Summer activity to do with the boys.  So...$20 later, here we are making homemade ice cream!

 Carter reading the directions to see what ingredients were needed:

Ice

Rock Salt

Cream

Sugar

Vanilla Extract

 Davis wanted to help, too!

 Once the ingredients are in you shake, roll, kick or toss the ball for about 20 minutes until you get the ice cream consistency you want.  Super easy!!  This was by far the boys' favorite part of the process.  

 Keep that ice cream rollin'!

 The consistency was perfect & such a yummy treat!

 Carter & Davis gave it two thumbs up!

Pool Time!

Our neighborhood pool opened Memorial Day weekend & we have been SO excited to check it out!  It is really nice to load the boys up in the wagon, walk to the pool, cool off, head home for lunch and then go down for nap...I think I have found the perfect Summer routine!  

Do they look excited?!

Our view from the splash pool...

 That crazy bucket fills with water then tips over splashing everyone within a 10-foot radius.  

At this point, Davis was ready for a PB&J, then nap.  Sounds good to me!

School's Out for the Summer!

Carter's last day of Preschool was Thursday.  They celebrated by having a ceremony for all the kids going on to Kindergarten next year, followed by Field Day for all of the Preschoolers!  Even though Carter has one more year of Preschool next year, I still got a little teary at the thought of my big boy growing up so fast.  

He actually is only 10 days shy of making the cut off for Kindergarten next year, but we decided that another year of Preschool would be good for him socially.  So--we are going to have a chill out Summer and look forward to going back to our AWESOME teachers and school next year.  We love, love, love this school and can't wait until Davis is old enough to go!   

 Carter with some of his best buddies.

 Getting his "rolled up piece of paper" (aka: diploma).  

 Our amazing teachers, Ms Glo & Ms LaDonna!!  

 Showing off his bracelet of "UVBeads"...they change color in sunlight to remind you it's bright enough that you need sunscreen.  Genius idea & great "end of school gift" from his teachers.

 Mimi got to come to Field Day, too!  What a treat!

 The three-legged race.

 Chasing Ms Glo.

 Enjoying snacks after all that running around!

Saying good-bye to Ms. LaDonna. See you next year!

Just for the record...

(Feel free to skip this post, it's just me reorganizing the blog space.)  

Here is a running list of the boys' stats from birth until now.  Since neither one has a baby book, I need to keep this somewhere & the blog seemed like the most logical place.  

Davis Henry Beilman

Born: November 22, 2009 

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Birth: 8 lbs 14 oz, 20 inches
2 months: 11 lbs 10.5 oz, 22 1/4 in.
4 months: 14 lbs 11 oz, 25 in.
4 months, 3 weeks: 15 lbs 6 oz
6 months: 16 lbs 3 oz, 26 1/4 in.
9 months: 18 lbs 1 oz, 28 1/2 in.
10 months: 18 lbs 15 oz
1 year: 19 lbs 13 oz, 30 1/2 in.
15 months: 22 lbs
16 months: 22 lbs 3 oz, 32 in.
18 months: 24 lbs 3 oz, 32 in.

2 Years: 27 lbs 2 oz, 34 1/2 in.

2 1/2 Years: 36 in.

Carter David Beilman
Born: October 11, 2007 
----------------------------------
Birth: 8 lbs 8 oz, 19 3/4 in.
2 months: 12 lbs, 4.5 oz, 23.5 in.
4 months: 15 lbs 1.5 oz, 25 in.
6 months: 17 lbs 7 oz, 26 3/4 in.
9 months: 20 lbs 10 oz, 29.5 in.
1 Year: 22 lbs 6 oz, 29.5 in.
2 Years: 26 lbs 4 oz, 34 3/4 in.
2 1/2 Years: 30lbs 2 oz, 36 3/4 in.
3 Years: 29 lbs 2 oz, 37 in.
4 Years: 33 lbs, 39 in.

4 1/2 Years: 41 in.
5 Years: 36 lbs, 42 in.