The boys had fun riding around this dirt path at Sedgwick County Park. Zach wasn't sure about it at first, but he ended up riding longer than Adam. Adam like to go fast and "pop a wheelie," but Zach took it slow and rode carefully around the track. Seems like it should be opposite, doesn't it? Adam comes around first, then a full five seconds later...here comes Zach! This video was taken with my blackberry, so the quality really isn't that good.

Tonight we went down to Old Town Square block party celebrating Wichita as an "All-American City." There was free ice cream and it was the first time people could buy and carry alcoholic drinks outside. We went with my friend Missy, her husband and two kids, Emily and Caden. The kids enjoyed free ice cream and cookies and against our better judgement, we agreed to let them run through the interactive fountain. They got soaked, and since it was only about 80 degrees, ended up shivering in their wet clothes. We sat in the sun and I wrung out socks and shirts...the hot car was a welcome change as we drove home.

Today was the last day of tumbling. Adam and Zach both loved it, and want to do more classes. Zach is really quite a natural...flexible, strong and his agility make him a good candidate for tumbling. Oh, and the lack of fear also helps. This was the first time they used the rings. Mr. Eric had them do a "birds nest." Zach is first, and then Adam is next, in the orange shorts.

Once they were done on the rings, the instructor had them pull up on the parallel bars and hold their legs straight out in front of them, parallel to the floor. Zach was the only one in the class who could 1) pull himself up without help and 2) hold his legs above the bar and straight out, parallel to the floor, for more than about two seconds.

Adam and Zach have really improved their swimming this year. Both can swim across the pool, and mostly swim around in the deep end (6-10 feet) now. They took six sessions of semi-private swim lessons at the Y, and we usually make it to the pool at least twice a week.

Adam can also dive in, and swim underwater to the other side without taking a breath. He would not let me capture it on video. Adam has probably come the farthest in his swimming ability...it was not that long ago that he would not let me go into the deep end when I was holding him. His only requirement is that he has to wear his turtle goggles.

And here is Zach swimming across the pool. He has not quite mastered some of the strokes, but also has improved his swimming. He says that swimming lessons make his arms tired.

Last night, Oma showed this picture to Adam:
She asked him who was in the picture. His response: "Me and Katie!" The picture is of me and Sherry, circa 1972, when I was two months old. Here is a picture of Adam at about the same age. Can you see the resemblance?

We took our first trip to Tanganyika Wildlife Park today with Oma and Papa and cousin Jake. We saw penguins, monkeys, a red faced panda, white Bengal Tigers, zebras and cloud leopards.

We fed brightly colored rainbow lories (like a small parakeet) who were flying free inside a large cage. They would walk up your back, sit on your head and as Papa found out, poop on your shirt. The good news is that lories' #2 dries clear, so at least other people are not disgusted by your bad luck. One lorie was determined to eat the sapphire stone out of one on my rings and tugged and pulled on my ring until it hurt. They had a high pitched chirp which sometimes hurt your ears, especially if they were chirping right INTO your ear. One seemed to be a bit miffed when he found out that he could not eat the rubber bands in my hair.
We also fed tortoises and rabbits and rode a Dromedary camel named Charlie. Jake, Adam and Zach rode together. Jake sat on the hump of the camel, which he said was not too comfortable. Then Oma and I rode...this was my first camel ride and Oma's second. She's a veteran camel rider...she rode one in Egypt!
Next we fed goats, one of which kept butting the other goats with his horns so he could eat the food. We were able to feed lemurs, but the worker told us not to pet them. They were very agile and light while jumping from rock to rock. If you held you hand out with a closed fist, they would use their little paws to try and open your hand, then finding nothing, would reach out for your other hand and pry it open in hopes of finding something there.
We tried to feed the giraffes, but they were not interested in food. We walked in the kangaroo cage and saw several baby kangaroos sleeping and one even in the pouch of the mother. We were told that we could pet the kangaroo's on the back if they were close enough, but we had to stay on the path.

You could also view the new baby animals through a window in the Animal Nursery. We saw little clouded leopards about the size of a small house cat and a lemur. Both animals were born in May.

July 4th weekend we headed up to Kansas City with Oma and grandma Agnes. We dropped Grandma Agnes off at Clayton and Phylis' house, and Oma at the Hilger's.

Friday night we went to a Kansas City Royals baseball game at the new Kauffman stadium. We arrived about 1 1/2 hours early so we could walk around. They had a neat kids area with a playground, miniature golf, base run race, batting cage, arcade and a mini baseball field where you could partake in a mini baseball game. Adam and Zach both wanted to do the base run, a game where you choose a Royals player to "race" against. You run from third base to home base racing against the players' time. Both boys did that twice, and then the third time, Scott joined them too.
Scott even slid into home, and then later regretted the decision.
After the game we watched the fireworks show from the back of our van. Good thing too, because it started raining during the show!

Saturday afternoon, the Hilger's came out to Bates City. Some of the group (Sherry, Oma, Katie, Jake, Adam, Zach, Pam and I) went out to Powell Gardens to see their new gardening exhibit, Heartland Harvest Garden. The boys pretty much ran through the garden and were ready to go after about 10 minutes. I noted that the onions growing at the Heartland Garden looked much better than my dinky little onions growing back home, as did the lettuce and tomatoes.

The fireworks began after a dinner. Favorites were ladybugs (spinning fireworks who then shot up in the air with a shriek), parachutes (shot up straight in the air and popped sending a "skydiver" down to the ground) and fountains.

Smoke bombs are always fun too...
Do not be fooled by these two little innocent faces...this is one of my favorite pictures from the weekend.
On Sunday, we took Katie back to Wichita with us to spend some time with Oma and Papa. There wasn't an empty seat in the van. Katie entertained Adam and Zach by taking pictures on her camera phone and playing the alphabet sign game.