KC Pumpkin Patch

We returned today to the KC Pumpkin Patch, now in its new location! Grandma and Grandpa joined us on a beautiful fall/but still summer day. The boys picked out some pumpkins, had donuts and cider and played a lot of fun stuff. It was a great way to continue our fall kick-off!

The King

Bohemith

Just when we thought our zucchinis couldn't get any bigger... I haven't been checking my zucchinis recently because, frankly, we've had a lot of zucchini this summer! Well I went out yesterday for a look and found this ginormous monster of a zucchini! This picture does it no justice. Not only is it 22 inches long, it is also at least 5 pounds (we haven't had an official weigh in yet). 

We brought it down the street to show our friends yesterday... Speaking of that, here are the little guys on the street!

OP Fall Festival 2017

We met Grammy in downtown Overland Park this morning to visit the Overland Park Fall Festival. Mainly we hung out and watched the parade and the boys snagged all the candy they could from the passing marchers. Like Chris did at his age, Jonathan carries something with him everywhere he goes. For Chris it was a Thomas train (and apparently now it's Legos), and for J it is a stuffed animal. Zippy the sea turtle joined us for the parade today...

The parade was fun to watch and Jonathan actually didn't freak out when Slugger came by in his super cool yellow mustang...

Go Giles Go

Yesterday was our fourth year walking in the FARE Allergy Walk to support Christopher's friend Giles, who has severe food allergies. It was a fun time as usual for us all! J got to play games, win prizes, and...

...sing! He got up and took the mike for the ABC Song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He even requested U2 but I think the guitar player was a little thrown off by having that kind of request from a 2 year old!

J had the backup singing help of Giles, Warwick, Chris and Giles' cousin. Here are their performances...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bseifKBKI4I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et3jW3Uf5j0

Franklin Park

We spent the morning at Franklin Park with Noah and Christopher. Jonathan had fun pushing his friends on the "big boy" swings!

Chalk Walk

We went downtown this afternoon to Crown Center to check out the Chalk Walk Art Festival. This was an event that featured various artists who use chalk (and also paint and other materials) to create these beautiful murals on the sidewalk. They also had chalk for the kids to use as well as (very loud) music!

Goings On

There are always interesting things to see in our backyard in the summer! These two guys were checking out our potted plants yesterday. The one on top actually made it into our house on Friday. We found him sitting on top of one of our kitchen chairs, but we kindly reminded him that insects belong outdoors, thank you very much!

The boys just like to be silly together...

While Chris spent the night at Grammy's yesterday, we took Jonathan out to the Salty Iguana, a local Tex-Mex place that is just as amazing as it sounds! Of course, when you're Jonathan and you visit a Mexican place, the thing to order is mac and cheese with a side of apple sauce. Obviously!

And then there is Holly, with her crazy sniffing ways...

Omaha, Round 3

For Labor Day weekend, we made our third trip up to the lovely city of Omaha, Nebraska! It was Jonathan's first trip up too. The boys were very excited to be staying at a hotel. Jonathan was so excited that he tried to keep Chris up late but our big man was pretty wiped out from a busy week at school. That didn't stop J from partying until about 9 PM though. In the morning we ventured over to the Henry Doorly Zoo for a day of animals and other fun. Our first stop was the carousel which, unbeknownst to us, did not open until 10AM. Jonathan was not happy with this schedule and let everyone at the zoo know his displeasure for just about an hour. When it finally opened though, the boys took a ride and had fun!

They also loved the zoo train...

And, of course, Christopher's forever favorite, penguins!

I would have taken more animal pictures but it is really difficult to take pictures while your two year-old is either screaming to get out of the stroller or running away when he is out of it. Geesh! Anyway, it was a fun and busy day at one of the best zoos I've ever been to. Later that day we had dinner and ice cream in the Old Market and then the boys swam at the hotel pool. On Sunday, we visited Lauritzen Botanical Gardens which were even more beautiful than in years past!

Jonathan's favorite was the model train garden. Such a cool set up!

Since our last visit, they added an amazing conservatory with all sorts of tropical plants, flowers and trees. We really loved it!

After the gardens, we were all ready to grab lunch and hit the road. It was a nice drive back and we all crashed and watched a movie upon our return. We love Omaha!