Planes, Trains & Automobiles

We took a vacation to Des Moines, Iowa. We had a great time staying with our friends, Wayne and Marlene. In fact, the kids wanted to know when we get to go back, which might have something to do with our outing to Incredible Pizza. While there we did drag the kids to a few boring sites.

TRAIN--we went on the Boone, Iowa Scenic Railway. The town of Boone is NW of Des Moines. The train ride was 1 hour and 45 minutes. We decided to ride the caboose which did not have a bathroom. This was a bit of a gamble on our part as Sam has just been potty trained this summer, at that age, when they gotta go, THEY GOTTA GO! The gamble was worth it. We were the only ones in the caboose so the kids got to climb up to the top seating and they could look out of the caboose and see to the front of the train.

AUTOMOBILE--Of course we drove the blue mini van on the trip but I thought this made for a much more exciting automobile. It is amazing what kind of FREE entertainment you can find. We drove by a Dodge Dealership and saw this sitting in front so we stopped and got a free ride in the back of the monster truck. The kids loved it, although I'm not sure you can tell from this picture.

PLANE--On our way home we stopped to see a distant cousin of my late father-in-law. He has a couple airplanes. We opted for this plane as oppose to his stunt plane. I wasn't sure a stunt plane would be good for the kid's first airplane ride. It was great fun. We flew over Lawrence. Garrett told our pilot Nick who happens to be a KU fan that it smelled when we were over Lawrence. We also went over The Plaza, Arrowhead and The K. This was the first airplane ride for the kids. They didn't even need the barf bags I brought along.


Anna, loving her first airplane ride.

Garrett enjoyed the ride as well.


Sam was not quite as into the plane ride as the older kids.


A farmer can't drive through Nebraska and Iowa without checking out the corn.

Incredible Pizza

Incredible Pizza

Yes, more Incredible Pizza

We took a quick self guided tour of the capitol building in Des Moines. The dome is covered in 23 karat gold sheets. It really is pretty, inside and out.

Inside the capital.

Inside the dome.

More inside the dome.

One final story of our vacation: The night we arrived in Des Moines we were on the back deck visiting with our friends. The kids were playing in the back yard. I don't know about everyone elses kids, but mine can not stay away from water. Anna and Garrett were lying on their stomachs reaching into a very small fish pond. We told them they could not play in the water so as Anna was getting up a rock wobbled and she went into the pond head first. I looked soon enough to see her slither into the pond with a splash and her legs kicking around. As we lunged for the pool it seemed like it took her a long time to come up out of the water. If it would have been one of the boys they would have been crying, but not Anna, she came up out of there "madder than a wet hen." She marched into the house saying, "I did not like that." Of course we kept teasing her about going swimming with the fish and how she got to go swimming more than the boys on our vacation. I'm not sure she thinks it is that funny but we sure got a lot of laughs out of it. I'm sure glad my kids have a good sense of humor.

Memorial Day in Dorrance

This is where it all starts in Downtown Dorrance, Kansas. Our town population is less than 200 but we have an amazing crowd for Memorial Day. The festivities begin on the street in front of the American Legion. Bicycles, strollers, dogs, ATV's of all shapes and sizes and those walking on foot gather for the parade led by American Legion members and Sons of the American Legion. This year we were lucky enough to have Sam & Stan Langhofer from Topeka play the bagpipes. I just LOVE the sound of bagpipes. We walk from the legion to the city cemetery. The parade is amazing, there is no candy thrown and hardly any spectators, we ALL walk or ride in honor of those who served our country.


Garrett is ready to get the parade started with his decorated bike.



Anna has recently learned to ride her bike without training wheels so she loved showing off her new skills in the parade. Please notice the yellow bicycle horn on Anna's bike. My Mom thought that would be fun for the kids. I am wondering what I ever did to deserve the pain of listening to 3 kids honk bike horns non-stop.



This is some of the family walking in the parade. In the stroller is my newest niece, Avery. This is the first of many Dorrance Memorial Day parades for her. On the right you will notice Jody's "baby bump," next year she will also be pushing a stroller in the parade.


This is Garrett entering the cemetery.



As we arrived in the cemetery we were greeted by a flyover of a WWII replica bi-plane that was built by a local Dorrance resident. Thanks, Tom for the special treat.


