Guests, Giggles and Gates

Guests

Our good friends from Colorado Cole and Amy, and daughters Grace and Sara drove in Thursday night to spend the weekend with us.  Ryan has known Cole since 5th grade and attended CSU with both Cole and Amy.  I remember Amy having a line-up of girls waiting in the wings for Ryan when we first met and him repeatedly saying, "no. not yet.  this one might be good :)"  We had an amazing weekend that all started with staying up way too late Thursday night.  Friday we went to Tanganyika Wildlife Park followed by relaxing with wine, tapas and pizza.  

Amy being attacked by Lorikeets.  One is about to dive into her purse.

The girls feeding the rhino

Grace with the lemurs.

 

Ben's sleep and nap schedules were way off and he woke up every morning way too early.  We did get him to "take a nap" in our bed Saturday morning from 5-730 which left barely an hour for the whole family to get ready for Ben's first professional photo shoot at 9-yikes!  Grace and Sara had their pics taken right after and photographer Amber Dawn was nice enough to take a couple family shots and a couple of all of us.  Next was playing at Riverside Park for almost 2 hours.  They have a mini-zoo at this park and the girls quickly quipped, "can we feed the animals?,"  after being spoiled by Tanganyika the day before.  Amy commented, "you do realize no zoo will ever be the same?"

After the park we headed to lunch at the Old Mill Tasty Shop downtown.  It is a Wichita landmark I had still never been too and Grace and Sara had a great time sitting at the counter while their ice cream sundaes were prepared.  All the food was delicious and I don't remember the last time I had a chocolate ice cream soda-yum!

Ben loved this and held on several times. Eeek! says the Mama.

Amy and Grace getting Sara to pose for the photog.

Oh how I love big wet baby kissies!!

 

 

Silly girls

Ben and I took the afternoon off so he could get a quality nap in and sent everyone to the YMCA to swim.  They were gone for hours and returned exhausted so I would venture to say it was successful.  

Al fresco lakeside dinner at Felipes with the boys enjoying a Flaming Consuela was the perfect close to a very fun weekend.  Our guests departed Sunday morning after breakfast and we can all take credit for another successful weekend of making memories to fill the miles while we live apart.

Grace proud of her CU puzzle.  Go buffs!

Giggles

Grace and Sara have always been so fun but five and six year old girls really do say some hilarious things!!  Grace's concern for her dogs Anna and Luke and what they were doing every minute was adorable.  I guess both my favorite quotes of the weekend came from Sara......

I was clapping after one of her many guitar and singing sessions and told her what an amazing job she did.  "I know, I am amazing.  I knew when I was born that I was going to be a famous singer."

My other favorite was told by Cole and Amy as they were playing a question card game on the trip out.  One question read, "What are the 3 things you dislike most?"  Sara's response, "Being in this car right now!"  Sara thought the trip was unbearably long and I don't blame her.

Oh wait, there was also Grace describing the "wrestling" tortoises at Tanganyika.  When Ryan asked her who was winning she said, "the one on top," with a very "isn't it obvious" tone.

Gates

As I was chatting with Amy on the phone after their departure Sunday, Ben started up the steps in the entry as he often does but this time he didn't stop!! I yelled to Amy, "oh my god! Ben is crawling up the stairs.  I have to go."  Amy laughed evilly and said, "have fun with that one."  He later made it all the way up chasing after Ryan but has absolutely no sense not to pause for a rest and fall down the stairs (if I wasn't right behind him.) Today has been a little different as he's gone up two and down two over and over.  Down is just as important so I'll let him explore as he wants.  It is a whole other level of chasing for Ryan and I and gates are priority numero uno this week.