Worlds of Fun

Each year, the company I work for sponsors a family day at Worlds of Fun, a local amusement park.  The park is available only to employees and their guests.  We've enjoyed it for the past several years; however, it was a lot more fun this year now that Karsten was tall enough to ride some of the rides.  Last year he was pretty disappointed when he wasn't tall enough for some of the rides.

All loaded into the stroller and ready for a fun day!


After waiting in loooong, slooooow lunch lines we headed to the train.  Karsten was so excited!


Since he has new found bravery after seeing the Tbones cow up close, he really wanted to have his picture taken with the 'puppy'.  We waited for our turn, then got to see Snoopy up close.


Karsten and I rode this 'rollercoaster'.  It was basically just a raised train ride because the track was flat and there weren't any hills, but he thought it was cool to be up high and wave to Daddy.


Then he and Scott rode these cars - since Karsten wasn't tall enough, Scott 'got' to ride with him.  Liam was getting antsy in the stroller so we found a shady spot and watched.




The cars would whip around the turns really fast - Scott said it made Karsten laugh and laugh each time.


They rode the monster trucks last year, so this was a must for today.


A quick ride on the bus that goes around and around.


When they were on the bus, Karsten spotted this mini detonator ride and decided he wanted to do it.  He was going to do it by himself so I was a bit worried about how he would do, but he was great.  Had so much fun, listened to the guy giving directions, then asked to do it again when it was over.  The lady in the middle screamed every time the ride made a sudden move (which was kinda the purpose of the ride) and Karsten thought she was pretty funny.




Serious about riding that motorcycle!




Next in a series of rides for little ones that go around and around.


And now the boats.


He also decided he wanted to do the swings that swung you out further and further as it went faster and faster.  This one made me nervous because I was worried he was too little to be secure in the seat, but he was determined to do it.  We ran into Liz, Kyle and Kellen in line and Kellen ended up riding at the same time as Karsten.


After the swing, we went to the bounce house for little kids.  Karsten was having so much fun...then it was time to get out.  The lady gave them a two minute warning, a one minute warning and a 30 second warning.  I echoed each of these warnings to make sure he heard each of them, but then when she said it was time to get out, he said no and sat down in the middle of the circular bounce house.

SIGH.

I tried to reason with him through the netting then went to the door to try to coax him out.  Liz wisely suggested letting Kellen try to get Karsten out, but that didn't work.  So...into the bounce house I went to carry the screaming child out. By now he was saying NOOOO, I WANT TO BOUNCE.  Sigh...did I mention the park was full of my coworkers?  Oh well, they were all at Planet Snoopy with their little ones - they understand the tantrums of an almost three year old.  Right? :)

After a snack (I think Karsten and I may have been a BIT crabby and hungry), we rode on the carousel before we left.  That was a good way to end the day!


Liam even got to ride!

A tree in our way

We've been planning a swingset for the boys in the backyard and when we plotted its location, we discovered a tree was going to be in the way. We debated about hiring someone to come cut it down, but we thought we could do it ourselves (as always, I use 'we' loosely and like often, we doesn't include me - I'm not skilled in tree cutting). We asked Leland if he would mind bringing his chainsaw and helping us (aka Scott) cut down the tree. After several days of analysis and pondering the best way to take down the tree that angled preciously toward our house, the guys made the executive decision that the tree was NOT coming down. If they trimmed enough branches away, it would open a clearing for the swingset and all would be well. Since we've already established that I'm not a tree expert, and they (Leland, Scott, my dad, David) seemed pretty adamant that it wasn't possible to do it safely (for them or the house), I agreed.

Lucky for us, Kelli, David and Trent were in town for a baseball tournament and had a long break between their morning and afternoon games, so they came over for a visit.  Unlucky for David, that means we asked him if he would help!


They cut down a lot of big, low hanging branches then cut them up into smaller pieces that could be bundled up or put in Leland's truck to take to the dump.


Our backyard was covered with tree branches!


Liam did a good job entertaining Aunt Kelli and Grandma.




He had fun with Trent too!


Karsten missed all of the tree cutting because he was napping.  Shhh, he doesn't even know that Kelli, David and Trent and Papa were here.  He would be sad if he knew all the action he missed!  He still got to help with the cleanup - there was lots of it as all those branches dropped a LOT of little branches and leaves.

Night with the TBones

Last year we started a fun tradition of going to a baseball game with Linda and Leland and Kelli's family.  We had a good time at the Royal's game last year; however, we wanted to give the Tbones game a try this year since it is closer to home, closer to Kelli and fam, and overall more kid friendly.

We had beautiful weather, it was warm but there was a nice breeze and my friend Liz had wisely encouraged us to buy tickets on the third base line so the sun would be at our back.

Headed into the stadium - Karsten was too distracted by all the rocks to look at the camera.  I think we're probably lucky he didn't try to put a few handfuls in his pockets!


Having dinner with Papa and watching the pregame show of motorcycles riding around the field perimeter.


Trent striking a pose for me while we wait for the game to get started.


Yay - a good smile from Karsten.  He was having so much fun!


