cora's playground

Last Sunday, Cora's Playground was dedicated.



For all of you who donated money or who purchased etsy items to help raise money for Cora's Playground, this is what you helped build....


It still breaks my heart to know why this playground is here.
The tears streamed down almost like they did when we sat at Cora's memorial service.

There were 341 balloons let go...to symbolize the 341 days Cora was here on earth.

Oh, how impacting those 341 days were.

A highlight of the weekend was getting to meet some of the girls who played a HUGE part in the etsy project that raised more than $15,000 for Cora's Playground. Julie, Heather and Sarah all met on the plane for the first time, and flew to Kansas to be here for this special dedication. It was SO fun to meet these girls in person and chat with them. I just wish we had MORE time. I am just so thankful these girls listened to God's nudge and allowed him to use them to bless the Macs and honor Cora in this amazing way. Even though they were strangers half way across the country.



These kids love Cora's Playground already. They know it by name. Since it was not in God's plan to have these kids grow up to know Cora personally, I LOVE that they will grow up knowing and remembering Cora because of this playground.

I love that this playground is for the "little" kids. For all of Cora's little friends.



These pictures were from a few weeks before when we had a playdate at Cora's Playground.



My heart just aches watching this little man run around on this playground.

Days apart in age....it's hard not to look at him and think "that's what Cora would look like".



I can't wait to tell this little guy about more about Cora.





What a special place this is.

A place where we can go to remember how God used Cora's short life to change the world.



Check out The Macs post about the dedication here.

And a few other blogs that posted pictures from the dedication here and here and here.

firetrucks and police dogs

Our neighborhood (along with LOTS of other neighborhoods all over our town) had a neighborhood "party". It wasn't really much of a party. But some of our local "heroes" did show up.

These pictures are for you Papa D!!!

My dad is a retired Fire Chief. We have some great pictures of Taylor at Papa D's firehouse in Missouri in July of 2007 when she was just 9 months old.



But Mason never got to go there. This isn't QUITE the same as modeling Papa's bunker gear, but it will do!


The police dog came for a visit too. We couldn't touch him, which was fine...he looked kind of mean. This was this dog's very last neighborhood party EVER. He will soon be retired and be adopted by his trainer (this officer).



Did you know that Dave grew up in this same neighborhood? His parents live just a few blocks away...we can actually walk there along the water if we wanted. I'm sure the kids will some day. That is one major thing we'll miss if we ever move...having Papa and Nana so close. Do I dare call us SPOILED!?!?!?

more Kansas fun

The Walnut Valley Festival isn't the only thing in Kansas going on in September. Although growing up in Winfield, there wasn't too much talk of that State Fair...as everyone's attention is on the 15,000 people invading the fairgrounds instead.

Honestly, I had really never been to the State Fair...except with school one year. Now I've been 2 years in a row.





how crazy looking is this guy??

and him too...I don't even know what it is.


Other than the food....this may be the highlight!
$1.50 for a VERY FUN ride. Honestly, I think it's SOOO fun!


I think I would maybe even ride it by myself...without a kid on my lap.


While Dave and Joel talked the lawnmower guy's ear off, the kids enjoyed playing on the mowers. It's so funny to me that guys can have so much interest in something for no reason.



don't worry...we didn't send our 1 and 2 year old on this ride. Although I'm sure those little dare devils would both go willingly.



Of course, you can't go to the State Fair without seeing the animals.


And And this was just too fun to not take a picture of. Create your own slush!

State Fair....you may be pretty hot stuff on the 2nd weekend in September...but you've got NOTHING goin for ya on the 3rd weekend!!!

Bluegrass 2009

Dave had to work on Thursday...so we couldn't head to Winfield as soon as we'd like.
What a perfect way to spend my birthday...headed to Bluegrass. Although it was a long and tiring day getting all of this stuff packed up...

