Just Us

Visitors part 2

2009-01-15T21:47:00.006-06:00

Then right before Thanksgiving, my high school friend, Leslie, and her two daughters came to visit. Leslie knows me as well as anyone could and we have LOTS of history together! :) Kayla was the flower girl in our wedding(CAN NOT believe she's in HIGH SCHOOL!!) and little Miss Meggie has wriggled her way into our hearts as well. We don't get to see them as much as we want to, but love every moment we can spend together!

A few days before Thanksgiving, we got our first snowfall, not too much but enough that Dave and the boys did some snowman building.

Visitors

2009-01-15T21:04:00.002-06:00

In November, we had two sets of visitors!! Our first was Robert and Shanna ParkeHarrison. Robert and I have known each other since second grade when our fathers were stationed together in Germany. Robert, "Bobby", and I were also in an opera, Amal and the Night Visitors, together in Germany as well.
The dandylion picture is Kristopher's favorite!

Turns out, Robert's parents are both from the Joplin area. We were stationed in Joplin after Germany. We have remained friends with the Harrison family over the years but this was the first time I've gotten to see Robert in a very long time. He and his wife both attended the Kansas City Art Institute and they came back to do a show at the Nelson Art Gallery. Kye and I attended the artists' talk then Kris and David joined us for the exhibit. It was wonderful to see the Harrison's again and Kye was very intrigued by Robert and Shanna's work. To see more of their work, go to http://www.parkeharrison.com/

Pumpkin Picking

2008-12-02T20:39:00.000-06:00

Our annual trip to Johnson Farms to find the perfect pumpkins was wonderful again this year. They have so many activities for kiddos!

The hay fort/slide was a big hit this year!

GG and BaBa came up to watch the boys while Dave and I gave the ACT and took the boys to the Zoo. They had lots of fun but didn't get a lot of candy this year for some reason. They were a little disappointed but loved spending the time with GG and BaBa and the "girls," LuLah and Sophie.

Kye was Bobba Fett from Star Wars and Kris was a pirate this year. I guess my years of coordinating costumes are over :(

Halloween 2008

2008-12-01T21:19:00.000-06:00

After our annual pumpkin patch trip, we spent an evening carving pumpkins. We carve 3, one for Kye, one for Kris, and one "family" one. Kye carved his own pumpkin this year, picked out the pattern and everything!

We even tried something different this year and carved Kye's on it's side. Turned out really good, think we have a new tradition!

Kris did a little dance for us...
Kye was proud of his first "solo" carve

The days of coordinating costumes is gone.... :( Kye wanted to be Boba Fett from Star Wars(remember, he's the bounty hunter who took frozen Han Solo to Jaba the Hut), and Kris has most definitely for months now wanted to be a pirate. Thanks again to GG, we were able to get the best costumes for them both!

Kye walking in his school's costume parade.

Aunt Marilyn always has the best treats for us....and a glass of wine for Daddy too!
The whole family at Aunt Marilyn's

BASEBALL

2008-09-03T21:16:00.000-05:00

Kye played his fourth year of baseball this year. Although the regular season was not the best, they won fourth place in the end of the year tournament!!! Talk about peaking at the right time....

First base and shortstop are his favorite positions. He also played a little bit of catcher this year!
Little brother was great as long as he had enough snacks to keep him busy....Kris can't wait to start playing next year himself.

SSSSSLLLLEEEEEEEEEPPPPP

2008-09-03T21:13:00.000-05:00

Kris has been working through some sleep issues this summer. One night during dinner, he could barely keep his eyes open.

Poor kiddo did not make it through dinner.

Water, water, water

2008-09-03T20:52:00.000-05:00

I used to work for a water park here in town. It was owned by some brothers in Arizona. They shut it down because they decided that it never really got hot enough here in Kansas to make a water park worthwhile. Obviously they have never visited Kansas in June, July, and August. We spend most of our summer in water of some kind. This little pool has been the best $17 we've ever spent. Not sure if it will make it another summer, we'll see!!

Kye likes to pretend that the raft is a "bucking broncho." It creates quite the waves once he gets it going!

Spending time on the lake is also another pastime we have in the summer. This summer, we along with GG and Baba bought Big Mable....She's pretty impressive and Kye is getting really brave on her. One trip this summer he rode all by himself!

Very rarely do we make it back to the dock without losing at least one, this day it was BOTH!

The rest of May

2008-09-03T20:38:00.000-05:00

Kye had a talent show at Tomahawk and decided that he was going to showcase his jumping skills! We were very proud of him for getting up in front of the entire school!!

