Friday, August 29, 2008

Kansas City





So we are here in Kansas City Kansas, acutally Overland Park Kansas with Cyd and Ken. They have such a cute apartment, they have done a very good job making a home for themselves. They also have an adorable addition to their family by the name of Charlie, a Silky Terrier puppy that is about 6 months old. She is cute but the personality is the cutest! She bounds everywhere she goes and her carrying the duck is hysterical.
The grin on Kerry's face is continuing. It is nice to see him so relaxed and having fun. It is also nice that his collegues at work have actually realized that he is on vacation and have not called him much.


Cyd has become an accompolished cook and loves to come up with new ideas, the problem is she needs to write up recipes for them when they turn out! Working in a restaurant may actually help that along.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Serenity's Place cont.

Cyd and Ken arrived during the night amidst giggles and laughter trying to create them. Needless to say Cyd is the one who would normally be making the faces!
Catching up with Rachel and Cameron
Dave just dropping in to say a quick HI!
Spencer out on the porch doing everything he can to stay up and away from Cocoa and Trooper. He was quite amused with Grandpa or the other way around.
Even Cyd and Ken managed to get in a round of Guitar Hero

The next day Caleb was ready to try the four wheelers again so he and Dave went out.

Spencer was pretty excited to try again but they went on such a long ride that Spencer gave out on the way back to the cabin this is how he arrived.

Caleb and Rebecca both ready for another day on the four wheelers.

While some were resting or riding others worked on puzzles.

The longer the puzzle piecing went on the more of us that got involved.

Kerry and I went on a ride on the other side of the river and found this bridge and place to fish with the boys. I think this was my favorite place in the whole area. The following are pictures of us playing and fishing.












This is the waterfall looking down from the bridge!

Caleb is watching Grandpa fish in a tougher area that he can't get to but what he did find is fresh wild raspberries!

Jes is fishing her way!
Dave and Spencer find the berries as well.
After we all got back and had dinner we celebrated Cameron's 25th birthday. He and Rachel decorated the cake.

This is the pose I was waiting for anytime there is a loft and my girls you'll see this one.

Next morning! It's time to get ready to go back home, although none of us really wanted to, it was time to release the tiny Horned Toad that Grandpa had spotted on the four wheeler the day before. Just call him eagle eye.

This is Spencer's finger next to the Horned Toad so you can tell how small it is.




Time to go away from Serenity Place for now we hope we didn't break any rules that would keep us from going back. It was so much fun and so beautiful there.


Cabin Fever

In August we were finally able to make our trip to Patti's cabin! We had planned this month's ago since it was the only weekend that Kerry was home from Hawaii and there wasn't something else major going on like graduation.....we had been anticipating this weekend for a long time. We had so much fun it will take several posts to even describe it. Thanks to Patti and Rosemarie for letting us tag along for the weekend. And even though Cyd and Ken were there vicariously we had a lot of fun with them too!

Patti and Rosemarie at the Cabin as we were actually getting ready to leave. Thanks so much for such a fun filled and relaxing weekend.
After being told that there were no fish in the stream that runs by Kerry set out to prove them wrong. We love to watch him fish and always watch for the "stance" and of course the look of concentration on his face.
There's that look!
Though it is a little hard to see there is a fish in his left hand and it came out of the water less than ten minutes after the fly went in. Fortunately Kerry is a catch and release type guy because there aren't many fish in that little stream and they are quite tiny, now they can swim on and on. Kerry can catch fish just about anywhere and he was so excited for "the boys" to get there the next day to start teaching them how to fish as well.
Patti and Cocoa ready to run! Little did she know that the four wheelers would be such a hit with our family!
Rosemarie learning to ride the four wheeler for the first time. Her loyal companions Cocoa and Trooper are ready to ride along with her.
Less than ten minutes after the first one, here comes another that is a pretty good size. Don't you love the grin on his face? I sure do. The fish was ready to go back into the water and was letting Kerry know about it just as I snapped the picture. We saw that grin a lot over the weekend, it was great to see him so relaxed. He works so hard and when he is home he works double time to accompolish all he would do if he was there full time.

Dave and Nat quickly set up guitar hero, it is fun to watch them play together, and watch the expressions on Natalie's face as she plays.


Kerry is attempting to learn how to play. I waited too long to start and missed my chance, I guess I will just have to go out to their house and play one evening.

Day two:
Just after the first group arrived on Friday and the boys couldn't wait to get on the four wheelers! First photo op.Rebecca almost literally spent the day on one of the four wheelers. She now has the sunburn to prove it.

Helmets first! Then Dave and Spencer head slowly out.

Next Grandpa and Caleb and all of this before they even got stuff out of the car.

When Rachel and Cameron get there later that night again the first thing the boys wanted to show the four wheelers to them as well. Spencer actually liked it better when they were off and sitting still but Caleb on the other hand always knew where his helmet was just in case. I don't think Rachel minded the attention either that was the biggest smile I have seen on her face this week!. The first week of teaching now behind her.
While we were getting settled in with everyone a large commotion was taking place upstairs in the dormitory room. When I went up to see what was going on I saw Dave in the middle of a pillow fight with Rachel and Rebecca. It sounded fun!
Rebecca trying to explore what was on the nest level up by climbing the pole.
Rachel also tried to climb the pole but jumped with so much fervor that she hit her knee on the wall and cut it, this is the result!
Need a little help Sister?

A ladder works even better!

Jessica getting settled for the night, or at least attempting to, there was a lot of silliness going on in the buidling. But the laughter was great and just beginning after all it wasn't after midnight yet.

Rosemarie and Patti were playing table hockey on the main floor while some were watching the olympics, or playing guitar hero, or goofing off upstairs.

This one made me miss Cydney the most after all it was like the "lost in the corndog" and she wasn't with us. That also didn't last long as proxies were made to include them and boy did they have fun with us, we had to include them somehow.

Next generation in the "lost!"

Good night and sweet dreams to all! She (Jes) doesn't know how easy she has it when it comes to her kids going to bed, she never made it that easy for us! I think we wore Patti and Rosemarie out because they also turned in for the night and we were just getting warmed up for the night.

Here comes Natalie's next opponent.

You would think that Cameron is used to being around musical instruments or something he looks like a natural. Just after this the plans to welcome Cyd and Ken were beginning in earnest and the silliness just got started. The giggles started around midnight and we tried hard not to wake anyone up. Cydney startled Grandma Pat just a little as we were finally going to bed. Next post will be the rest of the trip and fun. For now I will sign off and play here in Kansas City! With the real Cyd and Ken
For fun see how Natalie gets into guitar hero!

It was a fun two days and despite Kerry's first efforts by the cabin the boys were more into the four wheelers than fishing. They were impressed to see Kerry catch some tiny ones though, I just didn't have the camera handy.

Our Family