Our fabulous 9-day trip to Wichita

We left Texas on Saturday, September 13th and drove to Kansas...not to avoid the hurricane or anything like that (especially since we live the the desert).  

When we got south of Wellington, KS on the Turnpike we were instructed to drive very slowly because there was water rushing over the road.  The picture really doesn't give justice to the amount of water that was there.  Crazy!

We met Nick's mom, Debbie for supper at Chipotle (something we don't have in Texas), and afterwards noticed this beautiful rainbow in the sky.

The other side of the rainbow.  It wasn't connected at the top, but it was still beautiful!

Gabrielle napping in the car Sunday morning after church when we were on our way to Salina to meet up with my parents who drove down from Nebraska.  Notice she's wearing a new pink polka dotted sweatshirt--by the end of the day she had spaghetti sauce, black oil of some sort, and some Cheetos residue on the front.  Fortunately, it all came out in the wash--praise God for Shout spray!  :)

Stopping by the McDonald's for a little afternoon playtime.

I think she looks so grown up in this picture--one of my new favorites!!!

Messing around with the lock on the door to the play area--one of her favorite things to do at home.  Unfortunately, she got her fingers pinched when she got the door open just a little bit--sorry Gabi.

Nothin' that a little ice cream won't fix-especially since it was from Grandpa Reinke.  Yummy!

Nick's 99-year old grandma who lives in an assisted living home in Salina.  I can't believe how sharp she is.  She was a little nervous about Gabrielle breaking some of her antiques--seriously we're talking about furniture that she said belonged to her parents.  Wow!

Gabi found lots of things to play with and touch in Great-grandma's room including her baby picture from the hospital.  

Gabrielle hanging out on the bed in our hotel room before bedtime.  We really enjoyed staying at the Holiday Inn (Hwy 96 and Rock Road).  The beds were great, the continental breakfast was tasty, and we got the pool all to ourselves every time we used it.  

Gabrielle and I traveled out to Cheney for lunch with the teachers on Tuesday, and had a great time catching up with old colleagues.  The students remembered me too, and it was so much fun hearing one of them ask if I was coming back to be their teacher!  :)

After lunch Gabrielle enjoyed a little play time when we went down to the gym during 1st grade PE.  I had a great visit with so many people--hopefully we can come back again soon.  Oh, and the cooks made some fabulous homemade lasagna the day we were there.  Perhaps we can come again and hit chili and cinnamon roll day next time!  :)

Nick and Gabrielle opening a gift from Grandpa and Grandma Walker--a shirt that says, "What happens at Grandma's stays at Grandma's".  Before we left they gave us a coloring book and some new crayons too.  Luckily Gabrielle doesn't put the crayons in her mouth TOO much anymore...it's too bad though that she's favoring her left and when she draws!

Gabrielle checking out the picture on one of Grandma's purses--too cute since it's of her in the swimming pool this summer.

Trying to figure out the fan...the circulating button on top really intrigued her the most.

Grandpa Walker playing with the toy garage and some of the cars.  Gabi sat there for quite a while and played nicely with him.

Outside checking out Grandma's apples on her tree.

Trying to be helpful and pick one of the lower ones off for her.  Fortunately, Gabi wasn't able to pull it off...will she have a green thumb later in life (I sure don't!).

Grandma Walker and Gabi playing in the backyard.

Yea!!!  Grandma giving Gabrielle the princess treatment in the wagon.

On Wednesday we met Julie and Grayson at the Rockwell Library for story time (which showed me that she needs to learn how to sit down for more than 2 seconds!).  Then we got some lunch and headed to the Eastborough Park for some playtime.  We also met some other friends there--Katie and Kristy and each of their girls.

Gabrielle enjoyed this "window".

Going down the slide is sooo much fun!  She really enjoyed it, and we even went down the curly slide together once.  

Unfortunately, after that she got a little freaked out for some reason, and wouldn't go down the slide...she just hung on for dear life.  So, I came to her rescue, and sadly, she didn't return to play on the equipment much after that.

Playing in the fascinating wood chips with Delaney.  Notice she enjoyed playing with Julie's keys more than the playground equipment.  Hopefully that will change some day!  

Eating lunch at Spangles (Nick's favorite burger place) and enjoying our free ice cream cone.

Check out her red upper lip.  You'd never know she'd been licking away at that ice cream cone, would you?  ;)

Sunday on our drive back to Texas, we stopped in Lawton, OK to eat lunch with the Peterson Family.  Thanks again for driving out there to meet us!!!  Here's Brenna and Gabi getting better acquainted.

Checking out the rocking chairs...they actually did a great job of sharing and switching between the big and little ones.

Cory and Sydney playing checkers.

Gabrielle trying a gummy worm for the first time.  She thought she was pretty big stuff!

Check out her red tounge.  The bad news is that when we got out of the car at the next gas stop, I found part of the gummy worm on the back of her head squished into her hair--yucky!  She didn't like it too much when I pulled it out either.  Oh, we've now had our first hair-extraction.  I'm not looking forward to the day that there's gum in there.  I think that must happen to every girl at some point in their lives.  *Sigh*.

Once again, thanks to everyone who made our trip to Kansas so special this time around.  I had a great time hanging out with friends on the days that Nick was working up at the Koch building.  And, all together, we had a great time with family too.  One more thanks to the Ayotte's for hosting a gathering at their house for some old Focus friends to gather.  I'm sorry that I didn't get any pictures of the kids all playing in their "band" together.  Wonderful memories!