I'm home, and while it feels good to be back home with my own little family, I'm so sad that my trip is over. Wichita treated me well, like,
really well.
Nearly my entire family picked me up at the airport on Monday afternoon, and we promptly headed back to my mom and stepdad's house. The weather was almost perfect (the wind was insane), around 80 degrees! We sat out on the back deck and I caught up with my mom and brother. We had a family dinner, played a quick game with the kids and then I spent the rest of the evening laughing at silly YouTube videos with my oldest niece. The two girls were able to spend the night and I shared a bed with the oldest...but never again. She woke me up at 3 a.m. after punching me in the eye in her sleep! Needless to say, I gave her a lot of grief over that one.
The next day we all went to the zoo! The Sedgwick County zoo is one of the best in the country, especially thanks to the recent additions made possible by
Charles Koch. We saw penguins, gorillas, tigers, lions, peacocks, flamingos, etc. It was perfect and the weather was like summer. Seriously, it couldn't have been any more perfect.
The following day, I convinced everyone to go to the Coleman Factory Outlet to find some super cheap camping gear. Wichita is home to
Coleman, and the outlet is seriously an amazing store. We're pretty much set for our next camping trip now, thanks to my brother who gave us his old tent and who helped me pick out the best of the lanterns made.
Later that night, my stepdad took both my brother and I to the Wichita State University Shockers basketball game, who were vying for a trip to Madison Square Garden for the National Invitation Tournament. We cheered them on to a victory and sent them on their way to the NIT Final Four! It was so exciting, and because our original seats were directly behind the camera crew, they ended up moving us down to the 4th row which was only two levels up above the actual court. Talk about a good deal! It was so loud in that arena, it was one of the best Wichita experiences I have had since I moved away.
Yesterday, I spent the rest of my trip at my mom's. The kids were there, we played Apples to Apples Jr., which was hilarious, and I went through a gigantic tub of pictures, drawings and memorabilia from my youth. It took forever, but I'm so happy I did it because lo and behold, my deceased father's pocket watch was in there. I thought I had lost this prized possession years ago. It's been tearing me up inside ever since. So when I opened the box it was hiding in, I cried tears of joy! I couldn't help it....it's the only thing of his that I have that has any real meaning to me. He used it every single day and now it's back in my hands. Not much can beat a feeling like that.
It was so hard to say goodbye after such an amazing time with them. While I didn't get to see much of all of my family, it was so great to spend so much time with the ones I did see. The only thing that could have made the trip any better was if my husband had been there to enjoy it all too. But that's okay.
Anyway...it's the weekend now! What are your plans? How were your weeks?? I'd love to hear. We've got a big basketball weekend ahead of us. Rock Chalk Jayhawk, Go KU! We're totally going all the way, I can just FEEL it. Whatever you get up to, I hope you have a wonderful time and enjoy your weekend completely!
Lastly, thank you to
Kirby for your awesome guest post! Thank you Raegan for posting pictures of the handsome Liam, Hadley & Ryan's little bundle of joy. He really is the bee's knees.
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