Olathe East has a pond and every once in awhile Dave and the boys spend an afternoon fishing. The pond is stocked regularly so it's a lot of fun for the boys!!

After three years with La La, it is time for Kris to move on to preschool next fall. It was a hard day, I think they both cried off and on most of the day. We can never thank La La enough for loving Kris as if he were her own and providing him with such a caring environment. We'll miss you La La!!!

The Schmale family held a reunion on Memorial Day so we made the trip back to Clay Center. Uncle Al and Aunt Heather were able to be there too!

Kye turns 7!

2008-07-26T13:59:00.001-05:00

Kye wanted a shark themed birthday party, so we went swimming!

One of his birthday presents was a Megaladon tooth.....3.1 million years old..

The kids all got shark tooth necklaces as party favors.

Navy-San Diego

2008-07-26T12:50:00.002-05:00

In April, the NAVY invited me, as my school's military liason, to San Diego to tour their facilities.

I have never been interested in visiting California, much less southern California, but after exactly 36 hours, I called Dave to tell him we had a new retirement destination!! I loved it there!!! They had a "Heat Wave" while we were there. Eighty nine with 0% humidity. I'll take their heat waves over ours ANY day!!!

As we were having pizza the first night, we noticed a boat out in the bay. It was the SEAL recruits. Notice they are in the water. The boat stayed long enough to drop them off, then came back to land. The recruits had to swim in full gear back to shore. The CMC that was with us said it was probably their 2nd or 3rd swim of the day.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am NOT a gun person. However, if I needed to be a gun person, the gentleman on the left is who I would like to learn from. He knew EVERYTHING there was to know about every gun a SEAL could need. The other guy was trying really hard to look cool.
We extensively toured the SEAL training areas. This is their obstacle course on BUDs(Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training) beach. They offered to let us have a go, we all declined....
Part of the SEALS is the Swift Boats and their drivers. Trust me, these are not guys you would want to meet in a dark alley or crawling out of the ocean. We weren't allowed to take any pictures of the instructors as they are all expected to go back into combat situations.

The Navy uses dolphins for a variety of underwater tasks, they didn't say it but we read "Bomb Sniffing" between the lines. Wonder if these guys knew when they joined they get this kind of job.
We toured all of the weapons training facilities. Picture taking was limited....this was the gun one of our liasons was in charge of when he was out to sea. These are massive pieces of machinery and they say the noise they make is deafening.

Dry Whitney BEFORE our harbor cruise on Assault Craft Number ONE
Wet Whitney after our soaking
Some of the vessels they had in harbor during our "cruise." Notice the floating barrier that prevents vessels from pulling up aside the ship. This barrier only came to be AFTER 9/11.
The naval hospital ship, Mercy. Less than a week after I returned to KC, Mercy left for Myanmar to help with the typhoon relief.
The San Diego skyline from our harbor cruise.

Junior, from my district, and I on the USS Kidd.

Shots of the Hotel Del Coronado

One of our liasons knew some people aboard the USS Ronald Regan that came into port while we were there. We got a personal tour!!! It is an impressive aircraft carrier.
I think my sweet boys, especially their daddy :), were happy to see me home after being gone for 6 days!!!! Professionally though, I'm excited to be able to share all that I learned with students who are interested in joining the NAVY. As an ARMY brat, it's hard to think of a different way of life. I'm not sure I could handle the 6 month+ separations from my family. We saw many other aspects of Naval life while we were there including the nuclear submarine program.

Strategic Air and Space Museum

2008-07-26T12:44:00.000-05:00

Kye, Kris, Dave, and Max and Dave went with the Boy Scouts to Omaha to visit the Strategic Air and Space Museum in April.

Kye and Trent

Kris' new big boy bed

2008-07-26T11:57:00.000-05:00

Kris now has a big boy bed and he and Kye love to read together at night. Kris makes sure to point out though that it's HIS bed and Kye needs to sleep in his own bed.....

Kris turns 3

2008-07-26T11:50:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Kris' 3rd birthday at Joe's Crab Shack with the Faoros. The kids were determined to play outside even though it was very cold!!! I think they had frigid fun!

Kris got a Thomas pillow for his new big boy bed in his new Train Room!

Nicholas and Alyssa with Kris
We celebrated his bday twice at LaLa's because not all the kids were there on the same day!<

GG and Ba-Ba

2008-07-26T10:59:00.000-05:00

We spent a weekend with GG and Ba-Ba in April...
We got the "girls" (LuLa and Sophie) to sit still long enough to get a quick picture. Kris has finally figured out that he is bigger than them.

