Friends, Lego, and More!

Before our weather turned snowy again, Avery enjoyed some playground time with her friend Emma!

When we were in Missouri for Spring Break, Gavin spotted a partially built Lego set in my cousin's basement. She was super awesome and mailed it to us when we got back home. Gavin broke it down and built the whole thing from scratch. It's the Saturn V complete with tiny astronauts, lunar lander and splashdown unit.

This is Avery's cell phone that she made herself from the tab of a cardboard box and her stash of stickers!

Then both kids felt they needed to make an instructional video on color changing dinosaurs that Gavin got for his birthday.

For Cinco de Mayo, we got snow!! The kids only have a couple weeks left of school and we had to pull our winter jackets out of the closet!

We were supposed to start swimming lessons this week but it's an outdoor heated pool, so they canceled due to the cold! Hopefully it warms up soon!!

Last Ski Day & Field Trips

We squeezed in one last day of skiing in the first week of April before returning our rented gear. This time no one went onto the bunny slope! We all went on green runs and even though Avery was trepidatious at first, she got over it and enjoyed herself!

The start of Hidden Bear trail at Canyon Village in Park City.

Soon after our ski adventure, Avery's preschool did a field trip to This Is The Place,which is a heritage park. The park is 450 acres!! We had an abbreviated tour since the field trip was only 2 hours. We started with a train ride to see most of the park area. Then the kids visited the barn where they got to pet some of the baby goats.

Avery testing her abilities at milking a cow:

Then the kids learned how fabric was made from wool. They even got to try carding wool themselves.

They visited one of the homes and tried churning butter. Then they checked out one of the toys the kids would use.

Avery also got to try beating a rug to clean it. She didn't seem to enjoy it much. LOL We got a couple more pics before leaving.

Our one picture of the eclipse where you can see it!

About a month later, Gavin's first grade went on a field trip to the Aquarium. I was a chaperone for the trip and had four kids (including Gavin) to watch as we toured the facility. I didn't get many pictures since one kid (Gavin) kept trying to run ahead while another one kept lagging behind.

So here are the three boys in the group for a goofy pic. Then Gavin is crossing the rope bridge that is part of the rainforest exhibit.

The kids sat through a 45 minute class where they learned about different animals in the aquarium and then we moved on with our tour. They all tried to pet the stingrays at the stingray pool but Gavin was the only one who was tall enough to reach.

Then we got one more group shot with the Megalodon jaws although one of the kids in our group opted out of the pic while another kid from first grade wanted in the pic!

It was a long day but the kids had fun!!

Springs Break Bonanza - Wichita!

Our last few days of Spring Break were spent in Wichita visiting with most of Carlton's family. We were also able to help Gampy move some of his stuff into his new place! We visited the Zoo with Paula, Max, Jasmine, Audie, Joe, Bennett, Savanna & Jeremy.

I got a short video of one of the elephants playing with a ball.

The next day we went to the Botanical Garden with Gampy, Regina, Molli, and Teril. Here are Avery and Gavin being turkeys.

Then we got Avery and Teril caught in a spider's web!

We rode on the carousel.

Then the kids played with the troll under a bridge.

For our last afternoon, we met up with as many family members as possible at a park with a playground and the kids got to do an Easter Egg hunt!

Sebastian, Deanna, Ariana, and Avery looking for eggs. Then Ariana and Deanna posing for pictures with Gavin and Avery.

Since we were all together, we wanted to get pictures of family groups as much as we could. It's a bit difficult getting one group shot with so many people!

Here is the Rader Family with Paula, Alan, Jasmine and Maxwell. Lorelai McCollum (next to Avery) joined us too! 

Here we are with Lorelai again and Liska Dae!!

The next group photo includes Molli's family! Her kids Alex, Teril and Dasha with her wife Teddy.

The group above is Audie and Joe's family!Joe is on the far left holding his granddaughter Savanna. Joe & Audie's kids are Nate (holding his baby boy Jude) next to his wife Cassie. Audie is down in front next to her grandson Bennett. Next to Avery is Audie & Joe's other kids, Maxine, Cassie (with her boyfriend Nate) and Jeremy in the back.

Next up is the family group of Marcus and Olya (on the left) with their kids Deanna and Ariana. Lorelai joined us with her brothers Sebastian and Liam.

This last family group is Anna's family (far left) with her grandson Sebastian, her daughter Angelica (next to me) with her daughter Lorelai and her son Liam and on the far right is Angelica's husband, Mike.

A couple more pictures with Gampy and Aunt Regina before we leave Wichita. 

It was wonderful to see everyone!!

Spring Break Bonanza - Kansas City, MO!

The next leg of our trip took us to Kansas City for a couple nights. We were able to visit with my Aunt Judy, cousin Kristin with her kids Maddie and Will and also my cousin Mehgan with her kids Jack and Ella.

For our only full day in Kansas City, we went to the Science Museum and met Carlton's brother, Marcus, along with his daughter Deanna.  We were there most of the day and the kids had a blast exploring all the different exhibits.

One of the exhibits was about energy and the kids got to try a giant hamster wheel to create energy.

Then Gavin tried out a Sky Bike that was on a cable carrying a bunch of bricks.

Then we moved on to making soap bubbles:

Then we ventured outside to play on the playground.

We visited with a dinosaur...

Next the kids tried different challenges competing against robots to complete different tasks.

Too soon it was time to say good-bye to Deanna and Marcus. On the way out, the kids wanted a picture in the giant Easter Basket.

Our last night at Kristin's, we spent some time with Aunt Judy, Lucy, Kristin's Corgi, and Avery serenaded us with a song on the keyboard!

That was the end of our Kansas City trip - next up: Wichita!