The Cove Week

We had two field trips this week and Tatum had a Mommy and Daughter night out.

Monday we took a trip with some friends from church to Louisburg, Kansas to visit Cedar Cove. This was our first time visiting and the kids enjoyed themselves. Cedar Cove is an organization that takes in endangered large cats, like tigers and lions. Since our group was so large we were able to get a private tour. Tatum asked several questions and had many comments which is true to her personality. For example she told the tour guide, "I know why you can't get into the cage with the lions...because they are wild." I was secretly hopping she would have said, "I know why you can't get into the cage with the lions...because they would literally rip your head off." Of course she is a little young to start quoting Anchor Man. Her Daddy will be proud when that day arrives. Back to being serious, it was fun and we learned some interesting facts about tigers. We passed the blueberry patch along the way, which Eli pointed out! So now we have another field trip to schedule.

The highlight of the week was going to Splash Cove in Shawnee. The kids have been waiting for this day for almost a year. I'm not exaggerating! Last July I told them we would go the water park down the street from Grandma Cindy's. We got all loaded up full of excitement and anticipation only to be turned away. Because we were not Shawnee residents we could not use the park. That was a first! It is not very often that city government turns away money!

Friday morning we got loaded up again and hit the road, this time we stopped and picked up Grandma Cindy. They have since changed the rules and now accept money from those outside the city of Shawnee. It was still fun to spend time with her anyway.

Here Grandma Cindy and the kids are having fun in the wave pool.

The splash park was really fun and perfect for little kids. I did not see any section with water deeper than 3 feet. They did have a swim lesson area that might have been a little deeper, but it was off limits. Eli was on the edge of being a little old and bored since he is becoming a better swimmer, but I think he would be excited to go back another time.

Evan Patrick was able to handle the water slides by himself. Eli encouraged him one time and then I just stood back and watched him go down the slide at least 2o times.

Eli (and his new Mohawk) going down one of the slides.

"That was AWESOME!" Tatum's words and expression after having the teapot dump gallons of water on her.

The 40 minute car ride home was true bliss, they all fell asleep! After we got home they rested a little longer which is good because Tatum still had more fun in store.

Mommy and Ms. Resa took Tatum and Elena to Theatre in the Park to see Annie. I was excited and was looking forward to the night probably a little more than Tatum. I was trying to explain to her that when I was little Annie to me was like High School Musical or Hannah Montana is to her. She was looking forward to the night because she truly does like the movie Annie. After I introduced her to the movie she watched it everyday for a couple of months. She is familiar with the show and most importantly the songs.

Tatum all dressed up and ready to go...
Ms. Resa bought the girls cotton candy. I believe this was Tatum's first taste to the sweet treat.

The performance was entertaining and the evening was comfortable despite the 90+ degree day. With all the splash park fun earlier Tatum was ready to go before intermission, but she was a trooper and made it to the end. It's a good thing she did too. The girls got to meet one of the actors from the show. They got to meet Sandy (Annie's dog)...are dogs are considered actors? In my book they are, so it was a good end to a fun day and night.

Crown Center Field Trip

Keeping with my goal of a "field trip" or two during the week we headed down to Crown Center today. The kids were excited because there is so much to do when we visit! The plan was to meet my friend Audra and her daughter Reagan; eat lunch at Fritz's, head over to Kaleidoscope, then as the grand finale play in the fountains. The day was a success and the kids had fun even though the grand finale didn't turn out so grand.

Our first stop was lunch at Fritz's, with a little detour to the candy store. That is a must. That candy store has been there forever! I can still remember all the barrels of candy they had when I was a kid. It is a little more modern now, but hopefully the kids will remember stopping there when they get older. With any luck it might still be open for their kids.

Lunch at Fritz's is always fun. Where else can you order your food by phone at the table and a train delivers your order? Plus you get to wear a fun hat. This was little Evan's second time at Fritz's, but his first time being able to take everything in and process what he was seeing. The look of wonder in his eyes as he watched the train delivering food to different tables was great. One of my favorite things is watching my kids as they experience something new. It's so real and awesome to them. That raw joy and excitement seems to loose it's appeal as we get older (at least in my experience). Guess that is something I need to work on...

Kaleidoscope was our next stop. This was Tatum and Evan's first time. Tatum really enjoyed the crafts and hanging out with Reagan. Eli did his own thing. He had been earlier this year with his school so it wasn't as cool to him. Evan did what he does best which is running around and screaming. If he wasn't screaming he was hanging out in the noise submarine.

Eli was most excited about the dark room. It was pretty cool. Typical looks and poses for Eli and Tatum...cool guy and princess.

Hey kids where is the water? When it was time to head to the fountains I thought we were either being Punked or we were secretly reshooting a scene from Vacation. I was waiting for a security guard to show up and say, "Sorry folks, fountains are closed. Moose out front shoulda told ya."

They were VERY disappointed. The Center was setting up a street fair in the fountain courtyard so the fountains had been turned off. When we arrived earlier they were up and running, we were even talking about them as we parked. It was so hard to explain that to Eli and Tatum. They kept asking me to, "go and ask them to turn the fountains on." Apparently they think I have some super powers and can make things happen just by asking. Wish they thought I had that kind of power when I am asking THEM to do something.

Here they are with their disappointed faces. They were truly upset. Eli said, "this is the worst day ever." He can obviously be a little dramatic. I told him the way I see it, "it's all good. You get to come back next week" and I have a no brainer field trip.

Paradise Park

We started off the first day of summer vacation today! It's my goal to do a couple of fun things with them each week. I always stress about this since Evan tends to "rule" over me, but I am determined to "be the Mommy" as Ms. Resa would say. I think I can, I think I can!

Eli and Tatum signed up for the Summer Reading program at the library. Eli has already read his first book...it's amazing how much he learned in Kindergarten. We listen to Robert Munsch read Alligator Baby online, it is always entertaining listening to him read his stories.

After that we headed over to Paradise Park. We went early and pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. Summer is off to a good start.

Evan jumping in the pit while Eli throws balls at him.

Eli LOVES to fish. We went to the lake over the holiday weekend just so he could fish at Grandma Cindy's. Eli caught his first baby bass! He was so proud, so proud he put it in Tatum's swimming pool when she wasn't looking. Silly brother prank!

While at Paradise Park Eli spent most of his time "fishing". It's nice that he is getting older and can be trusted by himself for short periods, because you know Tatum and little Evan wanted to do something different.

Eli digging for Dinosaur bones in the sand. "Hey Mom, look! I found one!"

"I'm going to see which one I found" What did you figure out Eli? "H'm it's hard to tell, he has so many bones"

Tatum looks forward to face painting. Let's go Tatum. "Just a minute I need one more color...now that's just the right touch."

We had a fun time! Wonder what the rest of the summer has in store?