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.

Happy Halloween!

Dan and Ben made it clear a couple of month ago what they wanted to be for Halloween: fireman (Dan) and cowboy with boots (Ben).  For some reason, he never just said "cowboy;" it was always "cowboy with boots."  So, thanks to Granny and Payless, Ben got his wish!

We went trick-or-treating at the Leavenworth County Courthouse on Tuesday morning during our normal library story time.  The librarians set it all up and we went office to office, stopping by cubicles for candy.  Just like last year, the boys wanted to stop after the first office to unwrap and eat the candy.  They just don't understand the concept of filling up the whole bucket and then going to town at the end.  Oh, well!

Enjoying a Halloween treat from Granny!

For actual Halloween, we went onto base and stopped at the fire station first.  They were having a costume contest, musical chairs, and food and games.  Dan and Ben loved looking at all the other costumes, including the dogs that were dressed up.  They just couldn't quite believe their eyes when they saw a dog dyed green.  (Poor little guy.  He looked so embarrassed.)  They were very excited to see a woman dressed as Mrs. Pteranodon, a character on their new favorite DVD.  

After the fire station, we went to a neighborhood that was doing Trunk or Treat.  I knew the boys wouldn't last too long so I wanted to get the most bang for our buck.  Plus, we needed to get home to hand out treats here.  We hit all the carports that we could and Ben was even brave enough to go in a little haunted house that was set up.  Dan politely declined, but he had a great time just looking at it from the outside and talking about it.

When we got home, Dan loved answering the door with Zach when trick-or-treaters rang our doorbell. He made sure everyone saw his glow-in-the-dark dinosaur pajamas and he was equalled excited to see their costumes.  I think giving out the candy was the best part of his night!  (Little does he know that we also passed out the candy that he and Ben just received.  I hate having it around the house because I'll just eat it.  This is probably the last year I can get away with that little trick, though.)

Got leaves?

Tall, leafy trees seemed like such a good idea when we moved into our house in July.  They would provide shade and look nice and give some character to our yard.  Now, the same trees are providing millions of leaves that are covering every square inch of our lawn and patio and roof.  Good thing that Grandma the Raking Machine is coming back on Sunday and we can get some work done!

Since this might be the only time that we live somewhere with a real autumn (well, North Carolina had four seasons but we didn't have any trees that lost their leaves), we had some friends over to play in the leaves yesterday.  Meredith's husband is also a Marine and they moved here from Hawaii for the same school that Zach's in.  She has two boys and a girl: Bennett, John Oliver, and Martha Grace.  The boys all loved jumping in big piles of leaves, getting buried in leaves, and throwing leaves on each other.  Martha Grace liked sitting in the leaves and getting her picture taken.  We had a great time and Dan and Ben can't wait for their buddies to come back over!

My new favorite picture of Dan!

Back to Science City

We've actually been back a few times since I first posted about it, but I don't always take my camera or feel like taking a ton of pictures.  Since the boys love the place so much, we went ahead and got a membership, which should pay for itself after our next trip.

Dan and Ben love to sprint through the main hall of the train station to get to the room with the model trains.  They would probably stay in there for two straight hours because there is so much to see.  My favorite is the model train layout made entirely of Legos with a Halloween theme.  I love the Lego haunted houses and the Lego trick-or-treaters.  After a good half hour in there, we drag them away to our actual destination, Science City.

In there, Dan loves to watch the model roller coasters, which are small versions of the ones I grew up riding at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City.  (Anyone else remember the Orient Express?)  He also likes to climb on the playground and climb on the trains in the KC Rail Experience.  Ben likes to build with blocks and play with the balls on the ramp.  And of course they both love the dinosaur digging area.  Another highlight is when an actual train goes by and they can name all the different types of cars.  The whole family loves Science City!

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