Exploration Place Getaway

Kansas in miniature

Playing with water

Underground

"Experience a Tornado"

Caleb and Meryn

Brendon

Caleb

Microscopes

Wright Brothers simulator

Brendon discovering propeller pitch and the effects of thrust.

Flight simulator.

Veterinarian exhibit

Dr. Meryn

Caleb "fixing?" the cat

Castle walls

We wanted to get out of town a few weeks ago, so we decided to head down to Wichita and visit Exploration Place since we hadn't been there for a while. We had so much fun and there were some cool new things to do.

Hunting...Sort of

I took the kids out right before the pheasant season finished because we finally had some cold weather. They were so excited to go, but the excitement quickly faded as soon as we got out. It was a bit cold and they didn't realize they'd actually have to walk through the grass that was as tall as them. Well, after playing on the frozen creek and rescuing frogs under the ice, we decided to go home. Although we didn't see anything, we had a good time and made good memories.

Family Weapons Training

Trevin. Not sure if he wants to try.

Brendon showing us how It's done.

Meryn shooting the shotgun for the first time.

Caleb nailed it!

Susan. What a natural!

Trevin's ready for action!

Caleb is focused.

Look out intruders! Don't let the smile fool you!!

What a stud!

A couple of months ago, we headed over to my captains house to shoot some skeet. We had a bunch of fun. We need to do it again soon so Susan can get a bit more practice with the handgun!

Update on the four kiddos

Brendon - Meryn - Trevin - Caleb

Brendon- 11.7 years old - 72 pounds - 4'9" tall

Loves playing Roblox on the computer - doesn't like to make his bed-loves playing with his new RC motorcycle-hates putting away clean clothes-is learning geometry in school-has all A's & B's in school-can't wait for soccer season to start-has enjoyed playing basketball-starting to show interest in girls-likes to be in charge-loves to get alone time with his mom & dad-has a strong will-is very compassionate when his twin is sick-is laid back-is sensitive-wants to be a fireman when he grows up-saves everything-lost two teeth this week-wears glasses- still wants contacts-is left handed-is our only kid that will eat broccoli-Is an awesome son!



Caleb- 11.7 years old - 67 pounds -4'8" tall

Loves hanging out with his friends-is a computer magnet-asked me how to spell his middle name today-is using an inhaler for sports now-doesn't like to be smaller than his twin brother-has all A's in school-loves building anything & everything-wants to take a computer apart and try to put it back together on his own-loves skateboarding-is playing basketball-is usually dramatic-loves to please us-loves to climb anything-is excited to play soccer in the spring-loves wearing shorts all year round-hates homework-is shy around most girls-is a peace maker-wants to be a pilot when he grows up-Is an awesome son!


Trevin - 9.3 years old - 62 pounds 4'4" tall

Is a happy kid-got braces last month-doesn't want too much affection from his mom in public-loves to get lots of affection at home-is an awesome student-smiles all the time-loves to play jokes on his dad-loves his third grade teacher-needs a haircut desperately-is playing basketball-did not like tackle football-likes to sleep in his brothers room at night-calls himself a KU fan-has never watched a single KU game-loves to make his brothers and sister happy-has really bad eczema right now-has a huge heart-wears a sweatshirt everyday-likes to wear the same sweatshirt everyday-uses a water pik-is usually soaked from the water pik-loves cold pizza-is a total nut-loves to make us laugh-is a messy eater-makes his bed every morning-covers up his KU bird with a blanket every morning-doesn't like wearing his glasses-wants to be a sculptor when he grows up-Is an awesome son!


Meryn - 5.4 years old - 40 pounds - 3'7" tall

Loves getting to be the only one at home-loves Curious George-Loves to play computer games on my laptop-loves to cuddle-wants to play soccer again this spring-is excited to start kindergarten next year-loves to impress her brothers-loves cubbies-loves listening & singing The Mission & People Need the Lord by Steve Green-is 5 going on 16-is always stuffed up from allergies-is connected to my hip while the boys are at school-loves to dress up girly-loves to play football with her brothers-tells all of us how she missed us even if we've only been gone five minutes-loves playing games with the family-likes to boss her brothers-always wants help cleaning her room-wants to be a ballerina when she grows up-is an awesome daughter!

Tagged

I was tagged by Elisa, here are the rules

1.Choose your 4th picture folder

2. Choose the 4th picture in the folder

3. Explain the picture

This picture was taken July 4th 2008. Meryn, Malia & Meredith having fun in the sun. Oh how I am ready for summer time!

Trevin gets braces...

and he loves them! He actually was excited about this. He gets to pick the colors so of course he picked a KU themed mouth. We will see if those are the colors he sticks with for the duration of this. They took lots of pictures of his mouth & told me they would be doing that a lot because his is an extreme case. It is amazing how much of a difference you can see already in his bite. They built up two of his teeth so that he would not have the cross bite and he has to bite straight. We'll post more pics as we go along.

Christmas 2008

New pajamas from Grandpa & Grandma Lanker

The 3 princeses

My videographer while daddy is away

Brendon & Taylor running the webcam so Greg can watch from work

Trevin & Micah

Meryn Jamie Brittney  Malia

10 of the 23 grand kids on my side

sing it Brendon...the kids Christmas present

I was trying really hard to stay awake

We celebrated on Christmas eve morning. Greg had to work Christmas all day and I had just gotten off work that morning. It was a whirlwind of a time after that. We had a great time with family and as usual I didn't get the camera out as often as I wished I had. But here are a few to share.

Our first snow

We finally had our first few inches of snow last month. The boys wanted to build a ramp to sled down there wasn't quite enough to make that work but they had a fun time anyway.

Christmas Tree Time

The reasons we cut our tree down each year:)

Caleb looking for the perfect tree

Strategizing

On a Mission!

Brendon helping Meryn stay warm

Trevin trying to stay warm with hot chocolate

This is the one Meryn liked.

Hanging up all the ornaments on the tree.

Working together (most of the time ) to make a Christmas tree

After putting together the tree in a box Grandpa & Grandma Lanker sent

What the Lanker kids are Thankful for this year

Caleb

My family
School/good grades
Supporting parents
Good Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles
My new house
Everything I have!


Meryn

My new house
My new room
My family
Jesus


Trevin

My Family
My Friends
My cousins
Food
Water
A Home
Toys
Being alive
Jesus
A bed


Brendon

A new home
Education
For my parents and how they care for me
My big room
Cousins/aunts & uncles
My Grandparents
My brothers and sister
Clothes
That Jesus died on the cross for me!