The ceremony includes a firing squad made up of Legion Members and Sons of the Legion Members. My brother-in-law is the one wearing the sunglasses.

Sam and his Grandma listened to the ceremony. Sam's Great Aunt, Mary Kay is wearing the red shirt.


This was our scheduled flyover by a KC-135 tanker out of Forbes Field, Topeka, KS. We really are lucky to have local connections to get these things lined up for our small town.



Sam also had a sweet ride for the parade.

Anna and her cousin Hallie in the cemetery.

KSU Baseball

OK, so I am a little behind. Here are some pictures from several weeks ago. We went to the KSU vs. Texas Baseball game in Manhattan on a Saturday afternoon. My Dad really thought Sam needed to go to a baseball game. Sam is currently 2 1/2 years old and his favorite thing to do is play baseball. He is forever saying, "Mom, where my gwub, I can't find my gwub." Then when he finally locates his glove he says, "Mom, you play ball with me?" It is pretty hard to say no. I usually get the bat and he pitches the ball to me. He has developed quite the wind-up when pitching. I think he gets his technique from the kids on the movie "The Sandlot." It is comical to watch. I hope his passion for baseball sticks around.

Grandpa can't say no to a trip to the concession stand. The problem is he only sprung for 2 slushes (hello Grandpa, we have 3 kids).

You can't go to a baseball game and not have peanuts.

We had great seats in the front row behind the K-State dugout.

Grandma Reilly, Sam and Dad.

Sam and Dad taking in the baseball game.


Garrett and Willie

When the kids got tired of sitting still we went behind the stadium and played.

Saturday morning soccer

One of the great things about our small town is the recreational sports. We play football in the fall, basketball in the winter, soccer in the spring and baseball in the summer. Garrett plays soccer with a group of Kindergarten and 1st grade boys and girls. This season when the kids show up for the game the coaches just divide them up into teams and we play. The kids love it and we don't keep score. This last Saturday there were not very many kids so several of the younger siblings joined in the soccer game.
Garrett is in the green shorts and Anna is the little one in the purple.


Taylor and Garrett going after the ball.


Garrett and Taylor hit the turf.

Anna is the short one on the left in the purple shirt. She was not afraid to get into the action. She even got rolled down the field once but she popped right back up and took off. She might be our only girl but she just may be toughest one in the bunch. She had a great time.
Poor Sam didn't get into the soccer game but had tons of fun playing along the sidelines with this ball.

Weekend around the Farm

Our favorite home-away-from-home is the farm. There are all kinds of fun things to do and that is about the only way we get to see Dad this time of year.

Of course Tuffy is Anna's favorite. Notice he finally got a haircut. We need to get Papa out here to make it look a little better, but for now I think Tuffy is just glad to be able to see.


Sam has a favorite place on the farm. In fact one afternoon he disappeared and we looked everywhere for him. He was finally found in the barn with his favorite playmates, the bottle calves. Their names are Red, Red 2 and The Other One. He just loves to spend time with them and they chase Sam around the barn.


Sam and Red

K-State Open House

The weather was beautiful for KSU's open house a few weeks ago. We had a great time walking around campus playing games and looking at all the fun stuff.


Anna rolling out dough to make her own pretzel while visiting the Bakery Science kitchen.


Sam, proud of his pretzel.


McKenzie with her finished product.


Did you know K-State has an Insect Zoo? It is over near the greenhouses on the NW edge of campus. We caught a very exciting giant cockroach race while visiting the zoo.


The kids took a break to enjoy a honey straw.


It's Willie!!!!!!


There is a great tree in front of Umbuger Hall on the North side of campus. For those of you who don't know, the blond little girl is my niece, McKenzie. My kids got my dark hair and Kate's daughter has her blond hair.


Have I mentioned that I now live with 2 KSU celebrities (no, it is not Bill & Frank). The photo behind Garrett is hanging in the brand new Leadership Studies building. It was just dedicated a few weeks ago. This photo of Garrett and his Dad was taken last summer. They are checking the wheat to see if it is ripe and ready to be harvested.


A trip to Kansas State University would not be complete without stopping at the Call Hall Dairy Bar.


Garrett enjoyed some mint chocolate chip ice cream.


Anna wore just a little bit of her chocolate ice cream.

McKenzie enjoyed some chocolate as well.

We had a great time and can't wait to go back next year, hope you will join us. There are activities for the whole family.