June 2024

Bryan's military ball was at the Hawaiian Hilton Village. It was fun to get all dressed up for the event!

Hiking up to the pink pill box with friends.

Kate has been learning how to make a few simple dishes this year: sloppy joes, macaroni and cheese, pigs in a blanket, and chocolate chip cookies.

My new favorite beach: Waimea

So fun to jump off the big rock!

Our first family vacation this year: Sydney, Australia. We had a blast hanging out in the city. We rented a car and were able to do a few excursions just outside of Sydney.

Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge

We did the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb!

Featherdale Wildlife Park is a smaller zoo outside of Sydney where you are able to pet some of the kangaroos, wallabies, and koalas. It was fun to see some of the strange and beautiful animals native to this area.

Sydney Aquarium: We got to watch the sharks, dugung, and stingrays get fed from the top of this tank.

Luna Amusement Park: A fun place to visit for our girls, who are very unfamiliar with amusement parks and rollercoaster rides. I do not advise going if you are weak in the stomach for spinning rides! Oh, there were so many!

Bryan and I swam laps are the famous Bondi Icebergs Pool. The water was freezing, as it was winter there this time of year (64 degrees). Jane was brave enough to jump in, but quickly regretted her decision.

Chinese Garden of Friendship was fun for all as we looked for the zodiac signs hidden throughout.

Instead of a guided tour of the Sydney Opera House, we got tickets to see the Sydney Symphony. It was a perfect activity for a rainy day.

Riding rented bikes in Manly.

Whale watching at Royal National Park.

Hiking in the Blue Mountains.

We had a wonderful trip down under and I am already trying to figure out a way for us to go back a visit a different area of Australia.

January 2023

We visited the Aquarium and Legoland. It was really cool to see Kansa City mapped out in Legos. It made me realize how much stuff there really is to do in this area! 

We went with our friends to a Cheif's game! So much energy, but it was sure cold that night.

One of my goals this year was to take the girls are dates. Something special with just them. Bryan and I rotate the girls so we take them every other month. This month, I took Jane to the animal shelter and we hung out with the cats for a few hours. It really made us want to adopt, but there is no way Bryan would allow that!

We tested out the little bunny hill near our house called Snow Creek. There are 4 lifts and most of the snow is blown. We got pretty bored after 1.5 hours, but it is a perfect place for someone newly learning OR if you just dropped your child off for the afternoon.

We hardly got any snow, but this picture has ice blocks on the Missouri River. So cold!

Kate went with her best friend Eloise to the zoo.

I attempted to use my broken Polish pottery pieces to make some fun mosaic-looking pots. Kristi gave me a plumeria stem for Christmas, but it did not make it here in Kansas. Ha!

 

October in Germany

This is Kate's new friend Colton. We traveled all the way from Baltimore with this cute little family. We love hanging out with Kelli, Raymond and their boys. These two hiked up to Kallmunz Castle ruins in this picture.

We celebrated Bryan's 32nd birthday with some pumpkin pie. The candles were supposed to make the number 32, but doesn't look as good as I thought it would.  Kate LOVES ice-cream. She knows what ice-cream shops looks like and can point them out very quickly!

 Kate and I got tatoos- she thought they were stickers, so I had to show her how to put them on.

 Bryan and I in Prague.  The weather was perfect at the beginning, and then got a little chilly towards the end of the day.  I would definitely go to Petrin Park if you ever get the chance to visit this super crowded city!

 We made it to the Kuhstallcafe for lunch one afternoon.  Kate loved seeing the cows while we ate our milkshakes and cheese above them.

 Fire Safety Week: Kate and I went up on the lift after story time with the library.  I don't know if they would ever let you do that in America??

 Jerry's Pumpkin Patch- an American owned pumpkin farm about 20 minutes from our house.  It was fun to pick out pumpkins with the little one.  Most of the pumpkins were green or rotted from the lack of sun and moisture.

 BMW Welt in Munich. This is the i8. Someone in our town owns one of these little babies.  

 Olympic Park- Munich

Such a cool view of the entire city.

 The Munchen Marathon.

This is by far the biggest race we have ever been to. Bryan asked if he could take a stroller and no one responded to his email, so guess who ran with us! 

Kate!

We only ran a 10K because the 1/2 marathon was booked with a max of 7,000 people.  The marathon had 3 heats.  Tons of people in this city today!

 The best part of the run was finishing in the Olympic Stadium. The food afterwards was awesome.  Beer, pretzels, smoothies, bakery goodies, and apples/bananas.  Tasty!

After we showered, we took Kate to the Sea Life Aquarium which is underneath the Olympic Park. Really neat and she enjoyed looking at all the fish in the big aquarium.
We will definitely be going to Munich more often- way too much to do in the time we had there.  Plus, it's only 1.5 hours away.