The Whitelaws

Easter turned out a little differently than we had planned. After driving 12 hours to get home, Kevin was sick in the night with a stomach bug.
Just in case, Kevin's stomach bug was contagious and not food poisoning, we weren't wanted at the Whitelaw family lunch. So, I made these two's day and took them to Super Salad. (Turns out it was food poisoning and none of the rest of us got it.)
Jenna was really disappointed to miss the egg hunt with the cousins, so we improvised with a little hunt of our own.

Thursday after Easter, they finally got their Easter baskets from Mima and Papa. So much fun!

Friday, March 29th - Game Day! We had a leisurely morning. Leslie had the day off and arranged for us to meet Matt for lunch. She listed off some options that would be convenient locations. When she said "Chuy's," that was the end of that! Chuy's in Ft. Worth?! My favorite! I later joked with Matt that he was holding out on us the night before. If I had known that Chuy's was that close, I think we would have gone twice.
We saw these TV screens all around. This one was at the entrance to the women's bathroom!
And, then Ruthie sent these pictures to Katie so we could see what the kids were up to. This one is just cracks me up! Kellen is such a funny little guy and this really shows his sense of humor.
Our budding artist learned the joys of an ipad. Later, she was telling us all about Ruthie's ipad and how cool it was. She watched the game, some, too, always rooting for Michigan. She was pretty disappointed to hear that they lost the championship game.
Take Kellen's favorite puppies, "Blue" and "Baby," add a tube and you get a wiener dog! So funny!
The whole game was so great - pure entertainment from both teams. Here's some great moments!
Overall, an incredible time even if my team didn't win. At the 14 point lead, I felt kind of bad cheering, but Kevin sure didn't feel bad when the game went to overtime! He was jumping up and down so much and landed in the bowl of our leftover fries and sent them flying! It certainly was a chance of a lifetime to see our teams play each other in the Sweet 16 at Cowboys Stadium. So glad we went. A trip we'll never forget!

We were still so glad we went during our 12 hour drive home the next day. Jenna and Kellen did so much better than I anticipated. And, I think Kevin was still glad we went even though once we got home, he was up in the night with food poisoning. But, what a blessing that it was when we were home and none of the rest of us got it.

Thursday morning, we visited a little with Matt and Leslie before they went to work. Then, we went to the Ft. Worth Zoo. Always a treat. It was a perfect day. A little overcast to keep it cool - no need for sunscreen. It seemed like almost every kindergarten class in Ft. Worth thought it was a perfect day for the zoo, too - lots of field trip groups!
Glad we packed hats for this one. Jenna and Kellen really loved feeding the birds. Glad the birds were hungry and we all made it out unscathed.
We went to dinner that night with Matt at Uncle Julio's - our first time there. There's just nothing like eating Tex-Mex in Texas! After the kids were in bed, we watched more basketball - a great Wichita State win. And, Matt built a fire for s'mores. Yummy! Next installment - Game Day!

The original plan was to leave Saturday morning and drive the whole way to Wichita. So, Thursday night, it was time to get the laundry ready to wash on Friday. Jenna asked if she could stay up later (no school on Fridays). When she was allowed, she wanted to watch a kids show. I said no because I wanted to watch the NCAA basketball tournament games that were on. She said, "Well, what can I do?" I said she could help me sort the laundry. She said in all seriousness, no sarcasm, "Yes! This is what I've been waiting for! This is better than watching a movie or playing Yahtzee!" I taught her how to sort laundry, then she had a great time tying these toys and laundry baskets together to make a train.
Later Thursday night, we looked a little closer at the predicted snow storm and decided we should try to leave Friday after Kevin got home from work, go to Colby, spend the night and try to get ahead of the storm.

Turns out, we made a good decision. We made it to Colby, and stayed up late watching the KU game in the bathroom. That's what you have to do when you want your kids to sleep! Kevin woke up around 6:30 am and looked out to find about 8 inches of snow and then looked at the road reports to find I-70 closed just west of us. So, we scrambled to get ready. Kevin ate quickly and I helped the kids eat while he loaded the car. We were out of there by 7:30 am and had about 20 miles of snow packed roads until we hit clear roads, but snow still falling. Later, we found out that they continued to move the I-70 closing east. We were fortunate to make it out. Then we woke up to snow and ice in Wichita Sunday morning.

Saturday afternoon, we enjoyed more basketball games and went out to celebrate Dad's 66th birthday. Sunday brought more great games. And we started dreaming of going to see KU play Michigan at Cowboys stadium in Arlington.

Monday morning, we found that we could get tickets and stay with Matt and Leslie in Ft. Worth and that our good friends could keep Jenna and Kellen. So, we decided we just couldn't miss going to that game. Instead of traveling home on Wednesday, we were going to travel south to Texas!

Monday evening, we were able to have a visit with my Uncle, Aunt, cousin and cousin's daughter. We missed seeing them at Christmas. It was fun visiting and seeing the kids have a blast together.
Tuesday morning we went to Exploration place. This plane made out of license plates was fun.
This was a flight simulator of one of the earliest planes that you fly lying down.
This mammoth tusk was found when they were expanding one of the major roads in town. Pretty cool.