Mini Vacay - CoCo Keys

Just another beautiful summer day in Kansas.

Hannah had no fear and went down the slides like a pro.

Andrew was also a pro running around the big kid's slide and had no fear of the giant bucket of water that dumped every 15 minutes.

Happy and tired little swimmers

We decided to take the kids on a mini vacation to Kansas City before school started. We started the adventure at CoCo Keys. The kids had so much fun. But then in the middle of the night, for no reason, the hotel lost power and we lost a couple hours of sleep. *sigh* But we rallied and went to Lego Discovery Center after a hearty breakfast at Denny's.

Swimming?

Kansas received record amounts of rain in July, which meant cooler summer temps and ditches full of water. Unfortunately, the children aren't used to seeing ditches full of water and thought this was a great new swimming option at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Andrew also found a little turtle and named him Mr. T and was very sad when I told him he couldn't come and live at our house.

Swimming!

Andrew was in charge of throwing in the rings, while Sydney and Brenna were in charge of retrieving them.

Brenna and Jonathan

Andrew and Sydney, aka Sheldon and Shelly

Hannah taking a snack break.

All three kiddos took swimming lessons this summer at WSU with the WUShocks. The lessons were great and the kids learned so much. Unfortunately, since this summer has been so wet and cool, they've only been able to practice swimming once, and it happened to be with their best buds, Sydney and Brenna, at their community pool. At the beginning of the lessons, no one would put their face in the water. By the end of the two weeks, Andrew and Jonathan put their whole heads under water. Hannah wasn't quite as convinced, but she did master blowing bubbles in the water!

Labor Day

The Hole project - some creature dug a nice home for itself at the edge of our rock bed and under the cement landing. Then it died. The hole had to be filled to prevent more death and destruction from happening there. It turned out to be a half-day project involving digging, quik-crete, water and more digging. Here's the almost finished project!

While daddy dug, the children splashed!

3 little fish

 

Andrew is so big that he thinks the slide is more like a diving board.

This girl is fearless!

Labor Day turned out to be long day of laboring, at least for Keith. And it was HOT - 105 degrees hot, with no breeze and high humidity. Horrendous day to be working outside. To keep the kids entertained, we set up the little froggy pool, in the shade and they splashed for hours. Hannah threw a small fit when I dragged her wet little body out of the pool for a nap. She was having such a great time sliding and splashing with her big brothers. But she was very tired and when she was done with her fit, she napped for 3 hours. All-in-all it was a very productive day!

CoCo Key Water Resort

Hannah wasn't too sure what to think about all the water and noise at first!

But then we took a float down the lazy river and she was all about the water!

She's laughing, not crying!

 

Andrew had a little fear at first and wore a life jacket.

But when he realized the water was only a couple inches deep, he got a lot braver!

Jonathan practiced swimming in the shallow water.

Hannah watched Jonathan and Andrew go down this slide and decided she would try it too.

This girl has NO FEAR! It also helped that I caught her each time before she landed in the water!

The best big brother helping his little sister up the slide steps.

Andrew is at the top trying to decide which big slide he would go down.

He also showed no fear after an hour or so and went down every slide!

Keith catching Jonathan as he came down the slide.

Keith trying to show Andrew that it's OK to get a little water splashed in your face. Andrew wasn't sure at first, but by the end of it, when the big bucket dumped on him, he just wiped his eyes and kept going!

The flash didn't work on this picture like I had hoped, but I still like it!

Time to go to our room and get ready for bed.

After baths, we went back to the entrance to take this picture and get some ice cream!

Hannah thought she could have a slumber party with the boys. She was very disappointed when we told her she had to sleep in her crib.

For one last quick trip before school started, we went to Coco Key Water Resort in KC. We had never been, but had heard that it was lots of fun and all indoor. So, Keith took off Friday, and we drove up and played in the water until we were exhausted and pruney.  Then we attempted to get everyone to sleep in one room. After the boys settled down and stopped being silly they went right to sleep, until 6 am when Jonathan fell out of bed. Hannah and I managed to go back to sleep for a couple hours after that happened, but the boys did not. After a yummy brunch at the hotel, we packed up and came home, exhausted and happy. And ready for school to begin on Monday!