One Kansas Family

This blog has moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 02:28:00 +0000

This blog has moved here: One Kansas Girl.

New Year's Eve 2017

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Mon, 01 Jan 2018 05:59:00 +0000

(I created this post in Aug. 2018, so I can't really remember what we did. That's why there's just mostly photos 😒.)

We played Quirkle.

That's some bottle of wine!

10 p.m. bedtime for Ali.

Sparking apple cider and champagne at midnight.

12:01 a.m. - it's 2018!

Kansas Underground Salt Museum

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Sun, 31 Dec 2017 01:53:00 +0000

We haven't been here in a while...2010 to be exact. Here's what the boys looked like then...

And here they are now.

We dug for salt rocks. No one licked the wall this time.

We all took our picture by the pick axe...

Christmas 2017

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Mon, 25 Dec 2017 22:26:00 +0000

(I created this post in Aug. 2018, so I can't really remember what we did. That's why there's just mostly photos 😒.)

Christmas Eve.

This interesting one was a re-enactment of one the grandchildren took in 12 years ago...

Newport Grill. The wine was very "approachable."

Christmas Day. It's after 9 a.m. and the boys are not awake yet.

Ali is annoyed.

Best stocking stuffers: Adam and his shredded cheese, Zach and his hot pockets.

Played some games. Scattegories. This is when mom put down s*** for a four-letter word that started with "s."

Bananagrams.

Glasses with lights!

Adam got Vans.

Zach got a robe.

Santa brought the family a robot vacuum cleaner. We named it Jeffrey.

No More Brace Face!

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Sat, 16 Dec 2017 00:04:00 +0000

December 7 - Adam's braces off!

December 14 - My braces off!

Disclaimer: I'm miffed I got mine on a full year before Adam, and he got his off before me.

December soccer

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 01:11:00 +0000

Um...outdoor soccer in December in Kansas? It can work when it's sunny and 65 degrees!

This is Zach...

Under the lights!

This is Adam. See that ball way up there?

Team dinner at Red Robin after...

Haul out the holly...

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Sun, 26 Nov 2017 23:33:00 +0000

Since everyone was in bed at 8 p.m. last night, I was up at 5 a.m. on Saturday (the weekend after Thanksgiving). Nothing to do except...decorate for Christmas?

I basically had our house decked out before anyone else woke up.

When Scott finally walks into the living room: "Um...how long was I asleep?"

Awww...how sweet. Two brothers playing a nice game of Connect 4. They must be really bored.

This is what you get when you ask teenage boys to "put these bins in the spare bedroom." 🙄

London, Baby! November 23-24 | Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Sun, 26 Nov 2017 03:38:00 +0000

Post 4 of 4 about our London trip

Thursday, November 23 - Thanksgiving Day

We ate lunch before Pam, Ted, Lisa and Jason left. There was no place open for lunch before 11 a.m., so we ate at the little coffee shop next door to the hotel.

I was finally able to change the “old” pounds to new pounds. Papa had given us some extra pounds from their visit in 2015, but that version of coin is no longer in service.

We rode the tube to Hyde Park and walked to Kensington Palace.

We walked through the sunken garden (a week later Prince Harry and Megan Markle will announced their engagement here).

We toured the King and Queen’s quarters and viewed the special exhibition, "Diana: Her Fashion Story." The exhibit was a collection of dresses and clothes that Princess Diana wore. It told why she wore it and where...*I* thought it was interesting...the males were bored.

We walked down Kensington street where we saw lots of American stores. England does not celebrate Thanksgiving so it was business as usual in London. Since it was Thanksgiving Day...we dined in style...ordering from the kiosk at McDonald’s.

Our Thanksgiving meal!

Tasted exactly like American McDonalds!

Near our hotel there was a cool "art gallery" or underground tunnel full of graffiti.

Friday, November 24

Bye bye London! We headed to Heathrow in the morning for a 12:15 p.m. flight. We took the tube to Paddington station, then got on a train. Checking our bags and going through security was pretty fast...the airport was not busy at all, contrary to what U.S. airports might be like today.

Scott got stopped at security for his bottle of booze. They had to check it before they would let him through.

We arrive in Chicago and have 1.5 hours to get our bags, go through immigration and customs and get to the next terminal for our flight. The line at immigration was super long, and for a while, we didn't know if we were going to make our next flight. We did see a cute drug smelling dog at the airport, so there's that.

We arrived back in Wichita at 6:45 p.m. - but to us it felt like 2:45 a.m.

