Penguin Park

 

The protective brother kicked in. When Macen realized I was going to let Maddox ride and not hold onto him, he stated he would.

I took the boys to a fun park to celebrate surviving the month of June, lol. We had science camp, finished a 3rd month of swim lessons, tball is almost done and about a hundred other things going on. So relieved it is over and while July will be just as busy, it will be a different kind of busy. They loved the park and we had a relaxing day.

Potty Training

Maddox has been peeing and pooping in the toilet almost daily for the last 3 weeks - sometimes it's once a day, sometimes multiple times a day. He got past the scary part of pooping within the first week which is great. He has been letting me know for a couple of months as soon as he pees. He told me one day and I asked if he wanted to sit on the potty, he ran to the bathroom and pee'd. And that is what we've been doing the last several weeks. So in the midst of our extremely busy summer, I scheduled in potty training. It was not on the agenda and things had to be cancelled so we can do the 3 day method. I want it to be known I am not ready for this, lol. I would love to be done with diapers but June and July are all pretty tightly planned out and this was one more thing to add in. However, I don't want a perfectly good opportunity to pass by either. We are a day and half into it and I don't think we are going to come out of it wearing undies only. The theory is to load them up with liquids, forcing them to pee often. So far this morning, Maddox had pee'd 4 times in underwear in 35 mins. He was peeing about every 7 mins. By the time I got him cleaned up and a mess, he was making another one elsewhere, lol. We'll see how the remaining time goes... I asked him this morning where is he suppose to pee and he points to the tub and says there. Ugh!

Pedal to the Metal

The boys cruising' around in the afternoon.

Overland Park Arboretum

We spent some time walking around the Botanical Gardens and it was beautiful. We spent the most time around the pond watching the huge goldfish and turtles. Macen enjoyed watching the turtles swim and pop in and out of the water. It was so relaxing being surrounded by all the waterfalls and flowers.

 

Maddox loved the trucks and pebbles in the Children's Garden.

Popsicles & a Water Sprinkler

 

Maddox wasn't sure what to think of it.

Maddox was pretty hesitant and it took him awhile to warm up to the idea of running through water. But he finally got into it and had fun running around with Macen. He also kept saying Spiderman over and over which gave us some good chuckles.

Royals Troopers

Through post, Macen was given the opportunity to help the grounds crew prior to a game. This is extended to kids with a deployed parent and throughout the summer they are offering it to 4 kids for several games each.

 

 

Macen was all about chanting "Go KC!" through much of the game.

 

Waiting for Macen

 

First, he got to hang out in the Royals dugout and then help with watering down the field.

 

Then each kid got to help put in a base. It was our good luck Macen got to do first base since that was closest to where we were watching.

The 4 kids selected for Royals Troopers. They waved and were put on the Jumbtron.

 

Our seats weren't bad. The Royals stepped it up in the 8th inning giving us a win. It was perfect weather and a perfect day. Maddox got his Official Royals Fan certificate for his 1st visit to Kauffman Stadium too. Yep husband, Royals fans all the way :)

Someone was exhausted after the game so he got a short nap in the car while I worked outside.

Yummy!

 

We colored pasta the rainbow colors. They turn out so bright but when you mix them all together, the darker colors run onto the lighter ones. So we gave it a partial success :)

 

Neon pancakes.

Fondue with a buffet of treats. We had banana, grapes, strawberries, marshmallows, rice krispy treats and graham crackers. It was so yummy and we were miserable afterwards. A great way to use that 5lb Hershey bar I got for Christmas, lol. It took awhile to cut that bad boy up.

Deanna Rose Farmstead

The boys got in some cousin time for a couple of days and we went to Deanna Rose. Everyone loved it with so much to do.

 

They got to see what it was like to milk a cow.

 

Pony rides

 

Fishing...ugh! The only part I dreaded. I like fishing when someone is available to do the worms and unhook the fish. This is the part where my being dad this year came into play. There was no way the kids weren't going to fish. Macen has been asking to fish for weeks now and Jenna and Hailee love it. So Brianna and I put on our big girl panties and baited the lines. Sure enough Jenna catches one immediately. I was getting a worm on another line and I had already spotted a dad down the way from us, so had Jenna go ask him to take it off for her, lol. Bri and I survived the fishing!

Bri helping Maddox bottle feed the goat.

 

Giving milk to the goats.

 

Pedal tractor rides

Just a swingin'

 

 

Bri loved the huge windchimes.

Zoo Time

 

Macen leading us to the elephants.

 

Maddox didn't want to leave the chimps. They were pretty active and majority of them were right up against the window.

We finally got to kick off our busy summer with a trip to the zoo. It was a perfect day for it - warm but not hot. The boys got to climb, play, ride the carousel and train. The polar bear and chimps were the most entertaining. Macen had wanted to see the lions but they were having a lazy day in the shade. Once we made it around to the Africa side (the fartherest side of the zoo), Macen decided all he wanted to do was play on the rocks somewhere towards the entrance.  I had no idea what he was talking about until we got back there and he meant the ones before you even enter the zoo. The pic above is them relaxing on one of the rocks.