Day 31; At the Suites; It's a dogs life

We are still here at the suites. The biggest challenge has been the puppies. As you can imagine puppies need a lot of space to run off energy. We have a little courtyard that they enjoy running around in. We take advantage of it when we can. Our friend Becky has been a life saver. We've taken Skylar and Max over to play with her doggies Maynerd and Bella. I've taken a few pictures of them around the courtyard, in the room, over at Grandpa's pond and over at Beckys. I think they think they are on a magnificent adventure! Now if I could just convince the kids that we are on an adventure! haha

Max and Maynerd

The girls... Skylar and Bella

Skylar wishing she could get in the pool with the boys

Max taking a break....
Naptime...

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!

Mark, the boys and Grandpa got up and out early this morning. They went to the shooting range to do some target practice. Meanwhile back at the Suites.... I did some laundry, molded some burgers and went to the store and picked out a cake. They came home and we went out into the courtyard for a cookout. Alex swam while we got ready. Connor collapsed onto the bed (he's not used to getting up so early anymore). Grandpa and Mark visited and cooked the hamburgers while I brought out the side dishes. We had a nice quiet lunch and then Alex and I went swimming for a little while. The dogs ran around in the courtyard happy to be free of their leashes. Eventually we all made our way back into the room and watched Mark and Grandpa open their presents. Then we ate cake. That was our Father's Day in a nutshell.

Enjoying lunch in the Courtyard


Mark reading a card Alex made him in school


Grandpa opening his gift

Day 15; At the Suites; The pool is open!!!

The pool is open!! Alex has been looking forward to the pool opening since the day we got here. It was supposed to open Memorial Day weekend but they discovered a crack. They have been working on it every day. I went out yesterday morning to walk the dogs and glanced over at the pool. It was filled with water! I thought well, it will need to sit with the chemicals for a couple of days but at least that's progress. I came back to the room and told the boys. Alex immediately took off for the front desk (he's gotten to know the employees here very well). He came back with a big smile and said it will be opening in a couple of hours.

It was a perfect day for swimming and the water was just right. The pool is heated. I remember as a kid being so excited for the first day of summer when the public pool opened. The water was so frigid though. It hadn't had time to warm up with the warm Kansas sun. We didn't care though, we were so happy to jump right in! I remember many days of walking 8-9 blocks to the swimming pool with my brother and then staying all day and walking all the way home tired and hungry. Those were the days.

I took a few pictures of the boys frolicking....








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Day 6; At the Suites, Getting out

Yesterday we decided we needed to get away from our suite for a bit. We decided to head over to Grandpa's and go fishing. We took the dogs and headed over. They were excited to get out and run around for awhile. The boys caught several fish (which we threw back in). Afterwards we went back to Grandpa's and cooked out. We had grilled chicken and hot dogs. Grandpa is out of town so thank you grandpa for letting us borrow your house for a little retreat.

I took this picture of the boys fishing....

Day 4: At the Suites; Who took my laundry?

We are on Day 4 of our Hotel stay. I ventured down to the laundry room. There are 3 washers and 5 dryers. I thought this could be very efficient. I can do ALL my laundry at once. I separated it into 3 loads, got them going in the wash and headed back to the room. 40 minutes later I ambled back to the laundry room exchanging pleasantries with hotel staff along the way. I made it to the laundry room and started taking my clothes out of the washer and putting them into the dryer. I got to the 3rd load, opened the washer...it was empty! What??? I know I had 3 loads. I did didn't I? Am I losin' it? I checked and double checked, the load had disappeared. I walked back to the room in a confused state. Would someone really want my plain ole' socks, t-shirts..etc. I started imagining the other guests I had passed in the halls and seen at the buffet. I hate to admit it but I was already mentally forming an accusation. I thought it may be some out of towner with a gaggle of kids. I decided to take the high road and thought if they needed clothes that badly then I don't mind. On the other hand when Mark stated that "they were probably stolen" I said "no, I don't think anyone would do that, they will show up, I'm sure it was accidental."

An hour later I walked down again thinking someone would eventually notice they had taken the wrong load and return it. Nope, nothing. I explain to Mark that I've lost a load of clothes. He looks at me. I see a look in his eyes that says "how did you lose a whole load of laundry?" I stare back with a look that said "don't even say it."

Finally, this afternoon I checked again and there in a pile in a cart were my sparkling (well maybe not sparkling) whites. I'm not crazy after all. I'm still not sure how someone takes the wrong load. I imagined it to be somebodys husband. Maybe his wife sent him down to retrieve their laundry and he came back with the wrong stuff. I can just see her looking at a pile of unfamiliar whites on the bed and saying "Whose are these?"