Fun at Grandma and Granpa's

After breakfast, we headed outside to play so we could have some fun before it got too hot outside.  It was supposed to be around 95 degrees, so we knew we wouldn't be outside too much in the afternoon.


Karsten really wanted to swing on this rope, but he insisted on swinging TOWARD the swingset.  Can you imagine how this ended?  If you guessed that it ended poorly, you would be correct.  He swung into the post on the swingset and got a scratch on his elbow.  There was a lot of drama around it, but he was fine.


Ironically, after seeing that, Liam decided that he wanted to climb the rope.


Thankfully, Grandpa was able to show Karsten how you could swing on the rope without hitting the swingset.  As soon as Leland heard the click of my camera on this shot, he said 'Nooooo'. :)


After seeing Grandpa on the rope, Karsten was ready to try again.  This time he did great and swung away from the swingset.


I don't remember what this thing is called that Karsten is riding, but he sure enjoyed it.  He wanted Liam to get on the other side but Liam kept saying 'me no no how'.  At first, Karsten had his head on the other side of the swing, but I had visions of him knocking his head on the metal pole, so I asked him to move to the other side.  Crisis averted!


Liam is often afraid of swings, but not Grandma's swings - they're lots of fun!


This one is mischevious...and adorable.  He knows how to work those eyes and give you expressions that will crack you up (even when you're supposed to be angry).


Drop kicking balls is a new hobby at our house.  We try to prevent it inside and are about 85% successful.  Keep your fingers crossed that our success rate increases before something breaks.
 

Liam rarely connects with the ball, but Karsten gets it every time.  This sidewalk was the perfect place to practie his kicks.  There was only one close encounter with the greenhouse door behind them.


And once the ball was kicked, both of them would run and get it and come back.  Endless fun - when it was time to go inside, they were not too happy.


After lunch, the boys had some quiet time (aka nap for Liam) before they got up and played inside.  It was a nice, relaxing day!

Finally at Grandma's

As soon as we left Manhattan, Karsten started asking if we were at Grandma's yet.  Much to his chagrin, he thought each town we passed through looked exactly like Grandma's town and he was convinced we had arrived.  When we told him he had a few more hours to go, he was not impressed.

When we finally got there, the boys headed right to the toys.  Grandma's houses always have the coolest toys!


Within 10 minutes, they had gotten out all of their favorite toys and had settled on playing with this train and tracks for a bit.  Grandma and Scott helped build it then once it was complete, the boys had a great time playing while we chatted.


Liam said 'mema, ah dat' which loosely translates to Grandma, what's that.  He was pointing to all of the breakable figurines below Grandma's tv.  So Grandma showed them earch of them and we talked about how we don't touch any of these unless Grandma is sitting right next to them.  Let's hope that rule sticks in their mind!


They're ready for a fun weekend at Grandma's!

Visiting old friends

On our way to Scott's mom's, we stopped through Manhattan to meet Lilla.  We're very late making this trip to see her as she just turned three months old - shame on us!

We got to Manhattan a bit before we had planned, so we took the chance to go out and show the boys Tuttle Creek Reservoir and tour around campus. We stopped by the dam first hoping that they would be letting out water, but no such luck, so we went to the top to admire the view.


While road trips have their downsides (mostly due to whining in the car), I really enjoy the journey to get where we're going.  We like to stop along the way and experience the area.


The plus side of making stops on road trips is that it helps burn off some of the energy that the boys have.  They were thrilled to get out for a short walk and throw some rocks.


How sweet are they?
 

We thought we could get our rocks into the water without walking all the way to the bottom (Karsten wasn't happy about getting rocks in his shoes), but it turns out we were a lot further than it looked.  Neither Scott or I could even get our rocks thrown into the water.


But that didn't keep us from trying!
 

You didn't think I'd let this beautiful background pass without a picture of the boys together?


We drove around campus and marveled at all of the changes that have happened since we left.  We went past the stadium since we hadn't been there since the expansion was finished - it looks beautiful!


Next we headed to Melissa and Kevin's for a visit.  Karsten, Liam and Jonah all had fun playing together, they immediately disappeared back into Jonah's playroom.

When they came out to ask a question, we asked Jonah to show Karsten and Liam how to bounce on his trampoline.  Quickly it turned into all three of them bouncing together, then they did a good job taking turns of bouncing alone.

Sorry for the blur, looks like the flash wasn't on on my phone.  Plus, they were kind of a blur when they jumped.


Liam was in heaven playing with all of Jonah's toot toots.


When Lilla woke up from her nap, Liam said 'me hi baby'.


He said hi, then he just watched her with a big smile and said 'baby!'  He's so kind to the babies at Gail's house, so I knew he would be gentle with her!


Well hello Lilla!


Kevin and Melissa were kind enough to have lunch for us.  When I told him that we didn't want ot impose, Kevin told us we were already imposing so we may as well stay for lunch. :)  I would have expected nothing less from him.


Melissa and Lilla!


Maybe we'll have this shot again in the future when these three are at K-State together.  That would be fantastic!


Liam is learning his big brother's tips of NOT looking at the camera or smiling.  Sigh.


Such a cute family!


And this is what happens when you give your phone to Kevin to take pictures.











It's hard to believe that our boys were once this little.  When I held Lilla, it seemed like so long ago that our boys were that little!  She's such a pretty little girl, I can't wait to watch her grow up!


Before we left, Jonah wanted to show the boys the candy/ball canon that he and Kevin had built.


They shot the ball into the air over and over again - the boys loved it each time.


It was a fun visit, nice to see Manhattan and catch up with Kevin, Melissa, Jonah and Lilla.

Blackberry pickin'

We have so much fun picking berries, we were excited to see that one of the orchards we go to was offering u-pick blackberries.  They were open for picking last weekend, but we were busy with all of the fun activities.  So, when they posted on Facebook that they would be open on Wednesday morning, I encouraged Scott and Karsten to check it out.  Karsten is staying home with Scott this week to do all sorts of fun stuff, so this seemed like the perfect addition to their plans!



Scott said the picking was easy, and it sure looks like it!  Lots of ripe berries and you don't have to crouch down to pick them!


They sampled some of the berries as they picked.


Some sort of hay tower seems to be required for u-pick farms.  This one was much easier for Karsten to climb on top of!


They only picked berries for about an hour and ended up with 7 pounds.  It looks like we'll be having a lot of yummy blackberry items in the coming months as many of these will get frozen for use later!

Wordless Wednesday - Who needs your own chair!

Just playing

Are you tired of pictures of the boys playing in the backyard yet?  They're loving summer and always want to go outside after we finish dinner. Luckily, most of the backyard is in the shade in the evenings, so it's not too hot.  They've been having fun riding their bikes, climbing on the rocks (eek!), digging for worms, or just exploring.

Digging is still one of their favorite passtimes.  One time when they wanted to dig, I encouraged them to sit on these chairs so they wouldn't end up with muddy bottoms from sitting in the dirt.  This habit has stuck with them - lucky for us making our stain treatment easier!


They were playing and when I looked to see what Liam was doing on the fort, and he was laying there. He wasn't hurt, he was just laying down taking a break.  I think it's almost bedtime!