Watching Our Children Grown

It seems we've been very busy ever since we got to Kansas City. This has been our first weekend without company!

The kids and I have found our way around to numerous spots and have gotten several places down pat. We pass by a Target every time we go on the interstate and WalMart is a couple of miles in the other direction.

We've visited Barnes and Noble for their Wednesday story time twice now. Samantha really enjoys it and asks if we can go back. The gentleman that does it is a good reader and adds character to the stories.

The biggest thing we've done is that we've bought a summer swim pass for our family. The City of Olathe has a pool very close to our house so we decided to take advantage of it. The kids and I have gone 3+ times and dad joined us one evening. Blake prefers the little kiddie pools but Samantha enjoys the zero entry pool (it enters just like the ocean). We've learned that the evenings are the quietest and we hope to make Thursday night family swim night. Samantha even had to get a pass for the pool and she was quite excited.

Blake has started saying so many new words. He says sky, drop, fish, amen, Samantha (his version), and ball are the words I can think of off the top of my head. He's finally learned to sign more and really only uses it when he wants a bottle and he signs more milk.

Samantha has really enjoyed having her own room, especially now that we've gotten it decorated it. We added a "reading corner" where we have her book shelf, a chair and a light where she can read books. She also loves the pool and the playground we found.

Last weekend we enjoyed having Travis' aunt and uncle come into town for the weekend. It had been about 1 1/2 years since we had seen them so it was fun to get caught up. They were great sports and came with us while we did a bit of shopping then we all walked The Legends, a nice new shopping center with a fountain. After supper we took the kids to a playground and they helped us watch them. Samantha really enjoyed getting to know more relatives and can't wait to see them again.

This Sabbath we headed out after the rain and visited Shawnee Mission Park. We did a bit of driving around and saw several deer before finding the playground. We keep exploring our city so we took a different way come. Last evening we spent a lot of time playing with the kids.

Today we went with Travis while he worked on his office. The kids still love going to dad's work and Samantha has started to warm up to the residents a bit and has started to talk with them. I worry often that they feel way to familiar around there but the residents do enjoy seeing the little kids all around.

This is what happens when you forget to cover your sand box and you get a big rain...