Travelin' Fools!

*again, lots of pics! :)*

We have been travelin' fools the last 2 days (and we're not done yet!). Friday evening we drove down to Wichita to see our friends and their new baby in the NICU (please pray for Ryan, Christie and baby Caleb), and then went to Jamie & Cassie's to have supper with them and Papa & Binga. It was a quick trip, but Jacob had a lot of fun chasing the dogs around. Poor dogs didn't know how to get away from him!! This morning, Papa & Binga came here and we went out west to see Grandma Betty and then out to the farm to see Grandpa Elmer & Grandma Mary. The kids had a lot of fun playing, and at the farm they were cutting corn, so Anna was excited to see the combine and tractor up close!

I really wish I could download the pictures in my head sometimes. On the drive out west, the colors of fall were everywhere! This is my favorite season. I love Kansas in the fall. Perfect weather and beautiful colors. There was the bright green of the winter wheat peeking through the ground, the deep rust of the milo ripe for harvesting, the golden brown of the corn stalks, and the contrast of dark green hay being picked up and rolled into huge golden bales. And then the trees! They are turning more out there than they are here at home. The golds, reds, yellows, greens, browns...so beautiful! What a wonderful world God created for us to enjoy!!

Anna found the dominoes, so Daddy set them up for her. He started on a card table in the living room, but after several times of the table getting bumped he moved to the dining room table...

He finally got them all set up (Grandma even knocked them over once!! :)). Anna was so excited!

One, two, three!!!!

That was fun! Let's do it again!!!

This is the country church I grew up in (side view). It eventually closed when I was in college. Never was really big, but I loved it. It's less than 1/4 mile from my grandparents' house and used to be a school house, too, where my Dad and his siblings went to school for a time. It's sad to see it sitting empty and deteriorating but such is life. That is also where Aaron proposed to me (he said he knew I'd always wanted to get married there (that's also where my parents got married), but since that couldn't happen, he figured proposing there was the next best thing). There used to be a great big swingset on this side--with a teeter toter, bar, swings, rings, and ladder. And then there was a really tall slide in the back. Lots of wonderful memories in that building!

Watching the combine in the corn field right behind Great Grandpa & Grandma's house. We had to go through a "forest" to see the combine (there's a tree line of evergreens between their house and the field) :)

A flower Mom! She had so much fun being outside. She even picked a couple of pears off the pear tree!

A girl full of contradictions--tractors, pears, and flowers, wearing overalls and sparkly dress shoes!!!

Daddy! Daddy! We saw a combine and a trater and gain caht (grain cart) and I found a plower (flower) and I picked some pears!! Two was wipe (ripe) and the west (rest) weren't so we threw them out fow (for) the buhds! (birds) She was super excited to tell everyone all about what we'd seen and done! :)

Then she helped Papa & Grandpa work. I made her change her sparkly "church shoes".

Not sure why this one is blurry, but she loved being right next to Great Grandpa and watching what they were doing.

Again--contradictions! She is so girly, and yet she doesn't mind one bit to get her hands dirty playing in the dirt or helping work :)

After listening to Papa & Grandpa discuss what they thought needed to be done, she added her 2 cents worth!

And add she did!! :)

They have a cat who recently had kittens. Anna remembers the last time we were out there and she got to hold one of the kittens. So we went on a search to find the kittens.
Here kitty! Mom, I don't know where she is!

*gasp* I tink I hear it!!!!!!

(it was Papa on the other side of the trees meow-ing)

Shhhhh!! I hear it! *gasp* What's dat?!

(Papa was now meow-ing and rustling around in the trees)

So she runs around the trees to see if she can find the kitty. And she finds...

Papa! He growled and tried to scare her, but she was FOCUSED!

Anna: Shhhh!!!! Papa, we hear da kitty!! Over dare!

Papa: Did it sound like this? MEOW!!

Anna: YES!! Shhhh!! We gotta pind da kitty!!

It was too funny! She really had no clue that it was Papa all along making the kitty noise!!


Jacob found his favorite toy at Great Grandpa Frank and Grandma Betty's house. I don't even know what it's called, but he sat and played with it all afternoon!

And chewed on his bottom lip while he was at it :)

In the car, Jacob is king and his carseat is his throne (evidently). He's watching Veggie Tales.

Anna is just Anna and she tends to crash... :)

And the king likes to chew on his toe. How royal of him.