Wiener Nationals, This is Serious

We made our second annual pilgrimage to the Wiener Nationals race. This year Gwen got in on some of the action.
Made her picks.
Placed her bets. Cheered on her choices.
They never even found the finish line. (Hard to tell, but believe me, you have not see this kind of chaos on a racetrack before. I mean, come on, a man dressed like a hot dog?) But the crowd still went nuts.

She was ticked and me and her, and Whitney and Tanner, had to leave early.
My face mysteriously turned purple that Saturday. Not to worry, all better now.

Candrians

Rob and Lorena and Mr. C (who's hiding) came to sleep in the sauna that is our guest bedroom. I didn't realize this, but Lorena was saying this is like the 4th time they've come in a year, it doesn't seem like we see them enough though - DC is too far, and Sweden is even further. Hopefully we will be seeing them there next year and they can return the many, many hospitalities we have granted them, because we've earned it, of course.

Cookies

While in Kansas Gweener experienced several firsts in her short life. She fell down the stairs for the first (and second, and third) time; rode a go-kart, wore goggles...but most importantly, had her first cookie (well, I think, I'm not sure what Jen does when my back is turned, and I don't totally trust her:).
She found the cookie drawer at her grandparents' house and every afternoon you would hear the pitter-patter of her feet running into the kitchen, a drawer sliding open, the crinkling of a plastic bag, drawer sliding shut, and little feet running away (repeating every couple of minutes). I'm pretty sure that drawer has changed her life, since she has a Nazi of a mom who doesn't give her treats like that at home. I guess that's just one more reason for her to love getting out of town.

Go-Karts Are Fun...

Or ARE they?

Where the Buffalo Roam

(Ryan likes to make sure I'm aware that the state song of Kansas is "Home on the Range." So he'll probably appreciate me informing anyone who reads this blog of that little known fact.)

(ps - I took the above photo from the Christensen's driveway.)
We spent a week in Kansas over the 4th. It was awesome. Gwen got to see some of her cousins and she was actually old enough to play with them - and they were very, very kind and patient with her shenanigans.


She got into the usual "toys."

We did tons of swimming, which led to epic afternoon naps on her part, so I also spent quite a lot of time in the pool laying out, which was verrrrry nice.


Ryan enjoyed throwing those gun powder poppers at Gwen's feet to sharpen her reflexes, he's an excellent father.


But, she's easy and was deliriously happy the whole week. And apparently Ryan was really tired?