Grandpa Scott and Grandma Cheryl's House

Jillian and Bo (who likes to swim, too!)

Justis taking yet ANOTHER turn on the horse ramp

Holly and Madalynn sharing some girl time

Madalynn proudly smiling after jumping off the board and swimming to the side all by herself

Dawson looking cool at Nu-Way

We had a great time staying with Travis's parents in his hometown of Wichita before and after our family reunion at the ranch in early July. The kids (and the big kids) all have things we look forward to doing every time we're visiting.

Tickle Chase is a one of those anticipated events. Grandpa Scott has "tickle bees" in his pant pockets. They get stirred up when the grandkids come to town. He pulls the "tickle bees" (fingers) from his pockets and grandpa makes the bees buzz and chase the kids until the bees can to their job...tickle!

Riding in Grandma Cheryl's Ford Expedition with HER is another must for the kids while we're in Wichita. Sitting up high in the seats, they feel so big and can see so much more of the scenery as they ride.

Swimming is another given. Madalynn learned how to go off the board in the deep end and swim herself to the side comfortably on her own. Jillian and Dawson loved playing on the play ledge at the shallow end of the pool. Justis was having a good time until I let go of him in the shallow end so he would kick his feet and swim. Let me just say that was NOT the way Justis will learn to swim. He was scared to death and started sinking before I pulled him up. He's only been in the water once since, with Travis. I asked him to forgive me for scaring him and letting him go and promised not to ever let go of him again!

Sleeping at Aunt Holly's house is also a must for Madalynn, Justis and Dawson while we're there. Holly lives in a house (Jack also built it, I believe) directly behind Scott and Cheryl's backyard. It was a house, then the office for Penguin Pools, and now it's a house again! We actually lived there before we lived in Haven for a few months. Holly has a room complete with two twin beds and a toddler bed. The kids LOVE taking their turns (or all going together) to sleep at her house.

We did a couple of things unique to Wichita. We had lunch at Nu-Way. Nu-Way serves crumbly hamburger in buns with mustard and pickles. Nu-Way has several eateries in Wichita, where it was started, but Nu-Way (as far as I know) is ONLY in Wichita. They also make excellent homemade onion rings, serve root beer in frosty mugs and have great chili. Yum! Exploration Place is another place we visited. It's along the Arkansas river in downtown Wichita. That's where we visited the human body exhibit. All of the activities there were geared toward kids. The most fun the kids had was on a horse that ran down a ramp. The simplest things are the most fun!

We saw some family in Wichita and a few friends. We saw Travis's Aunt Vicki, whom lives next store to Scott and Cheryl, and her daughter and Travis's cousin, Stacy. Travis's sister Rebecca's birthday party was going on the evening we arrived. We got to see the Camfields, Kirks, Peitz's, Griffins, and Webbs! Seeing them all was a huge treat for us. They are all couple friends of ours, most of whom all got married the same summer we did and we've shared and celebrated marriage and babies together. We also got to have lunch with our dear friends Aaron and Kristy and their two precious kids. Aaron was Travis's roommate in college and a childhood friend. Kristy and I know each other through Aaron and Travis, but she is a close friend I feel I can share anything with.

We definitely miss having family and friends closer than 16 hours away! We had a great time in Wichita and we're already all looking forward to our next visit to Kansas...though we don't know when that will be since Travis is pretty much out of vacation time!