Another crisis! I leave my backpack in the taxi-it has my laptop in it! Scott rushed back to the airport while I call the taxi service. I couldn't remember which service we used, but luckily there's only three in Wichita. The first one I called was able to help me...crisis averted and I got my laptop back!

Everyone is in bed by 8 p.m.

London, baby! November 21-22

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 03:37:00 +0000

Post 3 of 4 about our London trip.

Tuesday, November 21

Tour of Wembely Stadium.

At a "press conference."

Messi's jersey...we also saw David Beckham's too.

The white things on the field are used to simulate sunlight, to help the grass grow!

In the stadium.

This arc lights up a night and will display the winning team's colors. It's also shoots fireworks.

We also visited Selfridge’s department store. Near the store. The part of town had a lot of Christmas decorations hung above the streets.

Then we rode the London Eye. It moves one mile per hour...total rotation was about 30 minutes. It was originally built to celebrate the Millennium and caused a controversy in London. Some thought it looked too "new age" and didn't go with all the old buildings and such. So the plan was to run it for five years. Well, it became a tourist attraction and brought in lots of money...so...it still stands 15 years later!

View from the top!

Each capsule can hold about 30 people. There were only about 10 in ours.

Bird's eye view of Parliament and Big Ben.

Nighttime (or 4:30 p.m. 😂).

Wednesday, November 22

A visit to London isn't complete without a little Harry Potter. We rode the tube to the King’s Cross train station to visit Platform 9¾.

We waited in line to get our picture taken, then spent about an hour in the Harry Potter store...well, not all of us went in the store! We ended up buying three Deathly Hallows symbol keychains, a Platform 9 ¾ notepad, sign that says “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” (the phrase to activate the Marauduer's Map).

Kings Cross train station.

We tried to go to Postal Museum but the fire alarm went off while we were there. We also found out that tickets had to be bought in advance.

We walked to a neighborhood pub for lunch.

The doorknobs are in the middle of the door.

Then on to St. Paul’s Cathedral...a huge church! It was ornate (more so than Westminister Abbey). St. Paul's was where Princess Diana and Charles got married.

We climbed 257 steps to the Whispering Gallery and saw where a bomb had hit the cathedral in 1940. We walked back over to Thames on the “wibbly-wobbly bridge” – Millennium Bridge. This bridge swayed so much when built, they had to close it for two years to make it more sturdy. It was destroyed in the Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 1 movie.

Then walked to an outdoor market for dinner.

Brough's Market.

London, Baby! November 19-20

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Wed, 22 Nov 2017 03:37:00 +0000

Post 2 of 4 about our London trip.

Sunday, November 19

This was the only sunny day we had.

Remember the crisis with Adam's phone? Bought rice at the little market by our hotel. It worked!

We took a boat ride on the Thames where we heard interesting facts about the buildings and structures along the Thames.

Me and Zach on the boat.

Saw the London Bridge, which is nothing neat...if you look close the bridge says "London Bridge."

We toured the Tower of London. We saw the Crown Jewels, torture tower, and bloody tower. The White Castle was used as a prison.

View of the Tower of London from the boat.

Tower bridge.

All of us in front of the Tower bridge.

Tower of London.

Inside the Tower of London.

Narrow hallways.

Another view of the Tower bridge.

Cool stained glass window in the White Castle.

The White Castle.

For dinner, we cooked pasta in the room, enjoyed our nightcaps and planned the next day.

Monday, November 20

We rode a double-decker bus to Buckingham Palace to see changing of the guards.

On the top of the double-decker. Wasn't too cold...

Buckingham Palace.

There were tons of people there. The ceremony was cancelled but we don’t know why.

We walked through St. James Park - lots of people, birds and pigeons.

You can see the London Eye in the distance.

We had to pay 30 pence to use the bathroom.

We walked to Westminster Abbey and took the tour inside. I didn't realize how many famous people were buried inside the cathedral. We looked around the gift shop. Zach was in search of British themed keychain for his backpack and I looked for a Christmas tree ornament.

These remainder came in handy...it's easy to forget which way to look!

We walked to 10 Downing Street, hoping to catch a glimpse of famous London politicans. Several important cars went in and out, but no one we knew. A newscrew was there too.

Pam and Ted went back to the hotel. The rest of us walked to small pub down a back alley for refreshments.

See that sign in the building on the left? That's where we were.

After, we walked across the Thames and through a Holiday Festival. Here's the London Eye at night.

