| Summer 2009 |
| As a new school year kicks in and the days of wearing jeans instead of shorts are upon us, let’s pause to reflect on the joys of summer. |  |
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Summer is a time for weddings and water play. Unfortunately, we attended none of the former (although Evan did get Becky to put on her wedding dress for a special dance) and, thanks to lots of rain and Dad’s laziness, we didn’t do a lot of the latter. |  |
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Still, we did squeeze in a fair amount of outdoor activity, even it was the simplest of pleasures – like rolling down a hill or just celebrating the joy of running. |  |
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That included plenty of trips to lots of different parks – which we’ve given our own names like the Roundabout Park, Castle Park, Pirate Park, the Sandbox Park…We don’t really know any of our parks’ real names. |
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Of course, summer is also a time for festivals and we went to a few this summer, including Jiggle Jam, the Midwest Kids Fest, and the Turkey Creek Festival. |  |
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Summer is also a time for sports. Evan took a few tennis lessons this summer and started soccer. |
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That also means taking in a baseball game, even if you don’t get around to it until the last game of the season – well, for Kansas City’s minor league team the T-Bones. Royals fans will have to suffer roughly another month of heartache. |  |
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Summer in Kansas City also means trips to the zoo and Deanna Rose Farm. |  |
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And nothing says summertime like lemonade stands and biking! |
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Of course, when the rain comes down or the sun won’t let up, there’s always the option of taking in a flick (we saw a few this summer) or a fun exhibit – like the Lego one at Crown Center this summer. |  |
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That might also include fun food places like Chuck E. Cheese or Fritz’s. If you don’t know the latter, then you haven’t been to Crown Center in Kansas City. This train-themed, kid-friendly restaurant is known for its train-track-style food delivery method. If you don’t know the former, well, you don’t have kids, have never been a kid, or have never been around a kid. |  |
| Some of our other favorite indoor hang-outs include Wonderscope Children’s Museum and Paradise Park. The latter is kind of like a Chuck E. Cheese on steroids. |
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Not only does it have games and food, but a children’s museum (which includes do-it-yourself face painting – see pic at right), mini-golf, go-carts, and, pictured at left, a foam factory which allows for lots of fun shooting foam balls at each other. |  |
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When not out and about, indoor play at home can be marked by imaginative play, be it a castle or a fort. |
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Of course, in our family summer also means birthdays. We kick off summer with Levi’s birthday and close out the season with Evan’s. |  |
| So as this year’s season in the sun draws to a close, it’s time to lift our glasses to one last toast to summer fun. Just in case you’re wondering, that’s a peach float in that glass – a special treat this 4th of July. Well, summer, ta-ta for now! See you next year! |  |
Head to EvanWhitaker.com or LeviWhitaker.com for more of our individual pages. |
