Making crayons

On the Schad Farm, we had a lot of crayons, both full-size and small pieces, chunks and nubbins of color, that were leftovers from when the Schad kids were children. When I was home, I rescued a bucket of them to give them new life. I put the pieces into a greased muffin pan and baked them at 300 degrees for about 10 minutes. After the pan cooled, I just dumped the crayons out. As easy as that! I've bagged a few sets of the new heart-shaped crayons and am looking for a place to donate them. If you know of a classroom, church group or local youth organization that could use them, please let me know.

Fun in Forest Park

Our fun in Forest Park began when everyone met for an afternoon at the zoo. Even though it was a little warm, the tigers were out playing and wrestling with each other. They had quite a crowd watching them.





We also saw a couple of peacocks roaming around. They didn't display their plumage; they just kept moving. They were too fast to chase, so we gave up on that.

Probably one of the most entertaining exhibits was the prairie dog town. The little guys are adorable, active and SO CLOSE. You can lean over and almost pet them. We watched them eat and dig out a tunnel before heading over to the penguins and puffins.

Jason and I (and sometimes AJ) looked for geocaches hidden in the zoo while we walked around. We found one near the elephants. Another one was near the penguins and puffins.

Talk about a stinky exhibit! We took photos of the group while we were waiting in line to enter. I found one more geocache on the outside of the zoo for a total of three found.

After the zoo, we headed farther into Forest Park to get a good seat for the show. As you can see, no worries, we were there plenty early. We spent the pre-show feasting on fruit, cheese, bread and wine. (I almost felt like I was back in France!)

Yorick the Jester who came around to meet Flat Jason last year was back, but he was dressed like a lady named Alice Shortcake or something similar. He balanced our wine bottle on his chin and juggled it with some chips and Tracy's shoe. This year, he was also in the play, which, as always, was very good.

After the flight lands...

After more than 18 hours of Delta shenanigans on the ground and in the airplane, Jason was glad to rest and hang out with friends.

We had a lovely dinner with Mandie and Jason Holderieath, topped off with a yummy ice cream cake from Culver's.

VBS and Seeds Family Worship

Worship was the theme of this year's vacation Bible school at Forum. Worship is...action...prayer...service...praise. I was a helper for Team Zur, a group of 4- and 5-year-olds. Our team name, Zur, means "rock." The kids were great, and at the end of the week, Jason Houser of Seeds Family Worship led the kids, their parents, the staff and volunteers in worship. I wish I had photos, but we were busy learning about Jesus!

Six Flags in the rain

Cheyrl got free tickets for Six Flags, so she invited me to come visit and go to the park.

We were greeted at the gate by some characters, including Pepe Le Pew! It was looking really overcast so we decided that it might clear off and warm up later. Instead of heading to the water park, we started out easy with the big wheel and the carousel. Then we hit a few roller coasters and water rides.

We stopped to get ice cream, and it started to rain. Boo! We still hadn't made it to Hurricane Harbor! We hurriedly changed into swim gear and headed toward the water. We splashed around in the wave pool first. Then, we climbed the tallest tower to slide down the Big Kahuna. When we got to the top, the ride operators closed it down...something about lightning? Ha! Anyway, they wouldn't even let us ride down; we had to walk down all those stairs.

We got some dinner provided by Cheyrl's employers. Thank you, Ameristar Casinos!

B&G

My good friend Sara will soon join the ranks of us old married women. To celebrate, she invited a few friends to the Black and Gold for an unofficial bachelorette party and brought her newly acquired Polaroid camera. Friends, a Polaroid and a juke box...who could ask for more?

Good morning, Kansas City!

Up at 4 a.m. to make sure we have enough time for Jason to catch an early morning flight. Thank goodness for Starbucks!

Memorial Day

Jason, Lauren and I headed to the Kerr house to hang out on Memorial Day. Our delicious dinner was followed by a washers tournament.

Nothing about the tournament was done halfway. We divided into four teams of two and came up with creative names. Megan and Steve had prepared two golden washers as prizes for the team that won. There were concerns that the ultimate losers should be recognized for their failure, so another golden prize was fashioned out of an old toilet seat from the Kerr bathroom-remodel-in-progress.

Jason and I were billed as StappAttack! We lost the first game to Justin and Lauren, or The Emo Invasion. We won the next two games, which put us in the winner bracket to face The Emo Invasion again. We just couldn't measure up, and T.E.I. took home the gold. While we were playing, the losers were playing for the golden seat in the Toilet Bowl. Casey saved his team from the gold by completing a behind-the-back, left-handed cup. That's some fancy shootin'!

Sprayground in Stephens Lake Park

We started Memorial Day weekend off right - with a run in the park, a picnic dinner and fun in the sprayground. I love summer!