Kansas

We had a few fun, low key days staying with my Dad in Wichita.

We rolled in late Sunday night and mostly kept close to the house on Monday, recovering from Sunday's looooong drive. I think we did leave the house long enough to find a park and the boys got Papa to take us to Braum's for ice cream, the first of MANY ice cream stops in the few days we were there.

While Nate worked remotely on Tuesday, Dad and I loaded up the bikes and went out to Chisholm Creek Park with the boys and tested out the bike trail. Papa and Everett had a neon bright twinning moment and we were all sweaty messes by the time we finished.

Tuesday night Papa took the boys to The Bad Guys movie that they'd been eager to catch for weeks. Nate and I took that as our chance to sneak out and meet my dear friend, Tracy, for a quick dinner. While we caught up with Tracy, the boys got Papa to buy them the biggest tub of popcorn and probably an assortment of other movie concession stand treats. Everyone came home happy.

I woke up Wednesday planning to take the boys out for another bike ride, but rainy weather put the kibosh on those plans. Dad and I used this downtime time to sort through some of Mom's old items including her collection of Longaberger baskets, which was even more than what Dad had realized. We gathered a bunch of items to take to family when we head north on Thursday for the graveside memorial service for my Mom in Nebraska.

Fortunately the skies cleared by the afternoon Wednesday and my niece, Catie, hooked us up with free entrance to the pool where she life guards. It was great catching up with her while the boys splashed. She's entering her senior year of high school and I can't wait to see where life takes her. We wrapped the night up with dinner with Julie, a good friend of my Mom & Dad's.

When we got home, Dad decided to spread a few of Mom's ashes in the flower beds she had created and tended to with so much love every year. The day lilies are in glorious form right now. It felt like such a gift to be in the backyard oasis that my Mom created.

On Thursday, Dad left early to head to Nebraska with the boys. They stopped off at a Zoo in Salina on the way. Nate and I left after he finished working and we got the car packed up. It was a good few days in my home state.Read more