Spring Break Part 2

2008-07-26T10:30:00.000-05:00

It was a very long, snowy, and cold winter here in Kansas City. The morning we left for Corpus, we had our 36th "Snow Event." We were more than ready to head to warmer climates!!!
On our way down, we stopped to visit my AX sorority sister Dorothy and her husband, Mike and son, Sawyer. Sawyer and Kye are only a year apart and it seems everytime we get together, they act as if they've never been apart!! It's so wonderful to see Kye and Sawyer developing the kind of relationship Dot and I have after 4 years in the same house together!!

We also stopped in Waco to visit my cousing Brianna and her boyfriend Jeff. Although we've heard about Jeff for over a year now, we'd never met him. He's everything she said and more. He was so patient and kind with the boys, who were a bit rowdy after being in the car for a day and a half!! We sure wish we lived closer to Brianna, we miss her lots!!
Our next stop was at the San Antonio river walk. We were able to find a river side cafe and enjoy a little snack while we watched the boats go back and forth on the river. It was very relaxing and the boys enjoyed it a lot! We even saw one of our foreign exchange students and his host family go by on a boat while we were there!
Kye had some friends join us that he wasn't too sure about.....
One of the biggest entertainments of the week was feeding the birds. The boys made quick friends of ANYONE who had bread to throw out and had a ball!

One of the T-shirt shops had a JAWS replica out front, Kye insisted we get a picture.
This is in front of the Corpus Christi aquarium. We picked a great day to go as it rained most of the day and we were inside!
They had a touch pool and I think Kye picked up EVERYTHING in the pool, he especially liked the sea urchins. Kris did a lot of looking!
Ba-ba and the boys at the aquarium.
The boys in front of a whale statue at the aquarium.

The next day we went to visit the USS Lexington. Dave and I are huge fans of military ships and love looking all around them. We made it about 3/4ths of the way through the ship, that took about 6 hours. The boys did great!! It was VERY windy that day, especially up on the flight deck. We held on the Kris for dear life, we were afraid he might just blow off the deck!!!

For some reason, this was Kristopher's favorite place on the boat. Hope this is not a premonition!!!

Spring Break-Part One

2008-03-30T15:29:00.000-05:00

We got to go to Corpus Christi for Spring Break this year to stay on the boat with BaBa. It was the first time Kris has seen the ocean, well technically the bay..... Dave's favorite part was having coffee every morning in the cockpit. My favorite part was sleeping in a bit every morning while BaBa dealt with Pop Tarts. Kye's favorite part was sleeping on the boat and Kris' favorite part was "WATER!!!!!"

Fishing was one of the favorite pastimes, the shrimpers at the neighboring dock were so good to the boys, giving them an assortment of by catch. Starfish were a favorite. Fresh shrimp everyday was hard to deal with, but we managed :)

Kristopher managed to hook his shoe, we finally convinced him there was nothing after him, not sure he completely believed us

The dinghy provided lots of entertainment for Dave and the boys

Fishing off the pier, waiting for the boat race to start. It was VERY windy, can you tell? I'm very glad I was not crewing that boat!!!!

The last day we were finally able to get out on the open water. Each of us took a turn with the rudder. The boys liked the going out and coming in, but kind of bored in between.

We made it over to Padre Island for an afternoon, it was COLD!! That didn't stop the boys from running in the waves. Kye got really good at jumping waves. Kris really liked the sand. We were able to collect several shells as well.

There's more to come, check back in a couple of days!!!

La La's house

2008-03-23T15:22:00.001-05:00

La La with most of her kiddos
From left to right-Nicholas, Alyssa, Kris, Morgan, Kye, La La, and Conner
We are so fortunate to have her in our life, she truly loves Kris as her own!!!

Kris and Nicholas "reading" at La La's

HOCKEY again!

2008-03-09T15:19:00.002-05:00

Dave and the boys went to see another hockey game, this time Zac was playing!!!

Baba got to go too!

Bugz-First Grade Music Program

2008-03-08T15:15:00.000-06:00

Kye and Mariah-friends even in utero
Kye had the lead in the first grade music program, Bugz. He was the stink bug!!
Lauren was able to come see the show too, Kye was so excited!! Kris seems to have a new friend too......

HOCKEY!!!!

2008-02-03T11:42:00.000-06:00

We went to our very first Hockey game ever. We have a team here in town that several OE kiddos play on. One of them invited us to a game yesterday. Unfortunately Zak was sick and we didn't get to see him play but it was a lot of fun to watch. Kris especially was excited, Kye really just liked it when they slammed into the glass right in front of us. I have a feeling we will be attending another game or two.....

Kye has lost ANOTHER tooth.....no connection to the hockey game....I think that makes 6 now, before we know it he will have a mouth full of big boy teeth!

