First Winfield Experience

This past weekend our boys got to experience their first Winfield.  If you know anything about me and/or my family, you know that Winfield is a big family tradition for us.  I've gone every year of my life with the exception of the year I fractured my back (2007) and last year since the boys had just come home from the hospital.

This year, I decided we were going to make it happen.  So we packed up EVERYTHING (clothes, diapers, wipes, snacks, toys, 3 pack n' plays, our wagon...you name it, we had it.  We had decided ahead of time we weren't going to camp like we always had in the past.  Instead, we made arrangements to stay at my sister, Nicole's house in Wichita.

Overall, everything went really well.  It was forecasted to ran all day, which I was dreading.  Instead of rain, we had lots of sun...hot sun.  It ended up being really hot all day, so we spent a majority of our time in the shaded campground instead of up at the fairgrounds listening to music.  It was great to see family, especially my oldest sister Michelle and her husband and kids who came out from Colorado.  The boys seemed to have a good time.  They napped well and we were able to put them down in pack n' plays that night around 8:00 since we weren't going to be heading to to Nicole's until 10:00.

It was definitely a very different Winfield experience than ever before, but I was glad we went.  The boys loved the music and the people watching.  Looking forward to going again next year!

Napping in Grammy & Papa's camper

Lucas got the best seat in the house

My dear little thumb-sucker

Cooling off

Nolan sportin' his new hat from Auntie Cole

Ollie liked his new Shockers hat

It's not Winfield without a drum!

Walking around the fairgrounds

Lucas trying on hats

Rasta-Nolan meets Johsie 

Heading back to the campground after listening to music

Fall

As a kid, I never really had a favorite season. I enjoyed summer because we had time off school and got to go to the pool a lot. I liked winter because of the snow and all the childhood fun that comes with that. Spring and fall were just seasons that fell between...but because of the mild weather, I liked them too.

Now, as an adult, I definitely have a favorite season. I absolutely love fall. I love the beautiful colors. I love the cool weather. I just love it all!

Here are some of my fall highlights this year (so far):

• Somerset Ridge Winery
• Winfield (Walnut Valley Festival)
• Party at Paige's...complete with campfire
• Chiefs game
• One final Royals game
• Weston Irish Fest
• KC Pumpkin Patch

And one that I will (hopefully) get to add to my list by the end of this week: HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE! We're scheduled to go Thursday. I can't wait!!!

Car-ma

This weekend was the big Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival in Winfield. This festival is a big annual tradition for my family, so Friday night James and I made the 3 1/2 hour trip to southeastern Kansas to meet my parents at the gate at midnight. The weekend was full of lots of eating and drinking and listening to music...and very little sleep. Our nights would end around 4AM and then the day would start up again around 7 or 8AM. Despite the lack of sleep, it was a great weekend.

Our trip home was...let's just say...eventful. James drove to Winfield Friday night so I agreed to drive home today. We were in Augusta, stopped at a stoplight when a van plowed into us from behind. I was driving James' (new) car, a 2010 Ford Escape, so I immediately freaked out. James stayed calm, recognizing that I was in no way at fault and motioned for the van to follow us into a nearby parking lot. We got out and assessed the damage. The other car was totally fine but from the looks of it, James' bumper would probably need to be replaced. We exchanged insurance info and called the police dept. to see if we needed to file a report. The police came and helped us fill out some paperwork. The whole ordeal delayed our getting home almost an hour, but at least we were both okay.

We stopped in Emporia to get gas. James went inside to use the restroom while I got out to gas the car up. I tried to insert my card into the pump but it keep beeping at me and reading "Card can not be accepted at this time." I was about to go inside and talk to someone when I saw "Prepaid $97.17". A little confused, I went ahead and filled the car up. Afterwards the pump said "Get change inside." I figure it was already my luck that I got a free tank of gas and that going inside to take the change that didn't really belong to me would be pressing my luck. So I left, in hopes that the person after me would also get a free tank of gas. I figured us getting that free tank of gas was good "car"ma for us not getting mad at the guy who rear-ended us. Sometimes it pays to be nice.