Saying Good-Bye to Wichita

We had a lot of fun being here in Wichita, Kansas with Dave's parents, Alan and Ann. We had two goals we wanted to achive while we were here.

#1 WORK!! Ann and Alan needed the siding on their chimney torn down and built back up. They thought that it would be rotted, and it was, but not as bad as expected.

Hard working or hardly working? Either way he looks good!

Benn helping Pops cut the weeds

#2 To have TONS of fun and we did have a lot of fun even when we were working up a sweat. We have lived so far away for so long that this time together was cherished. But our time has come to an end and it is time to move on.

From here we will head to Ohio for our own ROYAL wedding event of Dave's cousin Andrea. After that we will head to Dave's brother's house and spend some time with Him and his wife!! 
We also enjoyed experiencing thunder and lightening storms. Not little ones either, BIG storms. It was a little scary and a lot exciting. The boys were thrilled. We did not experience tornado, but that is okay. I will live vicariously through "Wizard of Oz" for that.

Boys painting the finished chimney

We are sad to go, but excited to get back on the road again and continue on with the adventure of driving cross country with our wonderful family!!

This is what Caleb did

He loves his naps

Croquet

We spent a relaxing Sunday out back play Croquet! The boys loved it.

I learned that I am not very good at this game, Dave is okay at this game and the boys ROCK this game. The longer grass made it fun and challenging.

We had simple fun in the sun! Thank you Lord for your many blessings!

T Rex Cafe

 This place is one of our MOST FAVORITE stops in Kansas city!! The T-Rex Cafe in the Legends Mall! The atmosphere, the food, staff and everything about this place is A+!!



The restaurant also features a meteor shower every hour on the half hour.

 As you enter the restaurant you are greeted by this mommy T-Rex protecting her babies. Do you see the women below her in red?? All of the dinosaurs are HUGE! But this mamma is the biggest. She leans way down and lets out a big roar every so often, reminding you she is in charge. Behind the T-Rex you can see up high the tentacles of the large octopus that spans the width of most of the restaurant.

 I highly recommend this fun restaurant to anyone who will be in the area. They also have a gift shop and a fun digging pit to dig for "fossils." Ladies, your husbands will be thrilled to know Cabela's is right down the street.

Bike Ride

 Bike riding is a very important part of the Abel family. Our babies receive helmets at birth and their first bikes on their 6 month birthday. :)
We have not done it a whole lot up to this point because it is HOT in Wichita and by the time it cools off it is dark.

This getting dark at 8:30pm is throwing us for a loop. I want to go back to Alaska where the sun shines ALL the time.

Dave, Benn and Alan. Do you see Benn taking the lead?

 But on a cool Saturday we loaded up and took off.

Ann, taken by Court riding a few feet ahead

taking pics while riding? Thrilling!

 We rode to "The Keeper of the Plains" in downtown Wichita. If you click on the link you can read about it and see the significance that it holds for Kansas.

 At 9pm the buckets flame up and for 15 mins we enjoyed a big fire!

The Boys loved it

Deanna Rose Childrens Farm

We drove up to Kansas City, Missouri to meet up with one of my close friends! While we waited for her to get off work we stopped by this adorable children's farm! Deanna Rose is a recommend stop for everyone of ALL ages, it is free admission on the weekday and $2 on the weekends.Activities include:

• Mining in a sluice box
• Feeding baby goats with a bottle
• observing a milking demonstration and then feeding the milk to baby cows
• Hanging out in an old fashion one room school house.
• Riding around on peddle tractors
• walking through an old town, general store, bank and ice cream shop. They were set up in the same way they would have appeared 100 years ago.
• Carriage rides

You get the point, this place was awesome and we had a blast checking it out!

Baby Ducks

Benjamin Button, his mommy abandon him :(

This is Olive

Pony Rides were a hit!

Josiah loved it, last time we tried a pony ride he was scared.

The boys love baby goslings!

After a long day exploring the farm we stopped in at the milking demonstration. The boys, at this point, were so hot and tired they just sat in a daze watching Jenny milk Olive. They chose to wear long sleeves on this day and quickly learned that when mommy says: "Boys, you need to wear short sleeves" they need to listen. Thankfully all buildings are air conditioned.

Olive being milked

After the we watched them milk the cows, the boys got a cool opportunity to feed the calves a bottle of milk. I do not remember the name of the baby we fed, but he was MESSY and really cute!

Look at the size of that bottle

Playing on the train

Caleb spent the day in the baby backpack on daddy's back. After we watched the cow being milked and the calves being fed, he decided he could not be left out any longer. This is a happy boy after he was fed and changed!

We will defiantly return to this place! 

Thank you Amy for recommending this place! Maybe one day our families will get to meet there and the 5 boys can check it out together! 

Its HOT

Who would have thought that laying a piece of wet plastic on the ground and sliding across it in to a big puddle of ice cold water would be considered fun!
I remember sliding down a "super" slide 2 times in my entire life!! Why? Because it rarely gets warm enough to do so in Alaska!

 However, all of that changed when the temps hit 100 degrees! The ice cold water felt wonderful and the boys really enjoyed themselves sliding across the lawn in the ice cold water! Really? Who would have thunk!

 Even Daddy and Mommy joined the fun!!

Seal!!

Super Man!!

Josiah was so hot, he got naked!