 |
| Sam enjoying some spaghetti |
 |
| Ben playing on the water slide and Grandma and Grandpa Shaffer's |
 |
| Sam, Ben, and Dad went to the rip off dinosaur deal at Century II today. Thankfully, we had a Visa gift card we used form a rebate to pay for the tickets. The mechanical dinosaurs were cool, but the inflatables were $6.00 per kid per turn and about everything else took three tickets at $2.00 per ticket. Let's just say we didn't stay very long. |
 |
| A real Jedi |
 |
| Dad's loaner car for the day while the CRV was in the shop. A 1990 Buick Century. For some reason, I seemed to drive slower in this car, probably because it's a Buick |
 |
| Futon Night |
 |
| Ben and Sam built a wooden airplane from the new Madagascar movie |
 |
| We haven't been to the annual "Walk With Wildlife" and the fishing clinic at the Great Plains Nature Center in a couple of years. We had a really good time. Both Sam and Ben caught a fish pretty quickly. Ben's fish was tiny and Sam's was a little bigger. |
 |
| Sam built up the nerve to throw the fish back in the lake. |
 |
| We walked around the nature center and completed a scavenger hunt. The different stations had skunks, falcons, turtles, insects, birds, and here Ben is picking up a large crawfish. They were quite large with big pinchers, but Ben learned the correct way to handle them. |
 |
| This is an 85 year old snapping turtle. He's the biggest ever in Kansas. Weighs about 45 pounds. |
 |
| Tuesday night we ventured down to the River Festival where there were free paddle boat rides. It was a nice evening with a fair breeze. The line wasn't very long either. We had a really good time. These boats were easy to paddle, much better than the beasts at Watson Park. We got about twenty minutes in the boats. The volunteers were great, church members from Aviator Church. |
 |
| We headed out to Tanganyika this morning with grandma and grandpa Shaffer. We went before it go too hot. It was an enjoyable time and grandma did a good job walking. |
 |
| Sam and Ben feeding a lemur |
 |
| We all had a great time Friday night at the debut of the new Star Wars exhibit. We were treated to life sized models and robots |
 |
| Sam and Ben say "no" to the dark side! |
 |
| Mom and Ben went to play mini golf at Exploration Place on Tuesday. Ben can get through a round of mini golf in about 15 minutes |
 |
| Last day of school with Sam's teacher Mrs. Roth |
 |
| Ben's last day of preschool with his teacher Mrs. Lila |
 |
| Sam with his buddy Rex |
 |
| Sam, Ben, Seth and Claire |
 |
| Sam got his name on the accelerated reading plaque again this year. Last year, he read 199 books and this year he read 162. Sam has to follow up his reading with a quiz on the computer. |
 |
| Ben had graduation pictures and pizza Friday before class. He graduates on Thursday. I thought eating pizza in their gowns before pictures would have been better. |
 |
| We decided to go camping. Our destination......our backyard. Easiest camping trip ever. |
 |
| We watched the Wizard of Oz inside our house before we went outside. It was very windy Friday night and Ben was scared that a tornado might come get us. Ben bugged out and went and climbed in bed with Mom. I did put Ben's Kermit the frog that he left in the tent up in a tree and told him that in the middle of the night a gust of wind must have blown him out. |
 |
| We went to Tanganyika yesterday for Mother's Day. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed the animals. Sam's left arm is fine, that's a sock puppet named "Sam Jr." that he likes to wear. |
 |
| Just a little over a month ago, Sam wasn't even riding his bike without training wheels. Now, he's cruising around Sedgwick County Park. After our bike ride, we went over to Orange Leaf for some frozen yogurt. |
 |
| Sam and Ben completed another year of Awana. Sam completed his third year of Spark and Ben completed his second year of Cubbies. |
 |
| Sam received a nice Awana plaque for completing his third book. |
 |
| Kristin had Newton symphony all weekend, so that left the boys and I with an empty day ahead. Ben spent the night with Brooke at Grandma and Grandpa Shaffer's on Friday. We started the morning off with the "build a project" at Home Depot. The kids put together a potting plant holder and were given a vegetable as well. They all three chose a strawberry plant. |
 |
| After Home Depot, we went to Buffalo Park for a while. It was rather warm, so we didn't stay for long |
 |
| In the afternoon was Ben's preschool carnival. They got to play games, jump in the bouncy house and eat snow cones. |
