Christmas trains

My mom came up for a few days this week and I took full advantage of her help by dragging all of our holiday decorations down from the third floor.  The boys loved seeing all of the ornaments and stockings and lights.  And they really loved that Grandma could finally come with us to Union Station and Science City!  We headed down there on Thursday and had a great time.

The train station was decorated for Christmas with huge trees, lights, and a giant miniature train display,  in addition to the normal model train room where we spend so much of our time.  Dan was brave enough to ride the train by himself after Ben opted out at the last minute.  Thursday morning was a perfect time to go because we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  We also went to Science City to show Grandma all of our favorite exhibits--the dinosaur digging area, the block building area, and the KC Rail Experience (of course).  We can't wait until Aunt Lauren comes in a week or so and we can do it all again!

Making "snow" in his hand (just to prove that we did something "science-y" at Science City).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Probably the best part about living in the Midwest again is that we're close enough to drive to see family for holidays.  This year, we headed to Chesterfield, MO, to Zach's brother's home for Thanksgiving.  Zach's mom and other brother, Tom, flew in from New York, along with Tom's girlfriend, Christy.  Dan and Ben were really good in the car and after just five hours we arrived in time for a Thanksgiving feast.  Cassandra really outdid herself with the decor and the food.  My favorite thing was probably the cranberry sauce (did you know that cranberry sauce doesn't have to come out of a can?) and the potato rolls, but everything was delicious.  

The weather also cooperated and was gorgeous on Thursday.  After lunch, the kids played outside for hours.  Lee and Cassandra have a great backyard with lots of room to run so that's just what the cousins did.  The grown-ups alternated between watching the kids and watching football.  It really was a perfect day!  (The combination of no nap + outdoor play + swimming at the hotel meant that both Dan and Ben fell asleep within 2.5 seconds of laying down that night, which was heaven for this tired mama.)

Zach and I also surprised his family with the news of Baby #3, due in April.  Obviously, we've known for quite some time and we told my family (mostly because we see them often and they were going to figure it out sooner or later) but Mary Ellen and everyone else was very surprised.  In a good way!  We're really happy and Dan and Ben can't wait for the new baby to get here in 20 more weeks.

Corinne, the Hostess with the Mostest 

Davis, the best stirrer in town

Tom and his girlfriend, Christy

Tom with his niece and nephews

Playground fun

When Dan wakes up from his afternoon nap, his first question is always, "What are we going to do now, Mommy?"  Who does he think I am, the activities director of a cruise ship?  If I had my way, I would say, "Read our books quietly on the couch while sipping hot chocolate."  Alas, that answer just doesn't seem to fly with Dan and Ben.  Luckily, the weather has been great lately--crisp, but not too cold--so we've been spending some quality time at one of the playgrounds on base.  We call it the rocket ship playground, mostly to differentiate it from the tepee playground or the merry-go-round playground or the commissary playground.  (Base probably has 10 different playgrounds, not counting all the smaller neighborhood ones!)

Since we haven't been doing very exciting things lately, I took my camera and snapped some shots.  My boys are very into climbing and doing other death-defying stunts.  So much for taking my book and reading on the bench nearby.  I have to stay close, just in case they decide to take a header into the ground!

Election Day fun

The boys and I drove to Wichita on Monday afternoon so that I could vote in person on Tuesday.  I'm pretty sure that I've never cast a ballot in person, so it was fun to stand in line, make my choices, and get a sticker.  The ballot in Kansas is pretty straight-forward on the local level--it seemed like about 90% of the people running were unopposed Republicans so voting didn't take too long.  Still, I'm glad I got to exercise my right to vote in person this year.

Dan and Ben weren't too excited about the democratic process (Dan was convinced we were going "boating"), so we found other things to do.  My mom had read about a towing company that has a tow truck painted just like Mater (from Cars) so we had to check that out.  The boys loved it!  After seeing Mater, we stopped at a new-to-us playground in Riverside Park.  Dan and Ben loved the zip line!  I would lift one of them up, make sure they had a good grip on the bar, and then zoom them over to my mom so she could catch them.  We need to find a playground here that has one of those!

Dan was a good little boy and always very curious.