2008-01-30T21:38:00.001-06:00

With Daddy being gone so much for basketball, Kris has become a temporary "Daddy's boy!"
Bed time stories with Daddy
Show us your defense Kris!!!

Pinewood Derby

2008-01-27T11:36:00.000-06:00

Kye's first Pinewood Derby was last night. He designed, cut out, sanded, and painted his own car!!! He already has ideas about next year's car.....

Kye's Reward

2008-01-13T21:33:00.000-06:00

Kye had a phenomenal 1st semester grade card!!! As his reward, we went ice skating at Crown Center.

Kristopher was not the slightest bit interested at first but could walk around on his skates faster than any of us.

Kye however did a wonderful job and was skating "off the wall" very quickly!

Kris finally warmed up to the idea and "skated" between Daddy's legs holding on for dear life!

Wagner Vs KState

2008-01-02T09:26:00.000-06:00

Over the break, Dave and I got to go to the Wagner/KState game. It was a little difficult for Dave, being a KState alum, as we were there to watch Olathe East Alum, Joey Mundweiler, who plays for Wagner.

Wagner did not have a great night, but Joey scored 20 points.

Afterwards we attended a reception at the Mundweiler home here in KC and got a chance to visit with the team a bit.

The boys were with Grandma and Grandpa Schmale for the night, so we were able to enjoy a real date! It was a great night!
Joey is number 5!

Christmas Eve

2007-12-25T09:25:00.000-06:00

Waiting for Santa!!!

2007-12-24T09:09:00.000-06:00

For the fourth Christmas in a row, we went to Powell Gardens for "Breakfast with Santa." We can not say how enjoyable this annual outing is for us. We again were able to go on a weekday and were the only family there! Santa rode with the boys on the train, took them around the solarium showing them all the 12 days of Christmas motif. Mrs. Claus read to the boys, and the wonderful volunteer was enourmously patient with the boys, showing them how to make reindeer out of their hand prints.

As always, the water in the solarium was a huge draw!!! They had "seven swans a swimming" this year.

Kye made sure Santa saw all the hidden drummers.

We highly recommend the short drive to Powell Gardens if you live in the KC area. It is a wonderful time for our family!

SNOW DAY!!!

2007-12-24T09:01:00.000-06:00

We had a snow day in December, by late afternoon the snow had stopped and we were able to go a couple of blocks to the elementary school down the street and do some sledding.

Kye and Mommy made snow angels

Kris had more fun eating snow and playing on the playground equipment

Kye got really good at speeding down hill!

My three boys

2007-11-12T20:43:00.000-06:00

Basketball is upon us again and Dave took extra time to spend with the boys this weekend. They put up the Christmas trees together, cut down the cannas together, they even did bedtime reading all together. You can almost see Kye's missing tooth and the other about to fall out in this picture. More on that later.

Paghetti!!!!

2007-11-03T12:29:00.000-05:00

Our sweet little Kristopher has entered that phase of eating tons one day and nothing the next. One meal we are assured that he will eat however is "PAGHETTI!!!!" He LOVES it. He can't get it into his mouth fast enough as you can see by the abandonment of the fork for both of his hands.

Halloween

2007-11-01T17:11:00.000-05:00

We had lots of Halloween activities leading up to the big day. We had the 1st grade pumpkin carving night at school that Mommy got to go to, yes she worked with knives and didn't attempt to cut of any fingers this time! The kids had some Halloween carols to sing to us and let me tell you how cute they were!

Kye opted to be an "ARMY Guy, like BaBa" so Mommy opted for Kris to be a Navy guy. We went to the zoo and gots loads of candy, then Daddy escorted the boys for the big night. They got more "special" treats from our wonderful neighbors than they could have imagined.

Brothers

2007-10-17T10:54:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, Kye was practicing baseball with his metal bat. Kris got really excited and wanted a turn too and just as Kye was swinging, Kris ran up to him. He caught Kris in the cheek, not the eye fortunately, but he looks like he won the prize fight!
Kye is also loosing his front tooth, it's wiggling all over the place!

Moon Marble Company

2007-10-17T10:47:00.000-05:00

Kye's Tiger Cub group went to the Moon Marble Factory in Bonner Springs this month. They showed them how to make marbles and taught them some fun games. I highly recommend this trip! There are some really cool marbles there!

Pumpkin Picking

2007-10-17T10:30:00.000-05:00

We made our annual trip to Johnson Farms this month. They have a wonderful selection of pumpkins and gourds. The boys like the pumpkins, I LOVE the gourds! All those fun shapes and colors. For me, the bumpier and lumpier they are, the better!
They added a pig race this year and Kye's pig won! The farmers are very friendly, willing to answer the 150 questions the boys had about EVERYTHING!! They also had a pumpkin "Muncher" and a pumpkin launcher this year. We could have stayed all day watching that!

