Thanksgiving Travels

Our family spent the last week down south, eating and seeing family and eating and going to movies and eating and visiting with friends and eating and enjoying warmer temperatures and also eating.

I took half a million pictures (but still missed a bunch of stuff I wanted photos of), so I think I'll spend this week highlighting a few per day.



First up:  The Best Movie Theater in the Entire World.





Or at least in the midwest.  And if not the midwest, then in Kansas.  Or maybe just in southern Kansas.  Or just in the Wichita area.  Definitely the best movie theater in the Wichita area.  Also in the world, as far as I'm concerned.

ANYWAY.  The Warren Theatre ("theatre" because Wichitans like to pretend they're British?) on the east side of Wichita is my favorite theater ("theater" because I'm perfectly aware no one will ever mistake me for a Brit) ever.  But I think I've already established that.  It's huge and everything is art deco and covered in gilt and velvet, there's a fireplace in the bathroom, a balcony in the biggest theater (the one pictured above, where we watched Catching Fire) where 21+ can sit and have a meal and be waited on while watching the movie, and there's an old-fashioned diner just off the lobby and everything speaks of old Hollywood glamour.  Derek and I drove an hour north just so we could see the movie in this theater.  Oh, and so we could double date with old friends we don't get to see enough of.  That too.  (Somehow I got a photo of the movie theater but not of our friends.  Priorities:  I have them.)  Big thanks to Mom and Mark for watching the kiddos so we could visit the theater!  And our friends.




We also jumped on the trampoline:

That's Derek, Adelaide, and me, although Adelaide and I were the only ones who made sure to spend plenty of time jumping every single day we were at my mom's house.

I also finally got to meet my friend Megan's baby Iris, who is beautiful in fact and in name:

She's pretty and tiny and petite in a way our children never were.  (They were never tiny and petite.  Of course I thought they were pretty.  Most of the time.)  Well, Adelaide was petite for about five seconds after she was born then she discovered eating and started growing and hasn't stopped, which I realize is a good thing, but I'm still a little freaked out about the thought of my children someday being taller than me.  My sisters and I never reached the height of either of our parents, so it's sort of unimaginable to me.  Don't get me wrong; I want our kids to be taller than 5'4", but still... it's hard to picture.

  

We also got to ride in a horse-drawn wagon, and our friend Liza, the driver, invited Adelaide and Atticus to come sit beside her, which they jumped at.  She gave them an impromptu lesson and answered millions of questions.

Liza's sister Anna was there with her adorable baby Kenyon, but of course I didn't get a picture of that.  It would have made too much sense.

I also didn't get any pictures of Derek and Mark golfing (que lastima), or any of the portion of our trip at Derek's parents' house, which actually is a shame.  

Never fear, though!  There are still plenty of baby pictures to look forward to this week!

Winter is the Worst

Hey guys.

I was gone for a week, and it took me awhile to emotionally recover from hurricane Jiffy, so I haven't been posting.  Obviously.

So what did we do over Spring Break?

Well, Derek worked.  And worked and worked and worked.  And because it's Holy Week and our church has a big Good Friday service and a big Easter Sunday drama, he's going to be working and working and working at church this week.

I think about Derek and all that work and I feel a little sorry for him.  Then I think of last week's Jiffy disaster and the vinegar disaster the week before that (pretty sure I forgot to tell y'all about that one) and I feel little sorry for me.  So I guess it all evens out.

The kids and I traveled south to enjoy some 80-degree weather down in Kansas.  We jumped on the trampoline, I got a little jealous over all their daffodils and hyacinths and tulip shoots, dyed Easter eggs, and jumped on the trampoline some more.


Wanna see some pictures?  Of course you do!

My mom, my sisters and their babies, Megan, the kiddos, and I spent a morning at Botanica, Wichita's beautiful botanical center.  Somehow I've never been there.  At first Charlotte was a little confused as to just why we wanted to spend so much time outside on a 30-degree morning.

When we first got there, I spied a gardener digging around in a bed of tulips, refrained from tearing the gloves off her and shoving her out of my way (DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG IT'S BEEN SINCE I GOT TO SPEND TIME AMONG MY FLOWERS?), and struck up a conversation instead.

"You have so many tulips shoots here!  What colors will these be right here?"  See how nice I can be, even when consumed with jealousy?

*baffled laugh* "Oh my goodness, I have no idea."  She was really nice, too.  

"I guess fall was a long time ago.  I'm having trouble remembering exactly where I planted all the bulbs in my own yard!"  This was me giving her a pass.  

"No, it's not that.  It's just that we planted 53,000 tulips bulbs, and I really have no idea which colors are where!  You should come back in three weeks, it's going to be spectacular!"

Um, 53,000 tulips bulbs?  Holy mackerel.  If you live in the Wichita area, you have got to get to Botanica in April.  I hear it's going to be spectacular.  

Here's all five grandkids:

It's so weird to see my kiddos as the big kids in a photo.  Nice, but weird.  

Here's the base of the giant tree house that was eating our kids in the children's area.  Mom had said Atticus was afraid of it last summer when they visited.  I didn't understand until I saw it in person.  

They had all kinds of chime-noise making-thingies, too, which Atticus in particular seemed to enjoy.

Normal Atticus.

Crazy Atticus.  

Actually, "crazy" is more the norm for our older boy, so let's all just mentally switch those two labels around.

We also encountered what are apparently the two most fascinating metal lady bugs on earth.

I personally didn't really get it, but man, did the girls love them.

We also found some dress-up clothes hiding in the Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Guess who just couldn't wait to try them on?

That's right:  the 26 and 21 year olds.

And Atticus.

I thought they were the nicest... let's see, Captain America, SWAT team member, and... female Thor? that I've ever seen.  

I also saw several Lenten Rose plants, which I've seen in many catalogs over the past few years, but Botanica's beautiful varieties finally made me decide that our shade beds need some.  They NEED them.  I'll probably try to put them in this spring.  You know, if this snow ever melts and spring ever arrives.  Which I'm half-convinced it won't.  

Anyone else have a fun Spring Break?  Anyone else sick to death of winter?  Anyone else know anything in particular about Lenten Roses, or have anything other suggestions for my numerous shaded flower beds?