The First Day of School

Today was Addilyn's first day of 3rd grade.

And Asher's first day of 1st grade.

It is surprisingly cool here for late August so the kids had to wear their jackets for the first day. I love how Elias' pj shirt is tucked into his pants.

Cuties!

Can you tell she's excited to go back to school?

 So was he.

The yearly picture with Momma.

Times 2.

And with Dad. So stoic.

Ready to bike to school.

So happy!

There they go.

Someone did not like being left behind.

After school, we had our traditional BBQ meatballs. This was the first year that Asher could partake. Yay!

This is one of Addilyn's favorite meals.

Instead of a cake this year, we celebrated with monster cookie bars.

Asher eating a cookie filled with peanut butter and eggs... I'm still getting used to this.

All in all, it was a pretty fun day. Here's to another fun-filled school year!

Before and After

Addilyn got a new hairdo for the new school year. Super fun!

One Grand Adventure: The Last Leg

After my parents', we headed to Manhattan, KS for a wedding. It was super hot and humid (the heat index was 121 degrees F) when we got there so we had to find a way to keep cool. While Tyler worked on what he was saying for the wedding, the kids and I grabbed some Sonic and headed to the sprinkler park.

Albert was trying my strawberry limeade. It must have been tarter than he was expecting.

Sploosh!

Another sploosh!

My silly crew.

Albert was a little skittish so Addilyn walked with him through some of the sprinklers. Cuties!

Tyler officiating his very first wedding.

Albert fell asleep during the service. I blame it on the heat and not on the quality of Tyler's words.

We had intended to camp for two nights in Manhattan but with that heat, we just weren't up for it. Instead we decided to get a hotel for one night and then head home after one very full day in Manhattan. Here we're eating breakfast at the hotel. Albert must have gotten bit on the eye by a mosquito because it was all swollen in the morning. We had difficulty not calling him Quasimodo all day.

Our first stop (after coffee at Bluestem Bistro, of course) for the day was at the stadium. Look at those swollen eyes on this sleepy crew!

Next we headed out to Pillsbury Crossing. For those unfamiliar with Manhattan, Pillsbury Crossing is a natural limestone slab that was originally used by pioneers to cross a river. Now it is a fun area to wade and hike.

A very short hike.

And back up.

Standing on top of the little waterfall.

Wading.

The boys got their shorts wet so the next stop was without pants. This is the view of Manhattan from the top of the KS hill.

Run!

After a stop for lunch, we headed out to hike the Manhattan hill.

Daddy and Albert.

Asher was trying not to slide down the N.

Admiring the view.

Nice, Asher, nice.

A final forced selfie while sitting on the rock where Tyler proposed to me.

View from said rock (only it was at night).
After that we were good and hot so we headed to the waterpark! We thoroughly enjoyed splashing around there for a few hours. After that we found some dinner (Wheat State Pizza was a winner!!) and headed home.
All-in-all it was a exhausting and thoroughly enjoyable trip!

One Grand Adventure: Part 5

After our epic day of fun in Yellowstone, it was time to head out. We had to drive all the way through the park to head toward my parents (which was our next destination) so we decided to hit up a couple of the sights we missed the day before. Here is yet another waterfall.

These boys were happy to be out and hiking.

The whole crew climbing.

This helps give you some perspective.

Selfie with my girl.

Our last picnic spot in Yellowstone.
After that, we headed out of the park. We drove through the Grand Tetons (which were beautiful) and on to our next campsite, about 20 minutes outside of Casper, WY.

Tyler was getting our fire built at our campsite.

They are both a bit blurry but I love the series of this picture and the next.

Crash!

We camped at Ayers Natural Bridge and this was the on top of the landbridge.

Our campsite was beautiful but we set up on an area that wasn't completely level. When we woke up, all the boys had rolled toward the tent door (which was the low point).

Breakfast time.

The aforementioned landbridge.

"Let the little children come to me." Sorry, Tyler, you're no Jesus. Albert was not having it.

"Let's ponder that."

"Cheers!"

"Mmm...coffee."

This kid and his expressions!

So happy!

This kid has some pretty special expressions as well.

They were examining some tadpoles.

After we got packed up and back on the road, we head through Cheyenne. We were so excited to be back in civilization! We ate Five Guys, got some Starbucks and then a couple of hours later, stopped for ice cream.

We spent the next two nights at my parents. We relaxed and recovered from our 5 nights in a tent. We also went to the playground.

We really like watching American Ninja Warrior as a family. When we go to playgrounds, Tyler will oftentimes come up with different American Ninja Warrior-esque obstacles for the kids to complete. It's there favorite game. Here is a particularly difficult obstacle that Tyler came up with. Asher and Addilyn worked on this for probably 20 minutes before figuring it out. This was his first successful run.