Katie LOVES her dogs!

2nd Day at Grandma and Grandpa Finger's House

Wow, talk about HOT! Living in Seattle, we are definitely NOT used to this kind of heat! But, we managed to stay cool by spending the afternoon at the local swimming pool.

Local pool in this small Kansas town. We had a great time!

Katie's favorite activity was to go down the water slide.

Since she doesn't really swim yet, she held on to this "noodle" to stay above the surface.

Tonight we went back to the rodeo again.

And when we got home, we had to play with the kittens before going to bed, of course.

First Full Day at Grandma and Grandpa Finger's

Katie and I arrived at Grandpa (my Dad) and Grandma's (Karone) house yesterday evening. They live in southeast Kansas, so we flew into the Tulsa airport on Southwest airlines. It was an all-day process to get there from Seattle, but well worth it. Dad and Karone were anxiously waiting for us immediately outside security at the airport and greeted us with great big hugs. On the way to their house, we stopped and at Lone Star Steakhouse and ate a delicious dinner.

Here are some pictures of our first full day at Grandma and Grandpa's:

Every morning Rosie (The black dog in the above picture.) woke Katie up by jumping up on her bed and giving her kisses all over her face. Katie loved it! On this first morning, Grandma joined in along with two of their other dogs, Mandy and Dixie. Katie didn't mind one bit. She would have loved it if her room had been FULL of dogs!

It was sooo hot there! In the 90s and even in the low 100s, along with the high humidity, it was quite a change for us being used to the cool Seattle summer. Katie and the dogs ended up in their kiddie pool for the afternoon.




Katie and I really lucked out. They had three kittens who appreciated all the attention that we were happy to give them. They had lost their mother, so Grandma Karone had been taking special care of them for a while now. We spent as much time as we could with them. There were three of them. Katie named them Rose, Olivia and Lucky. Pictured here is Olivia.

Katie with Mandy (I think - Mandy and Dixie look too much alike!)

Tonight we ended up at the rodeo in Sedan, KS. It was Katie's first one and it was my first in probably 30 years or so! Katie seemed to really get into it and enjoyed watching. Of course, she made us all climb to the highest spot of the bleachers...

Swimming with the Dolphins!

Our vacation this year is again with rFamily Vacations and the destination is Club Med, Ixtapa, Mexico. I'll write more about it later, but first want to post this video of a little adventure we enjoyed. We spent 25 minutes swimming and having our pictures taken with a couple of very friendly dolphins. It was really a terrific experience! (Don't worry, the video isn't 25 minutes long! I edited it way down!)

Sparkly Independence Day (Eve)

Because the weather forecast is calling for rain on the 4th of July, we decided to do some sparklers early. So, I put the camera on a tripod and opened up the shutter. Here are some fun pictures we got...

Giddy Up!

As of June 18, school is out for the summer. One of Katie's friends from school has gone to horse riding lessons for the last two summers and asked if Katie would be interested in going with her this year. Katie was excited to try it, so we signed her up. It's just for this week, Monday through Thursday, an hour each day. They learn all about taking care of horses, safety around horses, and of course, how to ride a horse. Katie is really loving it and has already asked if she can have her own horse! Um, no way! Anyway, here is some video of her "Giddy Up" pony class.

Hike and Bike

Katie and I participated in a school event today that included a 3.3-mile bike ride from Sixty Acre Park to Marymoor Park where the Chestnut Hill Academy parent organization (CHAPTER) held an end-of-the-year celebration. After we spent a couple of hours at the park and Katie played with her school friends, we hopped back on our bikes for the ride back to Sixty Acre Park where our car was parked. This was the longest bike ride Katie had ever done and for me, it was my longest ride since childhood. We both had a great time!

Getting ready to begin our ride to Marymoor Park for the party!

Beginning our ride from Marymoor park back to our car.

Sammamish River alongside the bike trail.

Katie was so excited that as we entered the more congested part
of our ride, our trail had lane markers just like a real road!

Katie got a little too close to these protective parents
and one of them hissed at her!

Sammamish River alongside the bike trail.

Katie preferred it when I was in the lead.

But, sometimes she wanted to lead for a while.

Sammamish River, alongside the bike trail.

I stopped to take a picture of the river
and Katie found a slug in the grass.

Spirit Week!

Well, the school year is winding down and they have only a couple more weeks to go. So, they're doing some fun things to celebrate the ending of another great year. This week was Spirit Week and Katie had lots of fun participating in each day's theme. Here's what they did:

Tuesday - Sports Day

They wore anything sports related, like hats, jerseys, uniforms, foam fingers, etc... Katie wore one of her many soccer uniforms. (of course!)

Wednesday - Hawaiian Day / No Homework Day

They got to "hang loose" in beach wear (no swim suits or flip flops, though) and adopted the laid-back island life with no homework that evening. Katie wore a floral skort and a tank top with a Hawaiian beach scene embroidered on the front. She took a lei in, but I don't think she wore it much because it got in
the way.

Thursday - Pajamas and Electronics Day

Students wore their PJs all day and got to play with their electronic games during recess time. Katie took her DS with her and LOVED wearing her PJs to
school!

Friday (Today) - Crazy Hair Day

Dye it, braid it, tease it, or pull it back into multiple ponytails. Be as creative as you can using their head as your artistic canvas... Here's what we came up with:

It's hard to tell, but the back of her head is purple.