Summer Vacation Part I: KC, KS

The nice thing about Brad and I being from the same general area is that when we make a trip home we usually get to see both of our families.  This year my parents celebrated their 50th anniversary (well it was actually last November but we were all able to get together this summer).  So, before heading to Tablerock Lake for a week with my family, we drove to Kansas to visit with Brad's family.  His parents and his sister both still live there. I feel like we need to make these trips more often.  It's so much fun to watch our kids play with their cousins.


Cousins are reunited.  They roll down the hill in front of Grandma's house to pass the time :)

There is the coolest farm in Kansas City and it's free!  We paid extra to do some of the activities like pony rides and feeding the goats but it was so much fun for the kids.  This is where the Mister discovered his love for gem mining.  He has requested to do it three or four more times since.

We were invited to Brad's former college roommate's house for dinner.  He married a girl that Brad had known growing up and Tony and his wife subsequently moved back to Kansas City.  I met Tony the same summer I met Brad.  They were both up in Seattle painting houses for the summer.  The last time we all saw each other was probably at a BYU game and we were all childless.  Now we spend a lot more time running interference and keeping our kids from beating up other people's kids.  We were pretty successful except for one baseball bat to the head.  The Mister says it was on accident.  I didn't see the whole thing, but I'm pretty sure he is telling the truth.

Of course there was some time for swimming in the back yard.  Even Grandma got in one time!

 

And there were fireworks on the 4th of July...and the obligatory running around in a field before the fireworks.  Grandma was also nice enough to read to the kids in the back of the truck while they waited for the show to start.