We were racing daylight. So we didn't have to set up camp in the dark.
We had a slight delay when the lid to Dave's smoker went flying off on the interstate. So we turned around to go find it. Dave was pretty sure he saw right where it landed. And of all spots, it was the PERFECT place...we didn't even have to park alongside the interstate, it landed right on an overpass so he just climped up and leaned over.

We finally made it and had a hard time finding a spot to set up camp. We noticed it was MUCH more crowded than other years. Usually we can go on Thursday and find a spot with no problem with enough room for us. But we drove around for a little bit before we decided on a spot.

We were pretty much setting up the tent in the dark.

And the kids were eating dinner at 8:00 I think. But we were SOO glad to finally be there.

We had planned to try camping with the kids for one night. We had a back-up plan to stay at a friend's house in Winfield if the kids didn't do well in the tent (even if we had to show up at 1:00 in the morning). Our kiddos SHOCKED us!!! They went to sleep SOO easily and stayed asleep all night.

This was the kids' set up inside our tent. Taylor LOVED getting to sleep in her tent and it fit perfectly inside ours.

They continued to shock us as they both even took NAPS....


Mason slept for about an hour and a half like this and Taylor almost 2 hours...while we sat at Stage 5 listening to music in the shade.

Taylor had a blast...I can't even begin to explain how much fun she had the entire time...we could just tell she was LOVING it!!!



This is one of our favorite spots...Stage 5...during the day it's so relaxing to sit in the shade and listen to performer after performer (a new one every 30 minutes)...and many times we'll find ourselves nodding off for a little nap. At night it's a fun, lively spot with a GREAT crowd and some GREAT music!



Mason had fun playing at Stage 5 - mostly playing with sticks.


We decided to try not to go completely broke on all the food inside the main gates....I'm pretty sure we both had 4 ears of corn each, an order of gator taters (although they did not call them this), philly chesse steack sandwich, smoked sausage, funnel cake for my bday, fried okra, multiple cherry limades, dutch apple cobbler, cinnamon roasted pecans...okay I'll stop. Needless to say, we decided to cook a meal back at camp a few times. On Friday night we made chili! YUM!!!


Dave's parents were suppossed to come on Friday to experience the festival for the first time, and take the kids back home Friday night (since we were originally planning for camping with them to be pretty difficult)...but his mom wasn't feeling well, so they didn't make it. They offered to come get them Friday night but they did SO well the night before we wanted to keep them for a 2nd night!



Taylor enjoying some Stage 1 music....Tom Chapin!

Roasting marshmallows for the first time



our happy happy kids enjoying the beautiful, chilly, fall morning...

We brought some things along in case they got bored at camp. They played like this for almost an hour on Saturday morning before we met Papa and Nana at the turnpike for them to go back home. We were actually sad to see them go but we were looking forward to a day and night on our own, and with friends.


They had so much fun watching people and cars on this road




But they were especially excited when these guys came rolling by...selling donuts and coffee!


Of course it wasn't the coffee they were excited about


Okay...so I don't mind camping, in fact I really enjoy it. But one thing I can't stand is not having a shower. If you saw my previous post, you obviously know there were shower options (although those were private)....there are also public showers you can stand in line for...a big trailer full of individual showers. We have YET to experience this part of Bluegrass. Most years I've always just been able to go back to my parent's house. Obviously I can't do that anymore. Dave just chooses NOT to shower (gross, huh?) And I choose to take advantage of friends who open their house if we need anything at all...like a shower.



Now doesn't THIS look much better to you than waiting in an hour long line or more and using a public shower??? She even laid out a robe! I know, I know...that's cheating when it comes to camping.


On Saturday, we had some great friends join us for their 2nd taste of Bluegrass, and Dave smoked ribs....oh my, they were delicious!!


Oh yeah, I forgot to include this photo with my previous post of things you'll only see in Winfield...like couches! This was our neighbor's camp.

And I'll leave you with this...



So who's coming with us next year??? You'll be hooked, I promise!