Trip Stop 3: Jefferson City, Missouri

We were so excited to go to Jefferson City. Kim's grandma (who had never met Ryan and hadn't seen Ian in three years) and her Uncle Ross/Aunt Jill/family live in Jeff City. It was extra special also getting to see Kim's Uncle Rick/Aunt Mary/family who were visiting from New York!

We spent a lot of our time together playing, talking,

and eating! One night, we went out to a yummy Mexican restaurant.

Another time, we went to an all-you-can eat Chinese (and American) food restaurant. Ian's favorite part was the chocolate fountain for dessert! He ended up covered in chocolate. We went to this restaurant twice during our time there. A few days later, when we were no longer in Missouri anymore, Ian asked if we could go to the "chocolate fountain place" again.

While in Jeff City, we stayed at Uncle Ross and Aunt Jill's farm. They showed us so much hospitality! Aunt Jill even got out some toys that Ian might like, including some fun pattern blocks.

Some of the boys' favorite parts of being on the farm were, of course, the farm "chores." Ian was happy to pet the chickens and turkeys.

He also got to use a pitch fork to move mulch into the chicken coop,

throw some powder stuff (don't remember what it was called) to dry out all the chicken poop,

refill the chickens' nesting boxes with straw,

feed the chickens (along with some help from Ryan),

but the best part for Ian (by far!) was getting to drive the tractor with Uncle Ross. On the big open area, Uncle Ross let Ian take charge of steering ALL by himself and even lift the loader part up and down. (Side note ... I KNOW we got pictures of this and there is a chunk of about 30 missing numbers from our sequences of pictures on our SD card. Ugh. This happened two separate times on our trip. Don't know if it's time to get a new SD card or a new camera. Maybe it'll be a good excuse to go shopping for a nice camera in the months to come. Ha!)

Later in the day, Ian went back with Uncle Ross and Kim's cousin Macy to collect the chicken eggs.

Our boys received lots of attention and love from Kim's cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandma while we were together! Thanks, family, for being such willing playmates for our boys!

Cousin Rowan had a knack for making Ian giggle!

Brielle, Rowan, and Luke even played Sequence with Ian (and let him "explain" the rules to them)!

Cousin Kieron read Ian stories

and loved teasing Ian. Here he is pretending that his fingers were falling off. Ian thought it was hilarious!

Cousin Luke and Ian worked together to find Goldbug on each page of the book.

Ian was thrilled that cousin Macy was willing to play trains with him!

Uncle Rick played some peek-a-boo with Ryan.

Ryan liked showing Uncle Rick and Great-Grandma some of his favorite toys that we had brought from home (like this fire truck push toy).

Great-Grandma had to pull up her legs quickly to get out of the fire truck's way! I sure hope I'm that flexible when I'm 90 years old!

Ryan showed Rowan and Macy the fire truck, too!

Great-Grandma read Ryan lots of stories. (He's getting better about sitting still for at least a story or two now!)

Ryan liked giving cousin Brielle big hugs!

Kieron knew just how to get Ryan to smile!

Macy certainly has a knack with babies!

We spent the Fourth of July in Jefferson City. The big kids were kind enough to involve Ian in the water balloon fight! Ian has certainly played with water balloons before, but he's never been part of a "fight" before. He certainly understood that he needed to throw balloons at other kids.

What he apparently didn't understand is that other participants could get HIM, too.

Ian's face here is hilarious ... he felt totally betrayed! Ha, ha! We had to have a "water balloon fight 101" crash course right after this. That's what Kieron was SUPPOSED to do!

Ian threw a few more balloons, but he decided it might be even more fun to take control of the hose. The big kids were great sports and let Ian be right in the middle of all of the action. The water fight quickly turned into a mud fight once all of the balloons were gone.

Ryan had his own bucket of water to play in while the water balloon fight was going on.

He even got to use a paint brush to spread the water.

It was funny putting the bucket on Momma's head!

Ryan was pretty tired after all of the activity. Daddy's arms are pretty comfy!

After getting all cleaned up, Ian decided to show Great Grandma some pictures on the computer. He had fun telling her about his tool party and other recent events. (The photographs really seem to be good conversation starters for Ian.)

After a yummy dinner that Uncle Ross grilled, we headed into Jeff City for the fireworks show over the capitol building. It rained really hard right before the show was supposed to start, so it ended up being almost an hour delayed. While we waited, Ian enjoyed wearing his glow necklace and blowing some glow-in-the-dark bubbles Aunt Mary had given him.

Macy helped out with this, too!

Ryan thought the bubbles were pretty cool, though he fell asleep before the fireworks show started.

The crew (front row): Uncle Rick, Brielle, Ian, Aunt Mary, Matt, Ryan

back row: Ian (had to be in both pictures :)), Kieron, Macy

Rowan and Macy (holding sleeping Ryan)

On Saturday, we got some time with just Great-Grandma. What a special treat to see her interact with two of her great-grandsons! She was so patient and loving with them! She read lots of books with Ryan.

She played Sequence with Ian ...

... and looked for hidden pictures in one of Ian's books.

Ian taught her some of the choreography from Vacation Bible School songs.

She took us out to eat at Red Lobster for lunch, too. The waiter got out a lobster so the boys could see it a little closer.

Ian got to explore Great-Grandma's basement and play with some of the toys Momma remembered playing with, like this horsie swing!

Grandma did a good job even of entertaining both boys at the same time!

We had a wonderful time with you, Great-Grandma, Uncle Rick, Aunt Mary, Luke, Brielle, Uncle Ross, Aunt Jill, Macy, Kieron, Rowan, and Rilee! What wonderful memories we have of our time together. Thank you for your hospitality to us! We love you guys!