We saw the TBones mascot when we walked into the stadium but Karsten was afraid of him.  The 'cow' was on the jumbotron and field a few times, so Karsten got to watch him from a distance.  Suddenly, during the game, Karsten said 'Mommy, let's go find that silly cow'.  So, I grabbed my camera and off we went.

We found the silly cow and he was taking a pic with someone else.  After Karsten watched for a minute, he was ready to go stand next to the cow.


This was as close as he was willing to get - I was happy, thought our cow scouting mission had been successful.  When we started to walk back to our seat, he turned around and wanted to see the cow AGAIN.


Luckily, the cow had not gone far and we got another picture with him.  Karsten was pretty proud of himself, but you wouldn't know it by looking at this picture!  When I was done taking pictures, he said, let's go tell Daddy we saw the cow and took our picture with him!


Liam did really well at the game, there was lots to watch end keep him entertained.  Toward the end of the game he got really sleepy but wouldn't relax cause he didn't want to miss anything - I took him out to the car and he was immediately asleep!




Having fun bouncing on daddy's lap - see his arm is blurry, I thought I caught him in a moment where he wasn't bouncing, guess not!


There was a foul ball hit right in front of us - thankfully it stayed on the ground on the field.  As the player ran for it, David encouraged Trent to yell the players number and ask him for the ball.  Sure enough, the player caught the ball, ran past and gave the ball to Trent.


He was SOO excited - it made his whole night!  This is another HUGE perk of watching a game at a smaller venue. Thank you to this player, I hope he knows he made a little boy's whole night!


Karsten was mesmerized watching Trent talk about his game ball and how excited he was.  He thinks Trent and Taylor are the COOLEST!


Karsten went on a walk with Scott and came back with ice cream - lucky guy!  Scott said they passed a policeman on the way back that told Karsten his ice cream looked good and asked him if he could have a bite.  He said that Karsten looked at the policeman with wide eyes, then looked at his ice cream, then slowly raised his arm for the policeman to take a bite.  The policeman laughed and told him thanks, but no and that he hoped Karsten enjoyed his ice cream.


It was a great night - look forward to another game next year!

Fun days

Grandma and Grandpa planned to come visit so we could all go to a T-Bones game, but when we needed some help watching the boys a few days early, we were lucky that they were able to extend their visit and come early!

They had lots of fun playing outside, going for walks and visiting the park.  The boys had lots of fun and were worn out from playing hard!

Liam loves to bounce when you hold him up like this - at 21 lbs, its a good workout!




He has the best giggle, it's contagious!


Papa made Liam laugh and laugh.


Karsten was too busy to sit still for my pictures, so unfortunately, I don't have any of him.

Hungry, hungry Liam

Liam is loving solid foods - he's been sitting in the highchair at the table for a while, but now he seems to really 'get' why we are at the table.  If we're eating and haven't fed him yet, he lets his dissatisfaction be known.

We've made our way through the first veggies - green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, squash and carrots.  The only one he wasn't super fond of was the green beans, likely because they really don't have too much flavor and are tough to get into a super fine puree so they were a bit more chunky.  He prefers veggies to rice cereal or oatmeal - can't say I blame him!

We've started fruits now and avocado was our first attempt.  Yes, technically avocado is a fruit although I think of it more as a veggie. He's a big fan of avocado - I bet he would like it better as guacamole! :)


Aftermath of avocado.


Karsten is entertained by watching Liam eat - his previous statement of 'but him no have teeth' has changed to 'but him no have enough teeth'.  I got a good smile from Karsten and the darn camera was very helpful in focusing on his cup.

The farm, part two

I took the day off yesterday and the weather was beautiful so we headed to the petting zoo.  I had grand plans of being there when they opened so we could see them feed the baby cows; however, we didn't get up and around as early as I planned.  

We talked Grandma into meeting us for a little while before she had to get to a few appointments.  

The baby cows were resting when we got there.  They were so calm to have a ton of noisy kids all around them and trying to get close enough to pet them.


Then we had to visit the mommy cow, but she wouldn't turn and look at him.



The cow bells were a big hit - he really enjoyed ringing them.  

After the cows. he wanted to show Grandma the goats.  We got distracted by the geese and ducks on the way.


I bought some food for Karsten to feed to the goats, but he wanted Grandma to feed them first. Hahaha...she was just as thrilled to feed the goats as I was last time we went to the farm.




We took a stroll through the pretty gardens and found these cool bugs - perfect for a photo opp.


Then we went to feed more goats.


Liam watched all of this fun from the stroller - soon enough he will be hopping out of the stroller to chaswe after Karsten.


When we left the cow area, he filled his pockets with rocks (aka gravel).  He decided he wanted to throw the rocks into the pond and kept inching closer and closer to the water, so Grandma was holding on tight!


Liam loves to be outside where there are lots of things to watch and enjoy!


Love those cute little teeth! He also has two on the top!


Karsten loves the big red slide - he's doing great at holding his ground when the bigger kids try to push past him in line.


It looks like I have established a fun tradition of ice cream at the farm before we head home for lunch.  Karsten gets vanilla with Oreo, and cause it's not polite to make him eat alone, I have cookie dough ice cream. :)


yum!


Another fun day at the farm - thanks Grandma for joining us!