St. Louis Trip, Worlds of Fun, and end of softball!

The morning after VBS/Kanakak ended, we left at 6am for St. Louis for a quick family reunion.  It was super good to see everyone -- people from Indiana, Arizona, Kansas, Missouri!

It was really good to get together -- the first time since Grandma and Grandpa Smiley passed away.  The only downside?  It was hot.  Really, really hot.  As in . . heat index of 105ish.  As in . . . all I can think about is how hot I am!!!

The little ones lost their shirts because of the heat!

We made the best of it though!

Swimming with cousins afterward!  I wish he had more personality!

J, K, and T in the hot tub.

This was our "designated" pool watcher.  Kidding.  

Because of some thunderstorms that rolled in that morning at 3am, we had essentially been up since then, and we were pretty exhausted at that point!

The next day, we went to the arch as a family.  We have been there before, but the kids were young enough, they didn't remember it:(  Even though everything was under construction and it made things a little trickier, we were glad we went!

Getting read to load the tram cars!

It's really tricky getting a family selfie up there!

Bryan's camera handiwork . . . the two silver "legs" at the top and bottom are the arch legs . . .pretty crazy to be looking "underneath" the arch!

As we were trying to park downtown and kept seeing LOTS and LOTS of red, we realized there was a Cardinals game going on at the same time!  So, it made parking more difficult ... but it was super cool to see a Cardinals game going on while we were up the Arch!

One of our family favorites this summer has been to watch "Battle Bots" on Sunday night -- just a fun time of watching TV together watching robots destroy each other:) One day I overhead some planning/scheming . . . and the boys had staged their own Battle Bots competition.  Now if only the batteries would stay charged longer:)  The ones on TV have more umph!

On our way to Worlds of Fun!  A summer tradition . . .

Kayla and Daddy on the Steel Hawk -- for you locals, that is the crazy high tower that just went in last year.  

This picture doesn't do it justice, but one of those dangling feet belongs to them!  I rode it with joshua  later in the day . . let's just say that somehow in my "old" age,  I have gotten wigged out about heights.  Wowza.  Mama was glad to get back on the ground.

Tyler was 48" this year and he loved the independence of riding some of the rides BY HIMSELF! (When you have 5 in your family, one is always by themself!)

I didn't get a picture of the kids on any coasters, but all of the kids really tried some new rides -- and it was super fun riding coasters with the kids!

Lots of giggling/cackling on the bumper cars!

The infamous Fury of the Nile ride...sometimes you get really wet on this ride -- which feels great on a really hot day!

Our family will forever remember riding Fury of the Nile because . . . somehow, while we were on it, my lightweight shorts ripped -- and of course, it wasn't a rip that could be ignored.  Nope, it was a "oh my goodness, how am I going to navigate this" rip!!!!  My loving husband took this picture of me and my attempt to keeping everything "G" rated after the Fury of Nile ride (he's super considerate like that!!!!) 

The entire family walked to THREE different gift stores in search of shorts for mama -- proceeding to laugh every time I explained my predicament to the store employees!!!!  Finally found a pair of shorts for the clearance price of $24.99 (kidding --it was torturous for this tight-wad),  and decided that I could endure wearing some teeny-bopper length shorts just to continue our family day together!   After my puke experience at the Royals game this summer, I am contemplating packing an extra change of clothes for me wherever we go!  Seriously!

After a MONTH of rain/tornado/heat delays, Kayla finally had her last softball game this week.  It was a bummer game . . she ALMOST had a home run (got tagged our 2 feet from home), was doing great pitching until her right hand got hit and had to leave the game, and then managed to get hit on her foot her next time at bat:(   

Baseball, Bible School, and Camps

The last couple of weeks have been crazy -- we'll start with wrapping up baseball!  This was the last practice before the World Series tournament where the boys got their towels/pins to trade at the tournament.  

Thankful for one of the baseball moms who likes to take pictures:)  

Joshua pitching . . .

Coming home . . 

Tyler "might" have spent more than the allotted 30 minutes a day of screen time at the ball park:)

I wasn't smart enough to get a picture of him in his uniform with the pins:)  The day after their last game, Joshua was already asking when Fall Ball starts -- the boy just can't get enough baseball!  So thankful for Coach Danny and the chance to be on a team like Venom!

Several days, Joshua's tournament overlapped with Kayla's Willy Wonka Theatre Camp -- it was crazy getting everyone where they needed to be!  Kayla loves to be on stage!

This was the Oompa Loompa scene!

