Final Day in Kansas

Our final day in Kansas was spent in Manhattan. We went up to Ronna and Galen's Saturday night for some adult frolicking. Ronna had arranged a couple of babysitters and the adults were off! We had dinner at Kite's and then went to Ronna's sisters bar The Little Grill. We got home and Landree and Lily were still awake. Ronna had bought a whole bunch of glow sticks, necklaces and straws for the kids at the wedding but forgot to pull them out. The girls had a blast covering themselves in the glow sticks. Obviously, I haven't figured out how to get a good "glowing" picture at night!


Sunday morning Ronna picked up McDonald's (the girls' fav) and met us at the city park.


Thanks Ronna and Galen for having the girls involved in your special day! We love you guys!

Playing Tourists

While on vacation we went to this little town in Topeka. It's called the Ward-Meade Home. I do not know the history of it. The last time Al and I were there was over 10 years ago for our engagement pictures. Al also had his senior pictures taken there. There is a large home on the grounds, with many other buildings like a general store, pharmacy, bank, school. The grounds were beautiful, there was a creek, beautiful flowers, gazebos and fountains.

This is very close to where Al and I had our engagement photo. We tried to recreate it with the girls. I was secretly hoping it would make a cute Christmas card with the before and after. Let's just say it won't make the cut.


After walking around we went into the ice cream parlor. It was an actual old time ice cream shop. So cute and the ice cream was yummy!


Lauryn like Daddy's vanilla-peanut butter malt shake.

Sidewalk Art

The girls had fun drawing pictures of me on the sidewalk. I'm so glad they think I'm so cute and sassy! They did such a great job!

Lily's

Landree's

Topeka Zoo and Impromptu Photo Session

In the middle of walking around the zoo the girls stopped by a tree so I could get a couple shots.

Lily is becoming quite the model.

Lauryn rode on Al's shoulders for a bit. She took his hat off him and put it on her. It was the cutest thing! She is such a ham ball!


They have a small children's petting zoo.

The baby hippo is a week old. They named it Vision.


The Sunday before we left for Kansas the Today Show featured a story on Hope. Hope was a giraffe born at the Topeka Zoo. It was born with deformed back legs. The vets at the zoo have been working on Hope to make sure she walks. This is the information on Hope.

If you look close you can see her white casts on her back legs. She was moving around pretty well!

So I don't forget...

I sometimes forget that I am doing this blog mostly for me! I want something the girls to look back on and go "wow, I forgot about that" or "wow, I was pretty silly!" The girls already like to look at my posts.

So it's 10:30 at night. I'm watching American Pickers, our new favorite show! Lily just came down and told me she didn't finish cutting the paper and she needed to finish. Lily comes from a line of sleep walkers and talkers (Al). Almost every night, it's getting more frequent, she gets up and walks around and talks. I swear she is sleep walking. Last night I watched her get up from a sleep and go get the book Landree read before bed. I can't remember what she was saying but it made no sense. That's my silly Lily! I better make sure our deadbolts are on. I don't want her wandering the neighborhood.

The girls are doing wonderful in school. They have both had excellent days. Lily gets green stars (the best) if she is good. Landree's teacher gives her the letter FOCUS. She has to keep all the letters everyday. So far so good! I told the girls we would do a fun family activity every Friday if they kept up the good work. Last Friday we went to McDonald's for dinner and let them play on the playground. It's actually a big deal for them. There's a brand new McDonald's by the house and they have been begging to go.

I've noticed myself getting really excited to see the girls after school. I cannot wait to hear how their day was, who they played with, and what they learned. It's been so fun having both in school. Poor Lauryn has a few more years to go!

Speaking of Lauryn, she wore around pink panties all night. She is so ready to be potty trained. She hates wearing diapers. I hope it will be a smooth transition for her and us. Lauryn has been talking up a storm. Some of my favorite things she says are O-tay (if you say Lauryn go get the paper for me, she says "o-tay"). We have been threatening the girls with hot sauce for saying things they should not be saying. So now every time they act up Lauryn goes, "Lily, hot sauce" and points her finger. It's the funniest thing! By the way, the threats do not go far. I think the girls have had hot sauce 1 time, so obviously it worked!

Gage Park

We went to Gage Park a couple times while we were in Topeka. I love the park. We went last September for the first time. I think it's going to be a requirement every time we are in Topeka now. We rode the train again around the park. It's about a 10 minute ride. But you see the whole park and all of the pretty flowers.


We promised the girls we would ride the carousel. I had to strap Lauryn down she was fighting and crying when I was putting her on the ride. You can see how much she hated it...



Look we found the characters for the Wizard of Oz!

Puppies

Ronna and Galen's Jack Russell Terrier, Mabeline, had 9 puppies on July 31st! Ronna made sure to keep them all until the girls arrived and were able to play with them. They were so stinkin cute!

Lily is our little animal whisperer, as Al calls her. She loved the puppies. This was her favorite. He was the runt and we called him Jack.

Lauryn played a bit with the puppies. We just had to keep a watchful eye. The one she was holding is actually the one we had planned on bringing home with us. We had it planned to surprise the girls the last day of our trip and bring it home with us. Al and I contacted the airline, had a carrier, leash and collar. Ronna called us a couple days before we were due to depart. We had to have a vet sign off on a medical waiver. The vet said according to USDA (I think that dept) a puppy had to be at least 8 weeks to fly. These little guys were only 5.5. Major bummer!! So no puppy for the Galvin's....yet.


Landree and another puppy. She finally warmed up to them. She is not much of an animal fan. How can you not hold them? They are too cute!