Mahaffie Stagecoach

There are a lot of fun things to do around Olathe, KS. Last Saturday, we took Sadie to the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm. It's a heritage center with hands-on living history activities and stagecoach rides. Sadie really enjoyed the animals and Alex and I had fun learning about some farming history.

Admission (which was only about $5) included a ride on the stagecoach.


There is also a kitchen where you can taste some yummy homemade treats and you can try a little cooking yourself. Sadie and I cut out some biscuts.



Sadie always has to feed the goats! Usually, goats will eat plain old grass. Not these goats. They are a bit picky and decided to hold out for the banana peel. The farmer in the picture brought over his banana so Sadie could feed something to the goats. It was really nice of him. In fact, all of the staff were very friendly. I would recommend a visit if you are ever in the area.






In other news, Sadie has discovered eyeliner. She loves to put makeup on people (I remove the actual makeup and give her an empty container). Alex was a great sport when Sadie wanted to make Daddy's eyes pretty. Shes quite a character.



She is growing so quickly, I can hardly stand it. She looks so grown up in this picture. I love her to pieces!

I Love My Husband!

(I won't be able to post this for a few months, but we are expecting our second child!!! We had our dollar store test confirmed yesterday (May 21st) and we'll have an ultra sound next week. Hopefully all goes well over the next few months. Alex and I are pretty excited. Tonight, Alex surprised me with white roses, strawberry cheesecake, and pickles! What a man. Sadie is practicing saying "big sister." It kind of sounds like "big sissa.")


Fast forward a few months, WE ARE HAVING ANOTHER BABY!!! I am so excited to be able to tell people now. Yesterday I had an OB visit and it was the first time we've been able to hear a heart beat. It sounded perfect and made the pregnancy more of a reality. I've been feeling pretty good, pregnant and a bit nauseous, but not too bad. Our due date is around January 20-22: just in time for my Dad's birthday. If you haven't counted it out yet, I am about 11 weeks prego!

P.S. I published 3 new posts at the same time, so read on about our 4th of July and girl's night!

4th of July Fun

We have had some really hot and humid days out here in KS. To beat the heat, Sadie likes to pull out her swimming pool and splash, splash, splash!



She's also discovered snappers—those little bundles you throw on the ground to hear them snap. The following two videos are some of my favorites, because of how she says "really, really hard" when she prepares to throw a snapper.





Thankfully, the last week or so has been pretty rainy, which has really cooled off the air. The downer is that the holiday weekend was a wet one. Since the 4th was on a Sunday this year, we celebrated the whole extended weekend. On Saturday we went to a carnival in the morning. After discovering it was lame, we set off in search of another adventure. Using Alex's super handy phone, we looked up The Union Station in Kansas City and decided to go check it out. I recommend it to anyone visiting the Kansas City area. They have a Planetarium, Science City, train rides, and lots of DINOSAURS!!!






Sadie saw this "baby dinosaur" and fell in love. Alex and I just hung out on a bench while
Sadie sat and talked to her new friend. She's so funny.



There are several free exhibits at the station. The picture below was taken in an Irish room, which has a touch and feel table.



Sunday we relaxed, went to church, and had a pretty normal day. In the evening, despite the rain, I wanted to see the fireworks. Since Sadie was asleep in bed and Alex didn't care if he missed the fireworks, I grabbed a book and drove down to the show by myself. It was fun to read, watch some fireworks, and still get to bed at a decent hour.

On Monday, we had a BBQ with some friends and played a lot with Sadie. It's nice to have long and relaxing weekends now and again.

Girl's Night!

A few weeks ago, I caved and read the Twilight Saga. It all started when I got invited to girl's night, which was going to see Eclipse at a fork and screen. I felt like I should read the books and be prepared for all the Twilight excitement that was to come. I have to admit, I actually enjoyed the books. The first two movies were a bit corny, so I had little hope for the books. They were not written well, but the story was fun to read. I was also surprised that I really liked the third movie. There wasn't as much over-the-top high school romance and they didn't show Edward without his shirt, which always makes a movie better! I would recommend the third movie, because the action is pretty good and the story line is enjoyable.

The night we were going to the theater, the actor who plays Emmet Cullen was suppose to make an appearance. Something changed and the actor who plays Billy Black, Jacob's dad, was there instead. You would have thought Johnny Depp was there giving away money! The picture below was taken by a friend who saw him, but decided it wasn't worth getting a closer look.



Our group bought out the whole showing! The women in the pictures are the ones I've met since being in KS. They are a fun bunch of women.





Part of the fork and screen experience is sitting in an incredibly comfy chair and having your food brought to you. The food was really yummy and the service was great. What a fun night!

An Animal Filled Memorial Weekend

We had a really fun, and really hot, Memorial weekend.

Kansas City Zoo

Taking Sadie to the zoo has been on our to do list for a while now. We finally took her this past Saturday! She had so much fun. All day long we talked about the animals. Her new animal to imitate is a sea lion (thanks to Mimi's sea lion impression using flippers and Sadie's 'Elmo goes to the Zoo' book). Everyone was so excited to find out there was going to be a sea lion show that day. Sadie kept clapping her hands and saying "arrr arrr" everytime one of the sea lions made a sound. It was great.

At the beginning of our day, this goose decided it was hungry and Sadie had food (probably because she was holding her hand out, pointing at the goose). It came right up to her and pecked at her hand. Sadie was startled and didn't want anything else to do with the goose. Thankfully her fear wore off quickly and Sadie was fine feeding geese the following Monday.


Here's Sadie with a Chimp.


Sadie loved the lions. They are one of her favorite animals to imitate. The male lion never came up to the window, but three females came right up to enjoy some shade.


Hangin' out in the stroller.


The other show we watched was elephant painting. One of Five elephants was painting by request. People in the audience would pay their 'donation' of $25 and select colors. Then the elephant would paint a picture for them and pose for the camera! Animals are amazing. The elephant in the picture with Sadie and me is the one who did all of the painting.


One of Sadie's favorite parts of the day was the carousel ride. She loves them! Every picture we have of her on this ride is like the one below, ear to ear grin.


Even though it was a really hot day, we had a blast watching Sadie take joy in all the animals.



Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead

On Monday, we asked Sadie if she wanted to go see more animals. That was a mistake. For the next hour all she would say is 'animals' and if she felt like we were not going to see animals now, the world was ending. It was a long morning. I can see why parents don't tell their children they are going to a place like Disney World until the night before they leave.

When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised to find out admission was free Monday-Thursday! You can't beat a free outing. Well, we did buy ice cream for us and food to feed to animals. But still, under $6 is great.

Sadie could have spent all day at the bells. It was just two beams with three chains strung between them. Attached to the chains were different sized bells. To Sadie, this was heaven. She could make all the noise she wanted and we just smiled and encouraged her to make more noise. It's a dream come true.


There were lots of animals to pet at this farmstead. Here's Sadie petting a calf.


She loved to feed grass to the goats. This was a no stress activity for her, because a fence separated her from the goat.


Feeding a bottle to a goat was a different story. All of these goats rushed to Sadie and tried taking the bottle from her. I was worried she'd get trampled so Alex picked her up and helped control the thirsty animals. I think Sadie prefers feeding them grass through a fence.


The weather continues to be really hot and humid. Today it was 95 degrees. This is not unusual for the week. Thank goodness for AC.



Violin

Today was my first violin lesson! I've been nervous all day, but it actually went very well. I'm not as bad as I thought I'd be. Maybe someday I'll be able to play a song and then I can post a video.