Speaking of music . . . this would be the "Joshua, would you please run through your piano pieces before we leave for the game?" picture:)  Joshua humors me with piano -- it's not exactly his "thing" but we're pretty low key about the whole thing!

I must admit -- I have been procrastinating starting Tyler on piano this summer, but we finally started several weeks ago!  Whew!  It now means setting 1.5 hours aside every week to teach my own kids --   sometimes it's a struggle to make the mom/teacher thing work, but it is super nice to have the flexibility of "fitting in" a lesson whenever we need to though!

The next week was Bible School in the evening -- Bryan, Joshua and I all volunteered, and Kayla and Tyler were participants.  They each brought a friend and we had a fun week!

Making "snowmen" to eat . . .

During the day of that week, Joshua did Kanakuk Kampout at our church -- he loved it!  They do a great job of investing in each kid -- and they come home absolutely exhausted every day! 

The last day wrap up -- getting an award from his tent leader!

The gal that cuts our hair has a dog that Kayla just adores -- actually, Kayla adores ANY dog, and a certain mama just won't give in to a furry pet all over the house:) Because we all know who ULTIMATELY takes care of the family dog!!!!

Kayla's new "do" -- not the greatest pic, but she looks super cute!

That same week, we got to connect for a few minutes with a friend from PA we haven't seen in probably 8 years!  Kim flew into KC for a conference, and we had about 45 minutes between airport pick up and when we had to leave for VBS, but it was fun to catch up!  

In no particular order . . just catching up!

Joshua practicing pitching with Bryan . . . I MUCH prefer for Bryan to be the catcher than me:)

Happy Father's Dad Daddy!

Fun photo props at church!

So, Tyler's latest "thing" has been building a "bat cave" every night as part of his bedtime routine.  The crazy part is that it is actually somewhat intact in the morning!

And another rendition of the bat cave . . .

We've had LOTS of rain this summer . . . so one day we spontaneously went to Kaleidoscope at Crown Center.  Definitely better for younger kids, but it was still a fun outing!

Family bike ride at Smithville Lake -- first time Tyler had been there without training wheels.  It was a short bike ride as the water had flooded some of the trails -- this rain has been crazy.

Doesn't everyone play ball with their swim suit on????

Several weeks ago, we watched my sister's little ones while she was on an overnight business trip -- so we all made a pool stop before she took off!

My kids were HUGE helps with her kids!  I only had one freak out time . . . Bryan was away at a retreat, so it was just me and the 5 kids.  When it was bedtime, the 3 year was crying "I want my mommy and daddy," the 1-year was screaming and not exactly on the verge of going to sleep, and my 8 year old was crying because she "was sad that daddy wasn't home."  But, thankfully everyone eventually settled down!

Joshua had a ball tournament on one of the days we had the kids, and they were troopers!  It was way past their nap time, and they just hung in there!

Joshua and I spent a day in St. Joseph while the younger two were at a day camp at God's Mountain.  Fun times together!

Yep, that's Joshua SLEEPING with his baseball hat on.  The kid loves baseball, what can you say????

Went to a Royals game several weeks ago.  Notice the color of my shirt in this picture . . . GREY.

This would be a picture taken at the same Royals game. Why, you ask, is my shirt yellow now?  Um . . .that would be because some stupid drunk guy threw up all over me in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Gross.  Totally took one for the team, got a random Royals shirt to wear from Guest Services and 5 free ticket vouchers out of the deal (for MUCH better seats than we normally buy), and tried to make the best of it!  We wilL NEVER forget this game!

Saturday, June 27th has been a date on our family's calendar for MONTHS!!!!  Our church hosted "Red, White, and Blast" -- a concert and fireworks to celebrate our military heroes.  The weather ended up being beautiful and we had a great turnout -- I think it took Bryan a week to recover:)

We had the King's Brass there -- which happens to be a brass ensemble that Bryan and I toured with "back in the day!"  Fun to see Tim again!

It was a very meaningful time to remember our military.

We got to spend some time last week with family -- and it's always a treat to see our cousins from Indiana!

And blow some stuff up in the process!

Trip to Chuck E. Cheese . . .

Kayla had seen this painting canvas project on Pinterest  . . .and lets just say her determination and persistence will get her far in life:)  So, after DAYS of begging to give it a try, we gave it a try! 

Joshua and his buddy Colin from school/church/neighborhood

Daddy always becomes a jungle gym at the pool:)

Tyler has become much more comfortable in the water this year!  He'll swim across the pool in the deep end . . . as long as mom or dad is there:)  We're getting there!