Hurry Up Summer, Get Here Already!

What an awesome day the little Skurd's had! The boys had time with Dad and Tatum had time with Mom. What better way to celebrate girl time than a day at the hair salon followed by some shopping? We then cooked out, ate dinner outside and enjoyed the perfect evening.




Our little picnic area. We have a table and picnic table, but I think it is always more fun to sit in the grass. Plus, the sun was setting so this was the best place to eat.




Evan being the expressive not afraid to say what he is thinking kid that he is was a little upset. You would think he would be use to his mom and her ability to improvise when needed. We had no hotdog buns so I improvised with a piece of bread. Evan said,

"Hey what is this? This [bread] is not for hotdogs. It's for peanut butter and jelly!"

That kid says some of the funniest things, he always makes me laugh! I believe we have a class clown on our hands. How I love him so!



Evan fell off his scooter and got a scrape, he insisted that I take a picture...




We played a fun game of wiffle ball. Do you like Eli's uniform?

Doesn't everyone play wiffle ball in their sleep pants and no shirt? That is Eli's standard uniform while at home. I really can't say much, the boy knows what he likes! I'm just glad he had on pants.




I believe Evan is dreaming of the fun yet to come. I am thinking it's looking pretty good. It's off to a good start.

Que Pasa, Deanna Rose?

We took an after school break to Deanna Rose this afternoon. This was actually Tatum's second time this week. We went with her preschool class on Tuesday. I must say the weather was much nicer today! We generally don't make it a habit to visit the same place twice in one week, but I was really impressed with the changes and additions to the farmstead that I wanted the boys to enjoy it again too. If you have not been recently, you should check it out!

The kids love maps, and the park has several of them. Each map we saw we would stop and they would look at it and determine where we were and what our next destination would be. This is good since their mother is pretty much map challenged. And Brian says,

"Can I get an Amen?"

He has know this for 18 years now, but was just recently reminded on Sunday while we were trying to navigate to my cousin's new house. Guess that is another story for another time. But one of the reasons we would make good T.V. (This is a reference to my dream to be on the Amazing Race.)







One of Tatum's recent obsessions is horses. She talks about them all the time and how she really wants a white horse. Maybe all little girls have a love for horses...




She was happy that she got to go on a pony ride. They did have a white pony that she wanted to ride, but of course that pony was resting. She was still thrilled, so it was all good.



Evan "winning" on the tractors. Mom was winning too since no other little kids got close to him, thus no tractor rage!



The only thing Eli wanted to do was fish. It was late in the day and the fish were not biting, so he was only able to catch one fish. He usually will catch a fish for every worm in his bucket. He could fish all day, he truly loves it. He once wrote a story about how he wants to be a professional fisherman when he grows up. I believe it, he has great patience and can sit and wait and wait and wait.




This is a nice little moment between two brothers. I'm not sure what they were contemplating, but I am sure it was good.

But I Want To Ride!

We took our first trip of the season to Worlds of Fun today, thanks Grandma Cindy for the season passes! It was a perfect day. The kids were good, well for the most part. The weather was nice and very little line waiting took place. So, not too bad for our first visit.

I have such fond memories of Worlds of Fun from when I was a kid. My cousins and I would make an annual trip each summer. Those days are still some of my favorite childhood memories. They have taken out some of the great rides I remembered and replaced them with new and more exciting ones (depending on who you ask, I guess). But they can't take away that Worlds of Fun "smell" that the park just has and I believe they are still playing the same loop of music throughout the park that they played way back in the 80's! Think Rick Springfield and Jesse's Girl. Great memories and laughter from my childhood that I hope I remember forever. Hopefully I can keep that tradition alive with my kids and build some memories for them.



This was the first ride of the day and one I rode as a kid too. My camera is obviously not the best, but it did capture Eli's smirk. That will always be his smirk...he has been giving me that look for 7 years now. I love it! It's him!

Side note; you can click on the picture to see his smirk better.


Hmm...at some point on the next ride Eli lost his smirk. It was replaced with his I think I am going to be sick look. Evan and Tatum are oblivious to his condition, which is typical. I believe Brian would have been enjoying himself too if he wasn't thinking,

"What am I going to do if Eli starts to hurl?"

Again, you have to make the picture bigger...it's priceless.

When I mentioned that the kids were pretty well behaved...for the most part. Did you automatically picture the culprit in our few missteps of the day? It's a given that my strong-willed three year old "baby" will try to run the show and when the show does not go according to his script he will let you and everyone in a five mile radius know that he is not happy. I do my best to be patient with him and show him a little grace he is only three after all.

To be fair to him he did get the short end of the stick several times during the day. He is the baby of a family visiting an amusement park where you have be at least this tall to ride, so it is to be expected.

"Evan what do you think about waiting for your brother and sister and daddy to ride?"

He didn't give an answer. That's okay, no words were needed. I knew what he was saying!




Well, what can I tell you about the bumper cars? Not much, they are the same as I remember them. Oops, I meant to say what did I learn about Evan and bumper cars? I learned that even toddlers or my toddler has road rage. I guess I should have explained the bumper cars concept to him. When the yellow car that is almost in the picture ran into Evan, Evan screamed at the poor kid and yelled

"Hey don't run into me!"

He then proceeded to bang on the yellow car with his fist. Man, that boy is an angry elf at times.



I realized at that moment that I need to lighten up on showing him grace and brush the dust off my strong-willed child book.


He did have fun though as did Tatum. Another great picture from a not so great camera. It did capture another genuine moment of the day. If only I could insert the squeals of laughter that accompanied those smiles. You can't fake those smiles and believe me I have some fake pictures of Tatum posing while riding some rides. When I can get her having fun without her knowing it they are some of my favorite pictures of her. That is why I like this one, that is her smile like you mean it smile.


So long Worlds of Fun you were good to us today. We will be seeing you many times again this summer.