Jackson’s exciting adventures

Jackson’s had an exciting week! Monday and Tuesday were routine. He stayed an extra night on Tuesday night so on Wednesday he could tag along with Grammy to go pick up Aunt Ashley from college. He likes going to Zou College.

I picked Jackson up from Grammy in the afternoon, only for him to go over to go spend the night with the other grandparents. And he spent Thursday morning out fishing with Grandpa Forrest!

And then today, we took an impromptu roadtrip down to Springfield to visit Aunt Laura. Belle and I got to tag along on this adventure! I always enjoy going back to campus even though it pains me to think of how long ago it’s been since I was actually an undergraduate student. Feels like yesterday!

Go Bears!

Lunch at the student union—not easy!  

A visit to Jordan Valley Park {which is pretty much my most favorite park ever!}

 

Laura showed us this really cool bridge that goes over train tracks.
Of course that was a huge hit.
 

And a train even went by right under our feet!

Lastly, we went to a Bears baseball game. Jackson has been begging to go to a baseball game ever since we introduced him to the song “Take me out to the Ballgame” that Derek plays on his guitar.

He was really enthusiastic, if you can’t tell!

We got to meet and spend most of the day with Laura’s non-boyfriend.
He’s super cool.

And by we, I mean mostly Belle. She just really wanted him to hold her all day. He was super sweet and obliged to all of her grunts and whines requests.

I was really nervous about taking the kids down to Springfield and  back in one day. That’s a lot of time in the car! But my kiddos turned out to be roadtrip champs. Mostly because they watched movies on the TV {who knew I’d love that feature so much!}.

What an exciting week! And to top it off, the kiddos get to spend all day tomorrow with Derek’s parents while we head out to Rockfest. It should be a good day for everyone!

Our Springfield Vacation

I have just gotten around to importing my pictures from our trip down to Springfield/Branson several weekends ago! We had a fabulous time escaping our typical routine and visiting some of my favorite things and people from my college years (which I just realized was a long time ago... I will celebrate my five-year college graduation next week.)

Our fabulous friends Jeff and Missy always open up their house to us when we travel in their direction. It's really brave of them to let a very active two-year-old roam around their house!!

Jackson helped Missy cook spaghetti for dinner. 

We went to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Jordan Valley Park (a favorite place from my college days!) and went over to the Cardinals stadium to watch some fireworks. Jackson's first experience with fireworks was comical. He watched the entire show on my lap without making a sound or moving a muscle... just stared. About two or three minutes after the show was over he looked at me and said "Boom! Boom! Fireworks!!" and he continued to talk about it all night long.

We headed down to Branson on Sunday. We spent the afternoon shopping at the outlet shops and then we went to the Dixie Stampede for dinner. Now, let me tell you I was really worried about paying so much for a ticket to a show that I bringing my two-year-old to. I had expected to spend at least half of the show back in the back letting him run around while I missed all of the good stuff... but really, Jackson was wonderful!! He loved eating the food with his hands and watching the animals! We all had a super fun time.

Jackson enjoyed getting to look at all the horses before the show started!

Jackson stole the heart of one of the lady-riders and she threw him a flower (which he promptly threw right back at her)!! She gave it back at the end of the show.

Before we left Branson, we drove through the Festival of Lights. The synchronized music to the snowman lights was really neat! We watched for almost three songs.

Some friends drove down from KC to meet us at The Home of the Throwed Rolls (Lamberts) for lunch on Monday. Even though I've worked there and know the vast amounts of grease required to make all of that yummy fried okra-- I can't ever stop loving to eat there. I was really craving a salad (stupid pregnancy) so I didn't get any of my favorite mashed potatoes, but I still had some okra, rolls, and fried potatoes. Delicious.

Julie and Jackson with Trey and Carter

Jackson had fun with the olives from my salad! He ate them off his fingers one by one.

I love this picture!! A roll was just thrown and even though he is completely ready with his hands out, it bonked him on the head. He laughed. :)

That afternoon, we went to the Palace (read: $3 movie theater) and watched MegaMind. Cute movie. Why can't we have a (non-disgusting) theater like that here in KC!? We had a nice relaxing night in on Monday night. It was fabulous! 

Tuesday for lunch, we met up with my friend Higgi (or as Jackson would say, "piggy") for lunch at Incredible Pizza. I seriously love that place. Unlike other nasty-tasting pizza kid places, this place has a great buffet and the play area is a lot of fun. With bumper cars and race track, it's fun for big kids too! 

Sarah Higgi and Jackson!

Playing the toss-the-ball-into-the-garbage-can game. 

Sarah, Me, and Jackson

I apologize that this post is so super long, but I wanted to get it all in here so I can move along to get back to blogging about current issues and not always playing catch up. I finished my class this week (woo hoo!) so that should help too!

Weekend Getaway

This past weekend, we headed down to Springfield to visit some family and friends. Maybe it's just the nostalgia from spending my much-loved college years there, but I just love that city. I am desperately hoping for my sister to decide to go to college there just so I have more reasons to go visit more often.

Our friends, Jeff and Missy, bought a house in Republic last year and they always willingly allow us to bombard their place with baby/toddler paraphernalia for a few days when we visit. Missy has done a super cute job of decorating their place. I am working on getting her to come up and "work her magic" on my place!

 Jackson played the role of Jeffrey's shadow all weekend.

We met up with our old (as in former) campus minister from the BSU for lunch at Chick-Fil-A. Billy was there for us in such critical times in each of our lives and even though we don't get to talk or meet up often, I am always encouraged and blessed when we do!

A picture of Billy and me at Jeff and Missy's rehearsal dinner

Of course, we spent some time with Brad and Mary (the in-laws) and the super cute nephew, Gabe. They are moving to St. Louis next month and I am pretty bummed that she didn't find a job here in KC. I love watching Brad play with Jackson. He's so good with kids (something I never would have guessed when we first met and we didn't really see eye-to-eye) and Jackson loves him.

Have you ever seen a diehard* Jayhawk fan loving on a Mizzou fan ?

*understatement

  

I know I am a bit partial, but aren't these boys just the cutest?

On Sunday, we found our way to Jordan Valley Park- probably my favorite place in Springfield. Home of possibly the most fun, impromtu nights of my college experience. I was disappointed that the fountains weren't on, but all the more of a reason to make sure that we go back soon. Jackson would just love it.

Nothing is cuter than a little boy with his daddy.

We were able to catch up with several friends, but there were still a few that we didn't get to see- which of course is a bummer. It was so nice to "get away" for the weekend, even though I am still catching up from the sleepiness that incurs from traveling with a one-year-old. Okay, so maybe we just enjoyed staying up way to late playing The Game of Things (birthday gift anyone?) and just enjoying time with friends. While I enjoyed great converation with Missy, Derek and Jeff took to watching the NASA channel for and since there was no sound, they narrated the events taking place as the astronauts prepped for a spacewalk. Apparently, that is really funny stuff. They entertained themselves for an hour (it's really best to avoid trying to understand these two when they are together).


On our way home, we discussed some places that we want to make sure we visit next time we travel south and aside from the park, they are all restaurants- does that say anything about us?