Topeka Visit

Ty's brother, Paul, and sister-in-law, Amanda, made the trip from Florida to Kansas with their son, Wyatt, who is now almost 9 months old. Ty wasn't sure when they would be visiting with her family so he took the entire week of July 4th off work to make sure we'd get to visit them. Since they spent the beginning of the week with her family, we spent the beginning of the week visiting my family. On the morning of July 5th we got up and drove to Topeka for our visit with them and the rest of the family. We had so much fun and got a lot in during our 5 day stay. On the drive there Carter kept talking about seeing Wyatt and about how excited he was. He had actually even been telling people all about it before we ever left Tulsa. He was pretty pumped about it, telling anyone who would listen, "I get to visit both my grandparents. I have Oma and Opa and Gma and Gpa. I'm going to go spend the night with my Oma and Opa first. Then after a few days I'm going to visit my Gma and Gpa. I'm not even going to go home first, I'm going to go straight from my Oma and Opa's house to my Gma and Gpa's house. At Gma and Gpa's house I get to see my baby cousin Wyatt!" It was so cute. Tuesday night when I discussed with Carter how we would wake up, eat breakfast, and then leave for Gma and Gpa's house he wanted to make sure Gma knew we wouldn't be eating breakfast at her house since she always makes special breakfasts when we visit. It was so cute! So Wednesday morning when we called to let them know we were on our way Carter was sure to tell his Gma that he'd already eaten breakfast.

Elise eating her second breakfast in the car on the way to Gma and Gpa's.

Carter fell asleep for a little bit before Elise woke him up by being loud.

When we arrived at Rocky and Leina's house we saw them sitting outside with Wyatt, waiting on us. The first thing Carter wanted to do was to hold Wyatt. He sat down in a chair and I helped him hold Wyatt in his lap. He was smitten and was so proud to be holding his cousin. He kept bringing him toys and showing him toys to play with as well. It was pretty adorable! Wyatt is pretty hilarious with how he gets around. He doesn't do much traditional crawling, it's a lot of army crawling with some other stuff mixed in. While army crawling he'll randomly get up on his toes and looks like he's doing downward dog. The kids all got quite a kick out of that. Carter liked crawling along beside him and was really into putting toys down so Wyatt would crawl to them. He was just a little quick to pick them up and move them before Wyatt got a chance to get a hold of them because he loved watching Wyatt crawl around so much! Leina found a pair of Cinderella slippers at a garage sale and they were the only shoes Elise wanted to wear after that. Leina also put some stick on earrings on Elise who you could tell just loved them and had a blast showing them off! That evening Papa, Gigi, Uncle Kelly, and Aunt Mary came over for dinner and s'mores. Carter was really proud to walk out with a tray dishing out strawberry lemonade slushes to everyone before dinner. Elise and Carter both got to dig in the dirt in the backyard where they found lots of coins that were buried for them. Elise kept talking about her money!

Gpa and Wyatt waiting for us to arrive.

Carter was super excited to hold Wyatt!

Elise had a blast getting Wyatt's ball for him each time he threw it.

 

Leina with Elise after putting on her stick-on earrings.

Papa watching Carter and Gigi play badmiton with Ty.

Bringing out strawberry lemonade slushes for everyone.

Uncle Paul helping Elise with her marshmallow while Carter, the old pro, does his all by himself.

Papa had a few mishaps before he had a successful attempt.

 

 

Thursday was a lazy day around the house. Ty's Aunt Netta arrived and we enjoyed visiting with her. The kids played a lot outside, especially with sidewalk chalk. Carter and Elise enjoyed watching Leina feed Wyatt some pureed carrots and Carter spent lots of time watching Wyatt sleep on the monitor while he took his morning nap. Leina's parents came for dinner and then Aunt Gena and Uncle Karl came for homemade ice cream after dinner. Paul was in charge of making the ice cream and Carter loved going over to check on him and "help" him with the ice cream. One of my favorite moments of the day was when Ty came to tell me that great grandma was facilitating playtime with all 3 kids on the couch. I went in to watch and it was the cutest thing to see! That evening Elise decided she wanted to help Gma with Wyatt's bath and had so much fun watching Wyatt get his bath.

Jammy time with Gma!

 

 

 

Wyatt likes to chew on carrots with no hands!

 

 

 

 

 

Friday Elise was thrilled when she found me feeding Wyatt. She insisted that she help and I was super impressed with what a great job she did! When she was little and Carter fed her, he had a tendency to put the spoon too far into her mouth, gagging her on occasion. Elise never did that to Wyatt and would even just hold the spoon in front of his mouth so he could lean forward and eat it without her putting it in his mouth. That evening we went to the Friday art walk in North Topeka. Elise insisted on taking her bunny which Kelly and Mary had given her as a present earlier that day. She ended up passing it off and I saw multiple different people holding it throughout the night. The highlight for me was watching Wyatt's response when we walked by a man playing the violin. Wyatt immediately snapped to attention, looking at the man making music and was just so into it. Carter was the same way and even started dancing along to the music. I could've spent the entire time there just watching the kids listen to the music. One day during our trip I made the comment to Wyatt that he needed a baby obstacle course. After that Carter was always putting his legs out for Wyatt to crawl over or standing with his legs spread as a bridge for Wyatt to crawl under. It was adorable!

Elise feeding Wyatt.

Helping Gma do the laundry in the morning.

 

 

Elise with her bunny at the start of the art walk.

 

 

Carter making a bridge for Wyatt.

Saturday the Florida Cox clan had a flight home in the evening. Ty, Leina, and I took Carter and Elise to the library for storytime so Wyatt could have a quiet house for a good morning nap. Their library is amazing and I love it! The librarian told us about a special area set up in the front art gallery which included a rock climbing wall for kids. We checked it out after storytime and were thoroughly impressed! I was really neat. Elise was adorable cheering Carter on as he climbed and then when he came back down she said, "Good job, Carty!" as she clapped. We also got to hear her call Carter by his full name. Every now and then she's started saying, "Carty Ty Coc." It is super cute to hear! Elise was interested in their rotary phone in the basement so they played with it. Leina would call the landline using her cell phone and she and Carter took turns talking to Elise. That evening Ty and I went on a date for our 6th anniversary while Rocky and Leina watched the kids. They set up a tent in the living room and ate and played in it. Ty and I tried out a newish restaurant which was delicious. Then we headed to a coffee shop with live music afterward, stopping off at Grandma and Grandpa Shupe's house beforehand to say hello. Then we went out to the lake so Ty could show me where he hung out with friends back in the day and we could watch the sunset on the lake. It was a wonderful evening!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left Sunday at naptime to head back home. After such a long trip away from home I was excited to be back at our own house. Elise was sad to leave her Gma and kept asking for her that evening. The drive home was uneventful and both kids took nice naps so that was great. Elise was still loving all over the bunny stuffed animal from Mary and Kelly. I can't get enough of her hugging on it! We already look forward to seeing everyone again in a few months!