June!

Lots of fun, we had in June! Warm weather, splash playground, zoo trips, and birthday parties for friends. It was a great month! It was nice to have Greg home for part of the month and nice to spend time doing all of those fun summer activities!

We said goodbye to our friends, the Ast Family, who had been staying with us for awhile. It was really a lot of fun having another family staying at our house--always friends to play with and a mom friend to talk to during the day was awesome! We miss them but wish them well in their new home!

The Liberty Arts Festival turned out to be a great afternoon. Even though it rained part of the time, the girls had a great time with all of the kids' activities, face painting, dancing, and looking at the artists' displays.

Zoo fun!

Legoland/Crown Center! The Curious George exhibit was a favorite, and both girls had a great time there.

Splashing in the puddles :) We took a walk after a huge rainstorm and found some great puddles to play in. You gotta use those cool galoshes for something, right?!

We went to an art festival in Kearney, a neighboring town. It was wonderful! They are getting a branch of the KC Art Institute there, so it was a kick-off festival. They had Mr. Stinky Feet perform, and he is Hannah's favorite musician! We love him! She got to go up and play in "the band" and then she got chosen to do a duet with Mr. Stinky Feet! Such a fun event. They also had a lot of neat artists' demonstrating their crafts, as well as stations for kids to do crafts as well.

Hannah's modeling a piece of dyed fabric at the textile-dying booth :)

Practicing her new talent of swinging by herself-- at Lyon's Park where the festival was held.

Ketchup-faced Lauren after she had her hot dog for lunch :)

Playing out on the back deck on a hot summer day :) The girls love to play with the hose, mini-swimming pool, etc.

Lauren decided to pick some strawberries on this particular day :)

Laundry basket rides!!

These pictures were from a kids' art class at Miss Allison's Art Studio in Liberty. She does a great job with her classes and the girls love it! Hannah is really into creating, painting, drawing, etc. and Lauren mainly likes to wash her hands in the big sink and play in the water :) But she did some art for part of the time too!

Ice cream on the way to the splash playground :)

In June, we went to Arrow Rock to the Wizard of Oz play, courtesy of Gramma Jan and Grampa Bill! What a great idea they had! Hannah loved it and all four of us had a great time! Hannah got asked by several people before the show if she was in the performance :)

Here's a random shot of the girls playing dress-up one Saturday morning. We have accumulated quite a few dress-up clothes, including Halloween costumes, jewelry, old dance recital dresses from the Dyers, etc. It's quite a collection and they love to dress up! You never know who will be wearing what at any given time in our house!

Hanging out our house with Gramma Jan!

Daddy helping Lou build a sand castle in the sand table :)

Lauren-Lou sweetly asleep after in her car seat after a long day, apparently!

Hannah and her good friend, Evie, playing at Evie's house :)

Lauren and her Daddy at the splash playground :)

Neighborhood Park!

Watkins Mill State Park! The girls and I went there with the Mom's Club on a beautiful day. The girls had a great time! Hannah especially loved it, as she was able to swim "independently" with her life vest in the lake. She is getting to be quite a fish and loved playing with her other preschool friends. Lauren stayed close to shore with me and played in the sand and enjoyed her snacks in the tent :)

We went out to Cody's (a nearby convenience store) for ice cream on this particular night and then went to this new little bench/park area to eat it. The girls had tons of fun balancing on this ledge while Greg and I helped them walk across it a million times :)

Sitting at the fountain on Saturday morning...a Farmer's Market tradition :)

This was at the opening of the new branch of the Mid-Continent Library in Liberty. It is a fantastic new library!! We got there in time for the 20-minute opening ceremony on a very hot morning, so the girls had fun killing time sitting in this old wagon. And then we got to be some of the first people to check out the new library!

Royals Game with Dad!

Just a regular day at home :)

Paradise Park!!

Bowling in Independence at Diamond Bowl. They have the most kid-friendly bowling alley! Ramps for kids, bumpers that go up/down depending on who is bowling, snacks brought right to your bowling lane, etc. It was awesome!

Zoo on a very hot day! The zoo had mister fans (which sprayed water) going to cool off guests. I think this was the best part of the zoo for the girls...they had so much fun running through them :)

The girls on the "bus" at Macken Park in North Kansas City :)

Hannah went to two birthday parties in June for kids in her class. Lots of fun to see all her school classmates during the summer! And this birthday party thing is kind of new to her, so it was pretty special!