We spent 10 days in Missouri. Here are some of the things we did.
We are quite the site in the airport.
When we got to Nana's, Asher immediately started showing us how to baby proof the house. In his mouth is the cover to the fireplace gas switch.
Nana took us to an apple orchard and pumpkin patch. This was perfect since we had just finished a unit on apple trees in preschool.
The trees were mostly picked over and we didn't have any of the picking poles, so we had to get creative.
Apple donuts! I broke one in half to give part to Asher and he grabbed both pieces. It was a pretty chilly morning, and Asher wasn't quite prepared.
We also went to a trampoline jump place. Ethan was very excited they had a dodge ball area for his age because the one he went to with school last year excluded kids his age.
On Saturday, Nana threw Ethan a really fun birthday party with a bounce house. It's amazing how much time they spent in it!
Ethan got a few Lego sets and set to work building them.
Lauren let Asher borrow this buckle stuffed animal. He had a love/hate relationship with it since he couldn't do it totally by himself.
I got to be with Asher at church, which is pretty much always Mike's responsibility. It was a long two hours in the halls.
After church we went to the local fire station open house. The kids got to use a fire hose to extinguish a pretend fire.
And drive a little fire truck.
They also go to ride in a real fire truck!
Uncle Joe brought a fun Halloween craft. Benton made a mummy and didn't know what that was, so it took weeks for us to convince him that he did not make "Mommy". I think it was the party we went to where they were wrapping people in toilet paper. Now he knows that mummies are wrapped in toilet paper.
Lauren took us to the KC zoo with her pass. Poor Benton got stung by a bee on his foot through the hole in his croc. He limped most of the time.
We loved seeing the polar bear and penguins that our zoo doesn't have.
Ethan read a book a day. He loved the series I brought with us and would read the whole book in one sitting.
Another day I took the boys to the Deanna Rose farm. They mostly wanted to play on the playgrounds, except Asher who just wanted to play with his buckle.
Once I got him on the playground, he loved it.
On Ethan's actual birthday he chose his meals: german pancakes for breakfast and Star Wars macaroni and cheese for lunch. We went to Walmart and he found these lollipop light sabers.
Lauren was nice enough to host a birthday dinner for him. He got pizza, as requested. He was super excited to spend more time with Jo Jo.
The kids loved seeing the Missouri wildlife. The first day we were there, Ethan asked Lauren, "Is that thing a squirrel? Oh, I haven't seen one before." He has, of course, but it has been awhile.
After dinner we did s'mores and had a little dance party on the patio.
The glow sticks were fun, especially when Uncle Joe cracked one and started painting the kids.
On Friday, Lauren took us to the science center in KC. This water table was really cool
After the science center, the boys and I ran on their race course for the next day.
That night, I had a team dinner for my relay and met my team mates. My first ever selfie stick picture!
On Saturday, Joe ran a marathon and I ran a relay for the marathon (my leg was 9.4 and I ran it at a 9:08 pace). The kids tracked 25 miles of running ahead of time and then did 1.2 on the day of the race to reach the 26.2 mile marathon distance. I was really proud of the boys. I tried to get back to run with Ethan (Nana ran with Benton), but with all the road closures around the race, but they time I got to the kids' race, Ethan was about done. I parked at the halfway point, so I got to see Benton at least.
I ran across the finish line with our last runner and her husband. Ethan joined us.
The kids loved the finish line party.
I got a picture of Joe running while I was waiting to start my leg (he's in green).
Instead of a medal, I got a baton.
After the race, we got packed up and flew home! This is a lot of energy for one row on an airplane, but technology made the trip not too bad.
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