Worlds of Fun

I had meant to get this posted before our trip to Washington. But it was one of the things that "fell through the cracks" in the flurry that was June 09.

We took the kids to Worlds of Fun. An amusment park in Kansas City. There were quite a few roller coasters and thrill rides that had Myranda salivating just looking at them. There was also a great smaller kid area with rides and fun more to Ben's liking. And Panda Express for lunch which of course had me salivating just looking at it. lol

The trip was a reward for the kids for doing so wonderfully in school. Myranda was on the all A honor roll, and also got a good citizenship award. She also enjoyed many perks during the school year that were given out by the administration to encourage good grades and behavior. Kindergarten was quite an adjustment for Ben, but he progressed in his first official year of education with leaps and bounds. Both kids are really looking forward to the coming year.



As can be seen from the photo above... my daughter comes by her fearlessness naturally... Ben and I enjoyed the airconditioned gift shop while that photo was being taken.

The pre-move trip

So it seems if you let a house sit vacant for five years... it can need a bit of a "fix up" before you might want to occupy it.Honestly... I don't think I have ever seen so many hornets/ wasps/ evil stingers with wings. I think David used near 20 cans of wasp killer on the near 50,000 nests in and around the house. Yes, I said "IN".

/shudder

Thankfully they were just "IN" the various attic spaces of the house.... and I have my very own studdly exterminator willing to go to battle with the horrid little things. David did have some help from his Dad, Dean and attacked with gusto. A one two punch with spray poison and sealing up as many of their entry points as possible has hopefully made a dent in the population. But the fight will continue once we officially move in.

We also had to replace pretty much all the plumbing on the first floor. We are very happy with the new pipes... and the bonus of then being able to have creek water run to the toilets for ready flushing was AWSOME! (Of course David was the one hauling the buckets of water from the creek prior to that, not me)... but I felt and shared his joy when it was no longer necessary.

By the way, trying to explain basic plumbing to a six year old growing up in the digital age can be tough. I'm not sure Ben ever stopped having to ask, "so... can I flush this toilet?" He did however love the saying, "If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down." I think that phrase was written with little boys in mind.

Since we had free labor, I mean, David's parents available we decided to get some painting done as well. Two walls in Randa's room got a make over in purple, the TV/media room went from baby blue to a yummy chocolate brown, my craft room is a buttery yellow and the dining room went from blue/pink stripes and flowers to a nice creamed coffee color. I think the painting of the rooms made us feel like maybe it was "our" house more than anything else so far. I didn't get pictures of these newly colorful rooms, but there will be time again for that in October.

The biggest project of the trip was the well. It didn't go quite as planned... they started later than we had hoped, had to dig quite a bit farther than we had hoped, and didn't actually get hooked up to the house before we had to leave. But when it's all finished, having our water source on our own land will give us some real piece of mind. I did get a picture of the guys drilling the well.




Can't you just feel the frustration radiating off David in that picture. I think he willed them to finally hit water.

Me, I want a hooolah hoooop!

Ben has the moves... I swear I can hear Elvis in the back ground.