We ended up at Cubana for dinner.

Scott is cured of wanting to live in a tiny home after three days in the small hotel room. We did have a kitchenette, which was nice. We ate breakfast in the hotel and was able to have snacks and sandwiches.

We like to talk in British accents but for some reason I bet people would know we are really from the United States.

London, Baby! November 17-18

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Mon, 20 Nov 2017 03:36:00 +0000

Post 1 of 4 about our London trip

Our first family overseas trip! Thanksgiving week - we met Lisa and Jason, and Pam and Ted, who arrived in London the day before us. The boys had the week off from school. We left on the Friday before Thanksgiving (the boys missed one day of school) and arrived back in Wichita the Friday after Thanksgiving.

November 17-November 18

Friday, November 17

Left the house at 4:15 a.m. to catch a 6 a.m. flight to Chicago.

Waiting at the Wichita airport. It's early.

Chicago flight.

We arrived in Chicago at 7:45 am. Must. Have. Coffee.

Zach sees the sign for water fountain and asks “is that a sign to show where to go to throw up?” 😂

Our flight to Heathrow leaves at 9:25 a.m. First things first...plug in electronics!

The plane seats three on each side and four in the middle. Zach sits by the window, Adam has the middle, I have the aisle. Scott is across the aisle the aisle from us.

Lots of enterainment with movies, TV shows, and games the screen in front of each seat. There’s even a way to "seat chat" and an interactive map with flight information. At one point the outside temperature was -79 degrees! The flight was about eight hours.

The boys watch movies (Harry Potter, The Martian, Pacific Rim, The Dark Knight Rises, etc). I watch the movies Dodgeball and 127 Hours, 1 episode of Veep and five episodes of The Office. Scott plays golf, poker and watched movies.

We are served breakfast and a snack. Free drinks, including booze!

And then there's a crisis! I put my cup of water on Adam’s tray table while I go to the bathroom. It spills. In his lap. On his phone. And then his phone won’t work. Uh oh.

We arrive in London at 10:40 p.m. London time (4:40 p.m. Wichita time). At the airport, we call Pam and Ted to tell them we arrived. We called the wrong “Ted Hayes” twice. I had forgotten about another Ted Hayes I know, and we just called the first "Ted Hayes" from my contacts.

It takes about an hour on the tube (the Underground). Near the airport, no one was on the tube.

It gets a little more crowded closer to the city. We got off on the Waterloo stop and it’s super crowded. It’s 11:30 p.m. on Friday night and the crowds are in full swing.

We walk to our hotel. It’s after midnight when we get there. Here's where we stayed:

Saturday, November 18

We sleep until 12:30 p.m.

We eat breakfast/lunch, then over the Thames River by the Parliament and Big Ben (which was under construction), the London Eye, Westminster Abbey and stop at a little Pub for drinks, snacks and bathrooms.

Bridge over the Thames River...Parliament in the the background

Scott and Lisa.

Outside Westminster Abbey. We didn't go in, but do later in the trip.

Pub for snacks and drinks. Everything is decorated for Christmas, which is fun!

It got dark about 4:30 p.m., which made it feel much later than it really is! We walk to Harrods and eat dinner there. There’s a lot of people there.

We eat at Harrods, then back to the hotel for a nightcap in Lisa and Jason’s room.

Adam High School Soccer

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:27:00 +0000

Adam on the Maize South High School soccer team. He played JV and Varsity games.

He is circled in blue...

Starting lineup (he's #28, on the end).

Soccer banquet - with his Varsity letter!

Oak Park 2017

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 19:35:00 +0000

It's tradition!

Oak Park, 2017

Five years ago...

10 years ago...

and now...

Zach Fall Soccer

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 22:22:00 +0000

Zach on the end...

This was a fun game...

The drive home...

Team dinners!

Fall River State Park

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 21:27:00 +0000

15 yo: "What is this place?"
Me: "What? Nature?"
15 yo: "Yeah, I guess."
An actual conversation while hiking.
😒 😂

We spent today outside, and it had nothing to do with soccer.

It's true. On Saturday, I had just come back from my work's annual Convention, a fun but exhausting event. I got home Saturday afternoon, took a 2 hour nap, then went to bed at 9 p.m. and slept for 12 hours.

No one was playing or refereeing a soccer game, so what to do on this beautiful day?

We loaded all living things in the car and drove the 1 1/2 hours to Fall River State Park, a straight shot east down highway 400.

