Rounding out July!

Here are the rest of the pictures from our July adventures!

So we came back to Columbia for a couple of days after the St. Louis adventure, to see family and rest before heading back home.

Hannah and Papa. Hannah now sleeps in a bumblebee tent at Papa's House and she loves it! She sleeps with all of those books in there and it's like a little slumber party with her books and stuffed animals :)

Then, we headed back to Liberty again before taking off on our Omaha trip.

A visit from Grandma Nell! Note Hannah's tights...another creative outfit :) Hot in 105 degree weather? She doesn't think so.

So on July 12th, we set out for Omaha for another adventure. We met the Drymalskis there and had a great time going to the zoo and the Children's Museum, as well as the Amazing Pizza Machine. This Omaha trip has turned into a yearly tradition and we all love it! 

Enjoying a huge ice cream sandwich and watching a movie in the hotel the night we got there...quite a treat. Seems that I post stuff like this a lot. I promise that Hannah doesn't eat huge ice cream sandwiches every day :) Only on vacation!

Hannah and Nora at the Omaha Zoo

Nate, Hannah, and Nora in the aquarium section of the zoo--this is a really cool viewing area for kids!

Lauren loved looking at the fish! She could have stayed in that one part of the zoo all day long. She loves observing and is really curious these days!

Hannah, Nora, and Nate posing on the animal sculptures at the zoo. A very hot day, but they hung in there really well. There was a lot to do inside, so we managed to see a lot despite the heat.

The next stop was the Omaha Children's Museum. This was our third annual visit here with the Drymalski's, but this time Hannah was extra excited because there was a Wizard of Oz exhibit! She loved it, of course!

Getting ready for the tornado simulator to start! Pretending to be Dorothy in the tornado :)

Bennett wasn't so sure about it and snuck out, but the rest of them loved it!

Lauren was great and was happy pretty much the whole time we were there!

A Wizard of Oz storytime...Hannah knew every trivia question they asked about the book/play...not surprising!

This was so sweet! Some elementary-aged boys were putting on a puppet show, and Lauren was their only audience. She loved it! I think they were glad to have an audience :)

Sweet Lauren having fun with her Daddy while Hannah indulged in all things Wizard of Oz

 

 The highlight was definitely Hannah getting to meet Dorothy and Glenda. She loved this and sat right down and talked with them for awhile.

Comparing ruby slippers

Heart to heart chat with Dorothy. Hannah wasn't so sure about talking to the wicked witch, but Dorothy convinced her that the wicked witch would be nice today.

Petting Toto :) Hannah wants a dog named Toto and talks about this all of the time! She actually says she wants two dogs and a cat (which she says she will keep in the basement because Greg is allergic to cats...she has this all planned out).

Dorothy and the Tin Man!

So excited that the Dorothy costume was finally available!

Playing pretend with Toto and the Wizard of Oz puppets. We were playing veterinarian, which is one of her favorite things to do. My veterinarian skills are stellar these days :)

Nora and Hannah putting on face paint! I love that Nora looks like she's an old pro at putting on eye shadow :)

Lauren having fun in the infant/toddler room!

The carousel was a big hit with all the kids!

 

Doing some art before we headed out to dinner.

Later that evening we had a great dinner hosted by Mark's mom and her boyfriend and the kids even got to hold Mark and Mandi's chickens. What a day!

Back at home in Liberty! We had a great time traveling, but it is always nice to be back at home!

Lauren eating some finger foods. She still doesn't eat anything that is spooned to her. She likes ham, cheese, fruit, and crackers the best.

Washing the windows together! Hannah likes to do this, and while it does get the windows "clean...er" it mainly is a great activity for them to focus on something so I can focus on something else...like cooking dinner, etc!

Lauren mimics everything Hannah does...in this case she was washing windows in no time at all :)

Trying to figure out how to spray the water :)

Quite the pair!

Loving kisses :)

Jensen came to visit for the weekend! We kept him busy with lots of activities, but he was a great big cousin and made some time to play paper dolls with Hannah :) What a sport!

Aww! Jensen is so good with the little ones--he is a sweet heart

Big hug for Uncle Greg. I'm pretty sure this was after they went to Worlds of Fun and rode a bajillion roller coaster rides for about 5 hours! They also went to a Drum Corps International show, ate some BBQ, and went to an IMAX Spiderman movie over the weekend!

Hannah loves when her big cousins come to our house!

That's a wrap for July! What a fun summer we had!