Dressing up

JD loves to dress up. We can't wait for Halloween.
JD decided he wants to be the silver Ironman. NOT red - he was very specific. He couldn't wait for the stores to get costumes - we had to order online. That was fine with me since I needed (I guess I should say wanted) a costume too and have a hard time finding one in the store. If you shop for women's costumes it seems like Halloween should be renamed Dress Sexy Day. I need a costume that I can wear to school so JD helped me find one. He helped me eliminate all the costumes that were inappropriate because they "showed my knees." HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Here's Woody and his faithful dog Lulu. We found the PJs yesterday and had to have them. Dress up pajamas are great.

Back To School

JD was a big Kindergartner today! I dropped him off this morning without any tears (his or mine) and he had super day!

The Greatest Show on Earth

The family went to the circus this weekend to see the greatest show on earth.
JD and Dad thought if they put on some costumes they could run away and join the circus.

The highlight of any show is the cotton candy. YUM!

As circus celebrities we got to join the clowns on the floor to be closer to the action.

Maybe when he grows up JD can go to clown college!

WORK days!

Ever wonder what teachers do in that week before school starts? LOTS AND LOTS of this:
Sitting around in luxurious school gymnasiums and cafeterias listening to presentations on how to teach students without making them sit and listen to presentations.

My friend Pat leaned into the picture and smiled to demonstrate what a FUN time we were having.

The best part of today was $2 enchiladas across the street at the Dart Bowl. Bowling alley food -- YUM!!

Talent!

JD's school had a talent show this week. There were some interesting "talents" among his group of friends.
JD's class acted out the story of the mitten. JD played the part of the bear who crawled into the mitten to keep warm.

We spent Saturday morning at the Children's Museum. JD has been asking to go all summer but I have been putting it off. He LOVES the children's museum --- I . . .well. . . let's just say I don't love the children's museum. We renewed our membership so we have to go several more times to get our money's worth.

More Vacation

WARNING - Lots of vacation photos to follow.
JD loved spending time with cousins. I thought it was funny that the girls wore Texas shirts while JD wore a K-State shirts.

The kids had fun at Time Out Corner. Annie was George's new best friend. He helped her ride the motorcycle.

We were sad to leave Kansas but JD enjoyed playing with the treats that the girls sent to entertain him in the car. Bye Ridings, we'll see you again sometime soon.

Our next stop was the Great Wolf Lodge. We had several meals here at the Loose Moose. I just didn't think this was a very good name for a restaurant. It brought visions of . . . well . . . use your imagination . . . it isn't pretty.

Games at the arcade were fun.

JD and Dad checked out this ATV at Bass Pro Shops.

We had dinner at Medieval Times. The trumpeters posed with JD.

OHHHH how SPOOKY!!

Our last stop was for a quick picture at the temple.

Manhattan

For our first excursion in Manhattan we went to the infamous Wizard of Oz museum.
These three children were very happy about the prospect of walking down the yellow brick road.

JD and Annie decided they'd better hold hands when they saw this sign.

Fortunately, we didn't find any lions or tigers or bears.

At last they made it to the Emerald City and tried out the wizard's chair.

We had to follow the Riding tradition and get our picture taken by the big plastic cow. We can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Beginings of a GREAT Vacation

We hit the road this weekend for our summer vacation.
Our first stop was at one of JD's favorite places - a dinosaur museum. This science museum in Ft. Worth had lots of fun things for children to do.

This giant alligator (maybe it's an alligator) was one of the many things designed to be fun for kids.

Our second stop was the Stock Yards. We walked around the area and shopped for western wear. **WARNING to future vacationers** DON'T go see the Pawnee Bill Wild West Show. We got sucked in by the promise of air conditioning and an hour of relaxing entertainment. While we did get to sit in cool air for an hour the show was far from entertaining!! Bad singing and two guys jumping around with loin clothes pretending to do Indian dancing just doesn't cut it.

George was happy when we found this knife shop. AHHHHH - knives!!!

Here's why the air conditioning seemed like such a good idea. When we got back into our car the thermostat said 110 and then went up to 112. Maybe it wasn't REALLY that hot but it sure was uncomfortably warm.

Day two of our vacation was a long drive through Oklahoma and Kansas. We stopped for lunch at McDonald's in Perry Oklahoma where apparently the ditch witch was invented.

We bought gas at a station with this lovely piece of roadside art. JD was worried about what would happen when we crossed the state line into Kansas. He was sure that everything would be black and white like the beginning of The Wizard of OZ. He was relieved to see that Kansas was in color.