This and That!

Last week, we did our annual trip to Worlds of Fun.  The weather was PERFECT (in the low 80's), and the short lines were even MORE perfect!  

Kayla, Joshua, and Bryan on the Detonator!

Tyler and I on the Scrambler -- since Bryan is a strict "NO SPINNY RIDES" kind of person, I get the honor!  Tyler loves this ride, because he always "squishes" me!

Tyler and Daddy -- first ride of the day!

I think the troops look tired -- what do you think?  We got there at 10:30 am, jetted over to Oceans of Fun from 2-6 (no pics, tho), and came back to WOF to close the park until 10:00.  That's late for a 5-year old!  We really had a blast -- and there are definite perks to not having strollers, napping kids, etc. anymore when you have outings like this!

A little "I'm Bored" summer activity puzzle -- all 550 pieces!

We got to meet up with my Uncle John and Aunt Donna from Phoenix when they flew into KCI this week -- Tyler was sure intent on showing Uncle John something!

Yesterday the kids and I went to Deanna Rose Farmstead -- along with the rest of Kansas City!!!  I overhead a worker saying they had broken their record this week for the most visitors in their 36 year history.  That would explain why there were lines for everything!  

Checking out the old time school house -- some of my children forgot to take their happy pills:(

Crushing the corn in the Indian Tent

Watching the blacksmith 

Searching for "cool" rocks . . .

 You never know when you might need to milk a cow . . .good thing we all practiced!!!!

Playing a little checkers in the general store.  

This is such a classic summer picture of for us.  I don't ever let the kids eat their Icee pops in the house -- too many drops of popsicle juice.  So, they set up shop in the garage.  The best part?  It buys me at least 10 minutes of peace and quiet after the noon meal!

July 4th in KS!

Last week was a super fun week!  It was one week-long party with cousins!  We tried to capture the excitement with this picture of grandma and grandpa with the kids -- pretty much an epic fail!

The cousins from Indiana came here for a day -- getting ready to head to the neighborhood pool!  Kids ages . . . 9,8,7,6,5,4,2!  

Goggles make all the difference!

Enjoying some icees afterward . . . Don't know what Joshua was doing . . . making 

his own sun dial????

We stayed at Mom and Dad's 2 nights -- and managed to fit in A LOT during those days.   

Nothing like bowling with lots of little ones!

That's quite a unique bowling form, Tyler!

Hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's!

Kayla and Emmi playing in the toy room!

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa came up for a noon meal . . . I think they just took in the action of all the kids going from one thing to the next!

Grandma suggested for all of the children to put on a little recital.  Let's just say that the Nelson children had a little wood-shedding to do .  . it's hard to be consistent in the summer!!!!!  Didn't get any pics of our kids playing, but it was fun to hear the cousins playing!

And a little Chuck E. Cheese action -- that place is empty on July 4th!

Tyler and Lena putting together their strategy for their next turn . . .

Super fun July 4th!  Just sorry that the cousins had a 12-hour drive back:(

Take me out to the ballgame!

What a fun summer spent at the ball diamonds!  This was Tyler's first time playing T-ball . . . that boy is just a crack up.  He had a great beginning coach -- it takes someone special to coach that age!

He looks so little!!!!

We still don't know where he picked this up . . . but this was his "go to" stance when he was on the base waiting to go to the next base.  No one could accuse him of not being ready!

However, the last few games, this became his "go to "stance . . . I'm thinking he watched one too many tournament games of Joshua's team where the boys could lead off:)  He kept us laughing the whole season!

Kayla also played with Liberty P&R -- and since her team had lots of girls from her school, she definitely loved the social aspect!

This was her first year of being on machine pitch -- and she did really well with that!  I think she much preferred the consistency of the machine over the inconsistency of me pitching when we would hit just for fun at home!

Definitely got it from her daddy (and NOT mommy), but she did a really good job catching/stopping the ball.  She got right in there!

It was a big deal with Kayla got the game ball for the night!

And this is Joshua.  This was definitely a learning experience for EVERYONE this summer!  We knew that with this being the first year his team had been together, and the first year for kid-pitch that it would be a learning/growing experience . . . and it certainly was!!!!!  However, the team really has improved  this year, the coaches totally know what they're doing -- it just takes time!  In the mean time, we keep reminding ourselves (mainly me . . . I'm REALLY competitive!!!!!)  that these sports experiences truly are character-building elements, and there will be sometime down the road of life when we'll be thankful we went through this season of not winning every time!

Joshua did a little pitching...

 . . . it's amazing how you start counting EVERY SINGLE pitch when your son is on the mound! 

I love this picture!  Especially the sweat stains on the hat . . .!

Several weeks ago the team got to go hang at Kauffman Stadium with former Royals players who ran some stations/clinics.  I wouldn't say there was a huge amount of personal instruction, but it was cool to be down on the field, be in the bull pens, dug outs, etc!

Getting some autographs!