Vegetarians at a BBQ

We had a BBQ at our house today with the Danna, Adam, Lahna and Liam to celebrate Memorial Day. It was a vegetarian meal, as all of us are vegetarians and it put to rest the question of whether or not you can do a good cookout without hamburgers and hot dogs. The kids especially had a great time, complete with two outfit changes for Christopher and water all over the kitchen from the play sprayers being used on the deck. No worries though! It's all washable and dryable! Chris, Lahna and Liam have such a great time together and it was fun to watch them all go off and just do their own thing. We had a wonderful afternoon with our dear friends!

Shelf

Well I guess this is one use for the empty shelf in the kitchen island...

St. Joseph, MO and the Pony Express

Christopher, Grammy, and I took a trip up to St. Joseph, Missouri today to visit the Pony Express Museum and the Patee House, two historical midwest landmarks that we hadn't been to yet. Growing up on the East Coast, I learned everything and more about Revolutionary War history but the Midwest is full of Civil War and pioneer history. Here are some pictures of the Pony Express Museum:

Chris was able to pump water from an actual well in the middle of the museum!

We were able to look right down the well because it was covered by some plexiglass and lit up to see how it works:

And our little cowboy (urban cowboy I should say, what with his F train subway shirt under his sweater!) donned some boots and a hat to go round up the cattle...

There was a park across the street from the museum that had the biggest train engine I've ever seen. I can't even imagine what that thing must have looked like coming down the tracks back in the day. Look out!

And of course, we had to expose Chris to what an old school, completely unsafe by today's standards, metal slide is all about!

Next we went to the Patee House which was this eclectic, nostalgic hotel turned museum that had everything from covered wagons to the Pony Express headquarters to Civil War uniforms to an old time "Main Street." It was very cool! They even had an indoor carousel that Grammy and Chris took a couple spins on...

Although there is a lot of history in St. Joseph, it seems to have since lost much of its industry and importance. Nevertheless, it had a lot to offer us on our little day trip and we learned that Abe Lincoln passed through the town twice and it was the birthplace of Walter Cronkite. Who knew!

Kasey and the Big Red Dog

LUMC picnic

Christopher had his end of the year picnic yesterday for LUMC at our old stomping grounds, Buffalo Meadows Park near our old house. He had a great time playing with all his friends and classmates and we were there for over 3 hours, despite the chilly weather. I didn't take any pictures, unfortunately, but here are a couple from his friend Nate's mom...

We also helped celebrate our neighbor's first birthday in the afternoon! Mary Jane (John's little sister) turned one and we went to celebrate and have cupcakes. Chris, of course, continues to love on babies...

Quote of the Day

Said Christopher...

"Mommy, if you ever need more light in your life, just call me."

Of course, he was referring to the flashlight he held in his hand, but the meaning behind his words was just so true!

Spring Songfest and Last Day of LUMC

Today was Christopher's last day of school at LUMC and his class put on a special Songfest for us all to enjoy! The kids did a great job and it was interesting to see how much they have grown since the winter Songfest. Here are a couple of the songs they sang for us:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to4VGMWbmj4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCVn2hozvH8

After the concert, the children received little diplomas from Ms. Karen and said their goodbyes. Here is Chris with Ms. Karen...

And with Ms. Jenee...

After all the goodbyes we got a few family pictures altogether. It was a very fun morning for everyone! We are very thankful to LUMC for helping Chris get a great start and helping him learn that school is fun!

Pictures from the gardens

Here are some pictures I took of the beautiful flowers we got to see at Powell Gardens today...

Powell Gardens

We took Grandpa and Nancy to Powell Gardens. The gardens were definitely more colorful than the last time we went and it was full of bees and visitors. We had a lovely day exploring and enjoyed a yummy veggie lunch at their little cafe with vegetables grown in their gardens and greenhouses. Here are some pictures of our adventures there...

I will do a separate entry with pictures of all the flowers we saw but when we got home, it was hot enough to put on the sprinklers. Chris busted out his new swimsuit from Grandma Jan and ran through the sprinklers for well over an hour...

And after all that sprinkler play, Chris sat down to relax and read the paper with Grandpa T...

More visitors!

Christopher, Mommy, and Daddy (and Kasey!) are very excited to have more company in town from the East Coast this weekend. Grandpa T and Nancy arrived yesterday and our little boy has been having a lot of fun already with them! More updates to come after the weekend but here is a picture from last night after we had dinner at Union Station...

For the record

I just have to write this down so when we all go back and read it in twenty years and laugh it will help keep this moment in perspective....

It has now taken me 1 hour and 10 minutes to cut eight of Christopher's toe nails. That is all.

Cousin cousin

Cousin cousin Liz was in town this week and stayed with us so Chris (and all of us!) was very excited! We had lots of fun with her and she got to eat with us at some great Kansas City establishments. She also got some sightseeing in and last night, the ladies went to the ballet. Here we are getting ready to go:

We had a great time with her and can't wait to see her again!

Swimming and babies

Chris has been taking swim lessons recently and has been making a lot of progress! He loves his teacher, Ms. Charlotte, and this past lesson he got to wear goggles for the first time. Here he is modeling the goggles for us...

And today, we went to hang out with the Beznovsky boys (Sam, Noah, Ari and Asher). The babies are 6 months old and are so stinkin' cute! Here is Ari smiling at Chris:

Here are some more pics of those cute little babies...

Pics

Here are a couple pics from Nate's party that his mom took... The first one is Chris with his friend Chase (the little girl next to him, who he talks about all the time) and Nate, who is covering his face with a baseball helmet!

The theme of Nate's party was space so his dad built him this rocket, which Chris found to be pretty awesome...

Also, Nate's mom (Meaghan) was at Sam's birthday party yesterday and told us that at one point during Nate's party, Christopher engaged her in a lengthy discussion about how she made the icing for his space shuttle cake. She got a real kick out of it and said he was asking about the ingredients, how she made it, how long it took, etc. So I mentioned how Chris has been Grandma Jan's "icing-making" assistant in the past!

Party Animal

It's that time of year. Time for cake, piñatas, and tons of fun! Yesterday, Chris went to his friend Nate's 5th birthday party and today he was at Sam's party. Both boys are in his class at school and it's so cute to see them all in action outside of school! Because the weather has been so chilly (no snow left, though, thank goodness) both parties had to be moved to indoor locations. Unfortunately I didn't get good pictures from yesterday's party but here are some from today. Sam relocated his party to Monkey Bizness and there were four boys from Christopher's class there. It is so nice to go somewhere and just have Chris run off and play with his buddies!