Hugs in the driveway

 And just like that, they headed back to school and jobs and apartments far away from our house in Olathe.

Viking Aspirations

Well, Ethan. We may or may not have Viking heritage...if we don't, it seems your descendants will.

Big boy. Big knife

Sometimes he gets frustrated with our knife selection and dips into his own supply.

Confession: sometimes I do too! ssshhhh......He probably won't read this until he's old enough laugh and forgive me!

Fishy

Kansas City Mavericks

A sweet night at a Mavericks game. 

And Mathew got a puck that came up over the glass! I can't tell if Ethan is genuinely happy for his brother or showing his teeth while he devised a good plan to acquire it.

Royals parade and a day at the zoo

To the delight of our neighbors, and those super loud people across Mur-Len, the Royals one the World Series! No, I'm glad too. I'm sure they're nice boys. 

All the locals went crazy! And now we can finally get some sleep after hosting and attending countless game watching parties.  I've had lots of snacks....more pretzel bites than I care to admit...and pretended to watch more baseball than ever before.

Now all we have left is the Royals Parade in downtown. 

Mark played hookie from work, school was cancelled and he took the boys downtown. 

It was crazy!

The parade was cool....if you could see it. Which they couldn't.

And they dyed the fountains blue. 

Mostly they did a lot of walking around in crowds. But someday they will be able to say that they were there and they were a part of that huge crowd.

I decided to take the girls up to the zoo for the day. Unfortunately, the zoo is is Swope Park and so was one of the bus stops for people going to the Royals Parade.  We were feeling pretty good about our choice to skip the madness.

We went to the Birds of Prey show (always fun).

And ate our low-fat pumpkin chocolate chip cookies we brought in the cooler and played with the stuffed snakes they convinced me to buy while we watched the sea lion show.

We rode out to Africa to see the chimpanzees and then back again for penguins and polar bear.

It was a nice full day and fun to spend it with my girls.

Top golf and Trick or Treating

Mark took the boys over to Top Golf to practice and get a little energy out. This is one of the reason Dad's are so important. If they were stuck with me, we would probably be sitting down with a nice book. 

Yay dads!

After dinner we put on the fox costumes one more time and headed out in the neighborhood.

Stopping at the Brady's.

Megan's friend, Kayli, asked if she could come over and trick or treat with us. Her mom said she wanted to see what it was like to trick or treat with a big family. lol..

I hope she got the fun side and not the "these guys are totally nuts" side.

This year was kind of fun because all the neighbors were outside watching a Royals game and handing out candy. The adults would chat about the score and watch for a few minutes before heading to the next house.

Mathew helped Everly out when she was tired.

I love big kids!

Then it was back home for the great candy sort and swap.

Happy Halloween!

High Adventure 2015

Ethan's first High Adventure!

Table Rock 2015

Camp Naish 2015

Mathew has arrived to Camp Naish. 

There will be bugs, raccoons, unsatisfying meals in the mess hall, frequent trips to the Trading post for discount slushies (he remembered to bring his cup from last year, yay frugal!), fights with the other boys, overcoming fears, bonding with the other boys, passing off merit badges, visiting the wildlife post, and a millions other things that I would never be able to remember. Because I wasn't there. 

But he'll remember and he'll tell you all about it someday.

For now, there are some great photos!

Arrival:

Blue slushie tongue:

Deer!

Mess hall with Sammy.

The shooting range:

Sleeping outside of the tents and under the stars.

Competing in a a mystery box cooking competition.

Looking good! I'd eat that!

Showing us the wildlife hut during Family Night.

And his largest triumph. Mark told him that if he was able to overcome his fear and get up to the top of the tower, he could pick anything out of the trading post.

It took him several tries, but he never gave up. He went back over and over until he made it all the way.

And then he found the most expensive thing for sale (a fancy multitool) and gave Mark a big smile.

Don't lose it, buddy!

I hope he hangs on to that tool and it reminds him that he didn't quit and he did something really difficult by pushing through a little bit at a time.

A great year!