A visit to Hutch

On a quick trip back to Lyons, Mom took us to visit the sale mine museum in Hutch:

Coop even got to mine his own salt chunk:

Ice cream afterward at the Bullseye Grill in Yoder:

And we walked across this big bridge over Highway 61 (something Mom had always wanted to do but thought she needed a kiddo with her so she wouldn't look so dorky!):

Summer friends

My Washburn friends got together to watch some of the World Cup summer games.  We met at local bars, and the kiddos just had to entertain themselves with toys or iPods.

Henry's sister Caroline (our friends from Arkansas) came up to visit for one of the World Cup events (notice the Germany jersey!).

After the soccer game was over:

We had a sleepover with Madeline and her sister Genevieve, and we decided to introduce Madeline to Star Wars.  I'm not sure she loved it...

The First Part of Summer

The summer began with Cooper flying solo (but with Bear) from Kansas City to Denver to meet up with Alan.  We got a new special Star Wars backpack and Darth Vader lego figurine to help make the trip.

Success!

And upon return to Kansas, Coop started Camp Raintree where he is a member of the Orange class, and they rotate through a series of activities (board games, video games, library, pool, arts, etc) every 45 minutes.  The schedule alone is exhausting!

We also went to the "Lotitorium" (the grassy lot between the post office and the lumberyard in Baldwin) for a community theater production of The Phantom Tollbooth.  Very cute.

This year on the 4th, we finally convinced Coop to light some fireworks!  Mostly smoke bombs, but we're making progress!