Our Summer ~ Part 8

On Saturday, August 3rd the Sedgwick County Zoo held a back to school event and offered $1 admission to the zoo for the day. Since Miles loves going to zoo, this was an event I could not pass up! We invited Grandma to go along with us and she gladly accepted the offer. With our total admission only being $3, we felt as though we could just visit the exhibits that we wanted to see most and not worry about trying to see everything at the zoo. Miles only lasts a couple of hours anyway at things like that before he starts to get tired and cranky. We let him decide what he wanted to see and went from there. It was a great morning at the zoo!

First up - giraffes

Up close & personal with the giraffes

Stopped the see the zebras on the way to the tigers

Miles thinks this is so cool!

A bear perched on the rocks

Our Summer ~ Part 7

The end of July/beginning of August brought lots of rain to our part of Kansas. Dave was getting ready to move to Grand Junction to start New Teacher Orientation on August 1st and I was worried about the rising river in Halstead. In fact, the day Dave left for Grand Junction the City of Halstead started talking about how deep the river needed to be in order to close the flood gates.

On July 31st, Miles and I decided to go check out the river and both were amazed by how far it had come out of its banks. You could still get out of Halstead (they hadn't closed any gates yet), but one of the main roads out of town to the north had water over it and would soon close a few days later. They also even closed one of the flood gates on the NW side of town before all was said and done.

I've been through a flood in Halstead before (back in 1993) and did NOT want to see that happen again. Thankfully the dike and flood gate project was complete this go around where it wasn't back in 1993.

The swinging bridge over the river almost completely under water

Main Street bridge

Always happy to get his picture taken!

Riverside Park was closed and completely submerged

The measuring stick - normally it's not even anywhere near the water

I'm not 100% positive on the details, but I think the river had to reach 21' before they would close the gate on Main Street and 19' before they closed the gate on the NW side of town. It never got to a level where they closed Main Street's gate, but it got real close!

These next pictures were taken on August 8th so as you can see it just kept raining and raining. It was a nerve racking time for me without Dave around to reassure me we would be okay, but I tired to have faith in the dike and the flood gates that all would stay dry in our house.

The end of our driveway - I literally could not get out for several hours

Stalled cars in front of our house

Our little pond in the backyard

Our Summer ~ Part 6

We traded this...

for this...

and I LOVE it because of this!

While in the Kansas City area for the NKOTB concert, we decided it was time to take the leap and purchase a new car. Our Tuscon had high mileage and it started to struggle here and there. I feared being stranded along side the road somewhere with child in tow but no hubby around to help. The thought of that made me really nervous so we decided the peace of mind a new car would bring was finally worth the car payment that we hadn't had in a few years. It was REALLY hard to think about having a car payment again because we REALLY enjoyed not having one for so long!

We had been test driving different vehicles off and on all summer (Dave wanted a minivan & I wanted a car that got great gas mileage) and found a really great deal on a brand new Hyundai Elantra at a Hyundai dealer in the KC area. We drove it home that weekend and have loved it ever since! I do miss my SUV and the space it provided, but I love only spending $30-35 at the gas station each time I stop for gas. So nice!

Holly won!

Our Summer ~ Part 5 (I will get done someday!)

On July 21st I attended my fifth New Kids On The Block (that doesn't include the cruise) concert! I have such a blast each and every time. I've had a hard time finding people who can/will go with me to the last couple of concerts so my dear hubby has stepped up and agreed to go. What a great guy, huh? He even pretends he's having fun! This time the opening acts were Boyz II Men and 98 Degrees. I was excited to see Boys II Men because I love Shawn Stockman, but I could care less about 98 Degrees. As a young girl NKOTB had already stolen my heart and there was NO room for any other boy bands!

Miles stayed at home in Halstead with Grandma while Dave and I went to Kansas City to see the concert. It was a fun night out and fun not having the responsibility of taking care of Miles for over 24 hours. Thanks Grandma for making it possible! Cathy & George were very generous too and fed us a wonderful dinner and let us stay the night in their new house.

