Good Times in KC

We started our 10-day Missouri vacation in Kansas City, to visit Mimi, Grampy and the rest of the Milne crew!  Our first outing was to Fritz's in Crown Center.  It is a train-themed restaurant with train tracks along the ceiling that allow little electric trains to deliver the food right to your table--how cool is that?!  The boys had a blast and I kept wondering how we have gone this long without knowing about Fritz's...now we know!

Watching anxiously to see if the next train down the track would be our train.  

Making the next lunch delivery...

Here it is!! 

 Playing at the dinosaur exhibit.

 Kansas City's newest attraction--Sea Life Aquarium!

We had fun exploring the sea creatures and the boys had fun running and trying to get lost at every possible moment.  "Busy" does not begin to describe these two!!!

We ended the day with some frozen custard from Sheridan's.  A KC favorite--yummy!!!

(I think he likes it.)

Hot Wheels

Guess who's got a new project car?  That's right, Sean finally has a Karmann Ghia to restore & this is the happiest I've seen him...maybe ever!  (With the exception of our wedding day & the boys' birthdays, of course.)  ;-)  She's not much to look at now, but give us about 10 years & this sweet ride will be the envy of the neighborhood, I'm sure!

1st Day of Preschool!

Carter started his last year of Preschool today & he could not have been more excited.  He woke up and went through the morning routine without complaints (very unusual), knowing that it was all in preparation for leaving to go to school.  I stole this "First Day of School" idea from my neighbor, who saw it on Pinterest.  

Davis cannot wait until it's HIS turn to go!  The whole time Carter was at school, Davis kept saying "But, Carter's my best friend!"  As in...how could you leave him at school & separate us for 2 1/2 hours??  

 It makes me so happy to see Carter's enthusiasm towards school.  Not a tear shed or a second thought given to mom leaving him this morning!  We are thrilled to have him back with Ms Glo & Ms LaDonna for his second year.  He ran to Ms LaDonna this morning--we love, love, love his awesome teachers!!

 Carter's name is on a green gumball.  :-)

 Davis darted into the classroom as soon as we arrived to pick Carter up.  He is beyond ready to be a big boy like his brother!  Mom, on the other hand, not so much...

Date Night!

Last Thursday, we went out for drinks, dinner & dessert...can't tell you how long it's been since we did that! It was wonderful.  So much fun to try a new restaurant and just enjoy being a couple instead of parents for the night.  I must say, I probably had one too many margaritas but for some reason I really wanted to make the most of our night on the town.  The next morning at work, I questioned that decision.  Oh well!!

 The view from our table at "Linger".  http://lingerdenver.com/ The place happens to be an old mortuary (Olinger's, for you Denver folks), but it's not creepy at all.  Kind of a cool story/concept, actually.  

It overlooks this great ice cream place called "Little Man" http://littlemanicecream.com/ (pictured).  We had some de-lish small plates at Linger, then waited in line for ice cream--totally worth the wait!  Our friend, Katie, recommended Linger and my cousin, Taylor, suggested the ice cream place.  Both were a hit!  

*On a side-note, we were waiting in line for ice cream with a couple who were recently reunited after not seeing one another for 12 years!  They grew up together as childhood friends in NYC, then she moved away in middle school, while he stayed in New York.  Over a decade later, they reconnected via the internet!  Now they are 20-somethings and we got to see them on their first "date"/his first trip to CO...I'm pretty sure they'll get married some day, so it was very romantical to meet them & hear their story.  Now we're all friends on Facebook, so I'll let you know how everything turns out & if we get invited to the wedding. ;-)

Where Does the Time Go?

The beauty of having two boys almost exactly two years apart is that you (almost) never have to buy new clothes for the youngest.  Today I remembered this photo of Carter at age 2 and Davis at 4 months old, taken at our old house.  

I have Davis in that same t-shirt today & wanted to do a "then and now" photo.  It didn't turn out exactly how I'd hoped, but you get the idea...

 Davis (age 2 1/2) and Carter (age 4...two months away from being five!!)

 My two monkeys!

Happy Birthday, Kelsie Rae!

We celebrated my beautiful cousin's 22nd birthday last week with dinner at our house!  I remember the day she was born and it has been such a joy to see her grow up to be the amazing person she is today.  We love you, Kels!

Tyler's dad was the horse and Carter was the cowboy.  This was a big hit!

Two of my favorite guys!

Davis + Cupcakes = Love

The Birthday Girl and her favorite chocolate pie

Cousins!!

Kelsie & Tyler with Carter

Carter loves him some Tay Tay

My favorite Auntie!

Giving hugs & kisses before bed in his favorite Woody PJs

Carter refused to be in this picture with us...oh, well.

Butterfly Pavilion

The boys & I had a fun outing to the Butterfly Pavilion with our new friends, the Lynch girls!  The only drawback was that the main butterfly area gave me horrible flashbacks to what Summertime was like growing up in the Midwest (humid, hot and miserable...did I mention humid?)  Despite all that, we had a great time!  Thanks, girls! 

Carter & the girls trying to get a butterfly to land on them...

If you look closely, you can see that Nora (in yellow) had a big butterfly land on her doll!  It was kind of a big deal, people...worth sweating our brains out for.  

Carter was talking to Lila about her baby doll and trying to explain to her that worn out, shredded blankies are just as special.  I'm not sure she was buying it!  

Lila trying to coax Davis out of the gazebo.  She was so sweet!

*Not pictured are the gazillion times my boys ran off in different directions to get lost in the butterfly mist and give their poor mother a panic attack/heat stroke.  I was a little jealous of Penny's three sweet, well-behaved girls. 

Swim Lessons

Recently, the YMCA started offering swim lessons at our neighborhood pool--how convenient!  The boys ended up being combined into a private lesson together since enrollment was low, so we are getting plenty of personalized attention.    

The boys' instructor, Emily, is really good with them and so patient.  She said her biggest obstacle with this age group is usually fear of the water, something my boys know nothing about!  Actually, I was hoping lessons would give them a healthy respect (and maybe a little fear) of the water so that I don't have to worry about them trying to do all the things that they see the big kids doing.  We'll see!   

 Practicing kicking.  Carter loved this...Davis wasn't so sure.