Balloons!

On Sunday evening we headed to Gardner for the Kansas City Hot Air Balloon Invitational - apparently it's the second annual event but I just heard about it for the first time this year.

Unfortunately it looked like rain was rolling in; however, we decided to check it out anyway. When we got there these balloons were airing up (not sure of the official balloon lingo!) and we got to walk around and get pretty close to the balloons.



You can see the 'angry' looking sky behind Scott. Shortly after this picture the event organizers told the balloon operators to quit airing up their balloons. :(


Darn camera focused nicely on the balloons in the background and not on Karsten and I in the foreground.


The inside of one of the balloons as it was deflating.

Packing up to hit the road before the rain. Can't wait for this to come around next year - I've seen several other people's pictures from Saturday night and it looks like it's so cool when all the balloons are up!

Have you ever noticed that balloon is one of those crazy words that looks like you mispelled it after you look at it for a long time. Balloon...two 'l's...yep, that's right!

Trip to Africa

We went to the KC Zoo on Saturday and took Grandma and Grandpa with us. It was a beautiful day, a little warm if you were in the sun too long, but it was gorgeous in the shade.

We decided to join Friends of the Zoo this year so we could go occasionally and not worrying about trying to see all of the animals in one trip. When we got to the zoo we decided to head to Africa so we could see some big animals that Karsten would enjoy watching.

Karsten and Grandma talking as we waited for the sea lion show to get started.

Excited to see all of the animals!

Scott and Karsten talking while we waited for the sea lion show. We only had to wait about 15 minutes for the show to start, but we found a shady spot and hung out.

And finally, the sea lion show got started. It was great - they did a great job having tricks at different points in the pool so everyone could see.

Karsten got out of his stroller so he could see the sea lions better. He watched them so intently.

Watching the elephants!


This big guy only had one tusk. Wonder why...we didn't make it up to the viewing station to read about him.

Waving at Grandma and Grandpa. He starting waving on Saturday - he waves his arm up and down. We've been 'practicing' waving for a while; however, this was the first time he waved back when someone waved at him.

All the people walking by were way more interesting than looking at the camera.


Our family picture - still couldn't get him to look at the camera!

Karsten and grandma watching the cheetah. The cheetah cage went above the walkway we were on. We stood there watching the cheetah stalk around his cage a bit, then the cheetah jumped up and walked across over our heads. When Karsten saw the cheetah jump, he laughed out loud - it was too cute, the people standing next to us even laughed!

There was this really long suspension bridge taking us over to Zaire so we could see
the gorillas. It bounced a bit as we walked along - but it was a great photo opp.

Asking for 'more' when we stopped to have a snack.

After the zoo we went to grandma and grandpa's for dinner. Karsten found his rubbermaid of toys right away and started dumping everything on the floor.

He 'convinced' grandpa to play with his car on the floor.

Then the boys went to sit outside to man the grill and Karsten wasn't happy to have been left inside with the girls.

We had a very sleepy boy at the end of a great day - we're looking forward to going back to the zoo to see more animals.

A smile for you

Not too much to say today, just wanted to share a smile that can brighten any day!

Two Cooks

Scott is the cook at our house - my cooking skills are limited to baking. I make a mean brownie from a mix, pumpkin bars (from scratch!) and I can follow a few basic recipes. All of the yummy meals come from Scott - he's always willing to try a new recipe and not afraid to substitute different ingredients if we don't have what he's lookng for or if he doesn't know what it is. They always turn out well.

The other ninght Scott was holding Karsten while he was cooking dinner and it was adorable how attentive Karsten was to what Scott was doing. Hopefully he will enjoy cooking!

This is what happens after dinner if we tell Karsten "No, you can't crawl onto the dishwasher lid". He likes to come over and stand next to the dishwasher while we load it. He usually is pretty good and just bangs his toy or drives his truck on the dishwasher but when he decides to try to climb on the lid, this is what happens when we say no. It starts with an absolutely adorable pout that I haven't been able to catch on camera yet.

Puzzled

Karsten is quite enamored with his animal puzzle. Each day he pulls it out and dumps out all of the animals. He will try to put some of the animals back on the puzzle or sometimes he just carries one of the animals around with him.

Looking at the puzzle - too bad I cut it out of the pic huh. :)

Focusing as he puts a piece on the puzzle...not necessarily close to wear it belongs, but it's on the puzzle. :)

The horse was the chosen animal this day - he got carried around for a while.

I have a serious weakness for plaid shorts. We don't need to discuss how many pairs of plaid shorts he has...and no counting when he appears in them over future blog posts. They are just so darn cute!!

Deanna Rose

Yesterday we took Karsten to Deanna Rose Farmstead - a wonderful petting zoo. I remember going to Deanna Rose when I was little; however, it's changed so much. We really wanted to take Karsten to Deanna Rose for the first time before all the kids were out of school for the summer and the petting zoo would be too crowded for Karsten to be able to see the animals well.

The weather was supposed to be in the 70s and sunny; however, that proved false. It was around 60 and looked like it could rain. We decided to brave it and trust that it wouldn't rain on us. Karsten stayed nice and warm in his stroller - he had a great day!

Karsten watching the sheep. These were the first animals we saw - they weren't making any noise, just eating and he couldn't take his eyes off them.

All throughout the park they had beautiful planters and flowers like this.

Watching the chickens.

This little duck was very smart - he was hanging out under the feeder. We got some feed and Scott fed him - Scott was laughing because it felt funny with the duck nibbling on the feed in his hands. It made Karsten laugh, it was hilarious.

Next we moved on to feeding the goats.

Since there weren't too many people at the petting zoo, Scott's handful of feed got lots of attention from the goats.

Making noises as we walk around the zoo.

Getting excited as the baby goat gets closer to him. He squeeled -it was adorable!

That darn hood kept getting in his way - eventually he gave up trying to take it off and left it alone.

Then we set off to find the lil goats we could feed a bottle of milk. Scott decided we should go in the pen with the goats so it would be easier for them to eat that way. Again, not too many people at the zoo this day so ALL of the lil goats wanted some of the milk from the bottle. It was a little overwhelming as they were all jumping and pushing each other out of the way to try to get to the bottle. Karsten was a happy camper high above all of the chaos below.

We had to take the picture of the old John Deere for grandpa.

Another picture looking at the goats - I actually made it into a picture! Proof I was there. :)

Well, we got a picture together, not a great one. That darn tongue ...

We look forward to many more trips to Deanna Rose!!