Adam drove us there and Zach drove us back.

About 30 minutes before we reached the park, we noticed no one had cell service. OMG. No cell phones? We were disconnected from the world for 4 hours!

We'd never been there so we stopped and tried to make sense of the map of trails. We started out on one trail, and then couldn't figure out where it went after we lost the trail near a creek.

Finally, a well marked trail. The biggest news here is that we let Ali off her leash during our hike. She walks faster than us, so if she got too far ahead, we'd call her back. She'd walk ahead again, and we'd call her back...over and over.

We hiked for about an hour, but did have to get back - Scott was fixing prime rib for dinner and it took 3 hours to bake. Didn't want to mess with dinner! Especially if someone else is cooking! #winning

Fourteen...and a legal driver!

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 22:27:00 +0000

Fourteen (yesterday)...and a legal driver! I've got three people to drive me around now!

Since there are three September birthdays, it was a 3-way birthday celebration!

The Reno: September

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Tue, 19 Sep 2017 22:33:00 +0000

One last thing to do...stain the two upstairs bedrooms. Which means...this is the living room.

Fifteen!

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 02:40:00 +0000

Fifteen means driving to school and work alone!

And me tracking on Google maps...

#LivingWithBoys: Is a taste bigger than a bite?

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 02:26:00 +0000

It all started with a pack of Ramen.

One boy was making Ramen. The other boy said he wasn't cooking it right.

Um... there's really only one way to make Ramen.

Then one boy asked for a taste of the Ramen after it was done.

And then...the debate.

"Mom. What's bigger...a taste or a bite? Like, how many tastes are in a bite?"

"No, a bite is bigger than a taste, because you have to 'BITE IT' to taste it."

"But a bite can have several tastes..."

This lively debate went on for 30 minutes...all while one boy is throwing a ball in the air and the other is flipping one of those foam rollers used for exercising.

😒

#LivingWithBoys

Solar Eclipse

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 21:36:00 +0000

Everyone's buzzing about the solar eclipse. Kansas will have a pretty good view, with 90 percent of the sun blocked in most parts of the state. It's the first coast-to-coast solar eclipse since 1918!

The "time to view" was around 1 p.m. in Wichita. I went over to Oma and Papa's to share the view. The boys were watching at school.

First Day of School 2017

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 02:51:00 +0000

8th grade and Freshman.

Here is the first day of school five years ago. Zach in 3rd grade, Adam in 4th grade.

Adam is a Freshman, so he had to start a day early at the high school, while Zach got one more day of freedom. Even worse, Adam had 6 am soccer practice the whole first week of school!

Zach ended up going to school the day before (when only 6th graders were there) because cross country practice started that day. #Dedicated

Solo airplane ride 😱

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Sun, 16 Jul 2017 18:10:00 +0000

Somehow I got talked into letting the boys fly to see Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jason alone...😱

I told them they had to send me a pic of themselves in the airplane: 😒

What I found out AFTER they were home is that Zach got sick on the way to the airport. There was no place to park so Scott had to drop them off and go al the way out to satellite parking and take the shuttle in. By the time he arrived, they were already through security. Everything turned out fine...but still. I'm so glad they didn't tell me.

At the Reagan National Airport - they made it!

While they were gone, Scott and I spent a belated anniversary in Kansas City. We ate at Seasons 52 and took the Boulevard Brewery Tour.

Before they landed in Kansas City...

They made it home!

Fourth of July

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 22:27:00 +0000

Fourth of July festivities!

Cowtown...back to a simpler time.

Swinging on a bag swing.

Walking on sticks.

Walking on railroad tracks.

Dusty stagecoaches in a barn with kitty paw prints.

Drinking sarsaparilla.

Book 'em!

Fireworks in the 'hood. With all the neighbor boys.

Hanging out...

Nighttime fireworks.

The Reno: May

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Tue, 23 May 2017 22:55:00 +0000

Wait...could it be? Is it DONE???

Master bath...

Ali's new hiding place when it's storming...

This is one of my favorite things...push a button for the garbage disposal!

All the bathrooms are the same...some even got new push button toilets!

Our new favorite place when we work from home.

Last Day of School 2017

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Fri, 19 May 2017 01:33:00 +0000

Last day of 8th and 7th grade, May 18, 2017.

Here's the first day of school, August 2016.

Zach is wearing the same shirt! Must have been a soccer practice day!

Here's the last day of 3rd and 4th grade, May 2013.