Kansas Visit

While Craig took Bryce to tour colleges across the U.S., I went back to Kansas for a visit. The visit started wonderfully...mom had prepared for my visit by making bread and cinnamon rolls for me (she also bought chai latte for me and almond milk):

One morning, I went out while mom was feeding the cats. See if you can tell how many there are:

Jacob, Caiden, and my dad started a project for me. I particularly like the first picture where Jacob is working while Caiden and my dad assess the situation:

Kaitlin showed me her model poses:

Jacob was unimpressed:

Surprise! (Filling in the blanks)

You may have noticed some conspicuous holes in my blog this week. We've been planning a big surprise, so I had to keep things vague. In his spare time this weekend (during our 17 hour volunteer event), Craig negotiated the purchase of a new car for me, by email. We had planned to pick up the car and sign the paperwork Monday night after work.

The reason this was all a secret is that we planned to give Bryce my old car. Mentioning any of it here had the possibility of ruining that surprise. So...here are the pictures and things I left out this last week.

We weren't able to get the car Monday night because we spent the evening at urgent care. We weren't able to reschedule for Tuesday because I was ordered to keep my foot elevated and iced...and Craig was rather serious about having me follow through on the doctor's orders. But on Wednesday, we began the delicate dance of our preparations. First, we had to take my old car to be detailed. I drove Craig's car, with my left foot, to the car wash with Kai. Craig drove my car and we left it there. We had to go back several hours later to pick up my car. It hasn't looked so nice since I drove it away from the dealership new!

Then we headed to the Mini dealership to get my new car!

Here we are, Wednesday night, after getting home:

I had to drive my brand new car home with only my left foot! It was a bit of an adventure. But that's the reason we had dinner so late that Kai was eating the pepperoni as she put it on her pizza...

And on Thursday, we took my new car again when we ran errands. Craig drove this time, so I could play with the navigation and other settings. I have satellite radio! (Of course, we had to call about that to fix it while we drove, but still.) In this picture, Kai is "helping" me with my crutches outside Bed, Bath & Beyond:

Kai Thursday

Craig stayed home from work again on Thursday. Thank goodness for his flexible schedule! We started with breakfast outside:

While Craig was making breakfast, Kai showed me that she could ride her scooter in the grass (she couldn't, actually, but she kept trying it because there wasn't enough room on the pavement for her turning skills):

At one point, she turned to me and announced, "Now I can give up my chu-chus!" She agreed to give up her chu-chus (pacifiers) when Maurico bought the scooter for her. As she hasn't followed through on her end of the agreement, the scooter mostly sits in her room as a reminder. I'll believe her announcement when I see it (not yet):

As soon as we finished breakfast, Kai announced that she was ready for a nap. The housekeepers, however, had other plans - they were still cleaning her room. We talked Kai into a bath before her nap (in my tub, of course, that was the bribe):

After Kai's nap, we played for awhile while Craig had some conference calls and meetings. We ran some errands together, then we came home to make dinner. Kai helped me put potatoes in water, for mashed potatoes. She helped me put brussel sprouts in a bowl so I could cook them. And she entertained me outside when Craig pushed me out of the kitchen (he insisted I sit down):

Finally, we sat down to a delicious dinner - Kai even tried everything!