Bye Bye Royals......

2007-10-01T21:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the Royals last game of the season. Although we are not die hard fans, an occasional game or two is fun. We managed to make it to two games this season and also went to the T-Bones twice. It was the last game for Buddy Bell, the manager, and for Mike Sweeney, the first baseman. Dave and the boys were down front during the National Anthem and got some good pics of Mike up close. Dave said Mike had a hard time during the National Anthem. Can't imagine how hard it must be for him to walk away after all these years.
During the whole game, Kris kept saying "GO TBONES!!" I'd say, "No Kris, Go Royals," and he would respond with "GO TBONES!!" He was so enthusiastic about it, I just gave up after awhile. The game ended with two injuries though, a fan a couple of sections away got hit with a fly ball, and moments later, Alex Gordon, the third baseman, got it right above the eyes. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time even though the Royals lost, AGAIN!!

University of Nebraska

2007-09-26T19:42:00.000-05:00

One of the perks of being a counselor is that colleges and universities regularly invite me to lunches. Some places even invite me to campus for a visit, this time I even got to bring a guest. Last weekend David and I went to University of Nebraska at Lincoln, home of the Cornhuskers. We enjoyed a wonderful weekend away, just the two of us! We toured the campus extensively, had lovely meals in the Haymarket district, and best of all, attended the Nebraska vs. Ball State game. Have to say, Ball State has a wonderful quarterback and an even better running back. Fortunately for the 84,000 plus fans who were in attendance, Ball State missed a field goal with less than 20 seconds left!!! The people of Nebraska are very friendly and we are very impressed with their programs. A former student, Ashley, is there playing softball now and she showed us around to all the athletic facilities. Nebraska is only one of four self sustaining athletic programs, no money comes from the student body at large. Dave was not happy about cheering for the Huskers, his K State blood ran cold, but they were such good hosts, we found ourselves clapping and yelling with the best of them. Being in the stadium was an amazing feeling, it literally pulsated with pride and enthusiasm.
Thanks for a wonderful weekend Huskers!

Airplane Ride!

2007-09-17T20:00:00.000-05:00

The other first of the summer for Kris and I was the airplane ride Uncle Roger took us on. Kye and Daddy weren't interested but Kris and I had a wonderful time seeing the Branson area from the sky. Kris was so not bothered by being in the air, he fell asleep! Thanks Uncle Rog for the fun morning!

2007-09-17T19:30:00.000-05:00

At the lake!!!

My BIG BOY!! Dad and Kye the first day of 1st GRADE Daddy and the boys at Powell Gardens
Kye and Kris at the ball fields

Kye and Uncle Al

Kristopher

2007-09-17T19:15:00.000-05:00

The Family

2007-09-17T19:11:00.000-05:00

We've created this blog to keep friends and family in the "loop" so to speak. We hope to add comments and photos frequently as the boys are growing so fast.
Last weekend, Whitney's childhood friend, Andie and her husband, Mike were in town from FL. They are too far away but we were able to enjoy some shopping, eating, and of course 3 bottles of wine around the fire pit. We hit Zona Rosa art fair Sunday after lunch for as long as Kris could stand it(15-20 minutes!).
This summer was full of firsts-
Kye-first summer to really swim!!! By the end of the summer, he was jumping off of BaBa's boat without hesitation.
First base for Kye was his favorite position during his first season of Machine Pitch baseball. The team is finally showing signs of the basic concepts of baseball. They have come a long way in three years
First shower-in July, Kye informed us he no longer wanted to take a bath "those are for babies Mom", so we are now a full time shower taker. I think Kris secretly loves the one on one time in the tub with Mom or Dad.
Kris-Pseudo-big boy bed-the side of the crib is gone and he can come and go from his bed as he pleases. Sometimes it's more than Mom and Dad please but....
Swimming-with a life jacket in the lake all by himself, wanted no part of help from Mom and Dad
Talking-we were a little concerned that we weren't hearing a lot of language last spring. No need for concern, we're wondering now when we'll hear a little quiet!!! He says Thank You more than any other 2 year old I know and it's adorable!! Tancue is how it comes out.
Also a first for both boys is an aunt!!! Uncle Al got married this summer and now Aunt "Header" Heather is their favorite(and only!) aunt!
They looked awfully cute in their tuxes!
The weather is starting to turn colder it appears, except for today's 92 degree forecast. Soon it will be time to pick pumpkins and rake leaves!
Whitney, David, Kye, and Kris