Here are some pictures from our night. They were taken with the camera on my phone so excuse the quality.

So excited for the concert to start!

Boys II Men

Shawn Stockman

98 Degrees

The Main Attraction - NKOTB!!!

We had great seats for one stage they used

Not so great for the other stage

Good thing they aren't scared of heights! They rode these tiny platforms up high above the crowd.

I LOVE these guys!

Proud to be from Boston

Covered in confetti at the end of the night

Our Summer ~ Part 4

As I think I've mentioned on my blog before, Dave started looking for a new job last spring (again). He loved it at Kapaun, but I just wasn't happy being back in the Wichita/Halstead area. I was open to the idea of moving to the Kansas City area, Colorado, or even Utah again. Utah did become home to me after all those years there and I missed it so much! Dave had a few interviews all over, but none of them went anywhere. We had given up on leaving the Wichita area and had even put an offer on a house in Park City, KS. That contract fell apart quickly when our realtor figured out that our mortgage guy had approved us for a loan that there was no way we qualified for (we still own the townhouse in Provo and that was a HUGE part of the issue). When that all fell apart we wondered what was next for our little family and started to try and figure that out.

Then one day in the middle of July Dave got a call from the Grand Junction, CO school district. His resume apparently had some sort of glitch and the hiring principals weren't able to see it so a lady at the district office called him to help him fix the problem. After that got all sorted out he started receiving calls from various Grand Junction principals. He set up a phone interview with Grand Junction High (where he actually did his student teaching at years ago). I stepped in and got involved and told him that I did not want him to do a phone interview and that we should just go out for a face-to-face interview...so we did.

As most of you know, the interview went well and they called to offer him the position while we were driving back to Kansas. We had like two weeks to prepare for another out-of-state move. His start date was August 1st (my birthday) for new teacher orientation. It was all too much for me to handle so we decided to go ahead and send him out alone to find us a place to live. His first long weekend would be Labor Day weekend so we agreed that would be the official big move weekend. That gave me more time to get things squared away and ready for the move.

Here are some pictures from our trip to Grand Junction for Dave's interview.

Hike up Dinosaur Hill

Family picture

Forced to pose with Mom

I love this valley

Dave found us a cute little Victorian style duplex to rent for the year in the same little town outside of Grand Junction that we lived in the last time we lived here (Fruita). We figured it was an area that we knew well and would be the best spot for our little family over the next year!

Our Summer ~ Part 3

We had a fun-filled 4th of July! The Newton Ward has an annual pancake feed on the 4th so we got up bright and early and attended that fun event. As a child I often went to the 4th of July pancake feed in Cherokee Village, Arkansas with my grandma so it was fun to attend another pancake feed. It definitely felt like the 4th of July to me. Such a fun tradition! Miles' swim lesson was later that morning. After his swim lesson we drove back to Newton for lunch for free hotdogs and sodas at Dale's store in downtown Newton. It was fun to sit on Main Street while eating our dogs. Felt like a very American thing to do!

Miles & Grandma eating dogs

Uncle Andy & Dad eating dogs

Our afternoons are always nice and relaxing because thankfully Miles still takes a nap. He's a bear without one...still. Later that afternoon we invited Grandma and Uncle Andy over for dinner and to light a few small fireworks with us. We had talked about attending Newton's fireworks, but didn't feel Miles was quite old enough yet to stay up that late. I'm glad we decided to stay home because our neighborhood put on a pretty good show! We decided to go in when the neighbors across the street shot a firework directly at our next door neighbors' house. I'm sure it was an accident, but...

Sparklers in the backyard

Watching the show

Our annual 4th of July pic in our Old Navy shirts! Lol!

This was our other attempt! Lol!

We waited a little too long to purchase our Old Navy 4th of July t-shirts this year and couldn't find one in Dave's size so he opted to get a plain navy blue shirt instead. Mine was a little too snug for my liking so I was adjusting it when the picture was taken!