Our good friends Dori and Tom made the trip out to Kansas to visit for a long weekend back in May and we filled up the time to the max! Here is how the visit went...
First Luke and I made sure there were brownies on hand about a day before they arrived.
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Then on Friday we went to Wichita to pick up our friends from the airport only to discover that their flight had been delayed a little more than an hour. We had a very hungry Luke on hand so we decided to go ahead and eat lunch and then if we needed too we could always grab burgers for Tom and Dori after they arrived. We had been planning on taking them to a place called Nu Way that is local and fixes crumbly burgers and makes their own Root Beer. We liked the Root Beer but decided that crumbly was not better the way the commercial described. At least we can now say we have been there.
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Tom and Dori did eventually make it to the airport and since it is VERY small they had no trouble finding us. They had already eaten so we decided to head straight to the Sedgwick County Zoo, which is one of the best in my opinion, and very impressive indeed when you consider where it is located!
Immediately after getting to the zoo Dori had a work phone call... We had to tease just a little bit!
We went through the African animals first, just a little too late for the elephant training, but it was fun to see the baby giraffes.
African hunting dog below, I usually can't find them so it was kind of cool to see it so easily this time.
Lion exhibit, Luke was more excited about running through the tunnels and around the rocks than he was about the Lions.
The lions were right next to the glass just lounging around. In below pic it looks as if there is no glass and Dori is getting really up close!
Wart hog, Luke kept saying, "Pig! Oink!"
Tapir...
At the Gorilla Exhibit....
Yes, Greg was there too!
Luke and Tom were fast friends, very cool!
Dori takes another call, this time from her mom about Tom and Dori's wedding coming up shortly!
Above Gorilla was picking bugs off his chest and eating them. Greg took a video of this which Luke loves to watch all the while exclaiming, "Bugs! Eat!!!" over and over again!
Tigers!
We also went through the North American area but by the time we hit the otters Luke was sound asleep.
We then took our sleeping boy through the Jungle where he woke up, and Tom and Dori also looked through the reptile house as well. A very full zoo trip, especially for just having gotten off a plane!
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After the zoo we went to a BBQ place at Tom and Dori's request, again Greg and I had never been but it turned out to be really good food for very little money and we all ate our fill and had plenty left over. After supper we headed back to our house, and after a tour Greg and Tom fell into a discussion that was not at all interesting to Dori, Luke and I so we went over to the church playground to have our own discussion and let Luke play a bit. When we got back we decided we were all exhausted, so Luke went to bed and the rest of us took a 2 hour nap. Then Dori and I roused ourselves enough to go pick up Drubber's Doughnuts to bring back to our men to enjoy. I think after that we were all pretty much ready to call it a night for real.
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Saturday Tom and Dori woke up bright and early and went for a walk while I slept in later than I intended. They saw our pretty little down town and then when Dori got back she joined me in a little shopping at one of my favorite local shops. We kept it speedy and rushed home for lunch made by Greg, pork chops and mashed potatoes, which were delicious!
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After lunch we packed up and headed out to my parent's farm. We had plans for the afternoon that we didn't think Luke would enjoy so my parents had agreed to keep him until late evening. Tom and Dori were also interested in seeing my parent's farm, Tom is interested in everything I think, and so we walked around, got to pet a two or three day old piglet, looked at my mom's garden, etc, and Tom and my Dad talked about raising pork free range, no antibiotics, no hot shots style. When we left there we decided to drop in on my Regier Grandparents who were actually on our way anyway. My Grandpa rebuilds old tractors and cars and since Tom is also interested in things like that we asked Grandpa to show us around his shop a bit.
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Eventually we made it back on the road, it was really good showing them things that I grew up around, introducing them to people who were important to me. I have met Dori's mom and grandma and some of her aunts, so it was nice to get to introduce her to some of my family. We had a nice long drive out to Hutchinson and long drives are great for talking. Tom and Dori were really troupers because we only had our old car with no AC and they never complained, even when Dori and I were scrunched up in the back with Luke and his car seat!
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Hutch is home to a really great Air and Space museum that happens to house a lot of Apollo 13 artifacts, pretty cool. Tom's main interest in models, etc. seems to be air and space so this was also one of their requested stops during their stay.
You could really stay there all day, but we only had the afternoon so eventually we headed back to Newton for a late supper at our one and only nice restaurant, Reba's! We all had really delicious food there and spent a while just enjoying each other before heading out. Next stop was Braum's a Midwest dairy store that includes a fast food restaurant and specializes in ice cream. (at least as good as Schwan's if not better). They raise all their own cattle and dairy cows, no hormones in the milk like the stuff you might get from most places, and it tastes better because they concentrate it a little, so even the skim doesn't taste like cloudy water. One more check on the list of things you have to do when you come to Newton.
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On our way out to pick up Luke we drove through Bethel College campus a little (Mennonite school in Newton, not the one in Indiana). Then we got Luke and headed home. I think we spent the evening talking and just enjoying each other, maybe watched a movie a bit.
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Sunday I went to Church with Luke while everyone else slept in, probably a good thing because we had been going pretty hard so far. When we got back Tom and Dori had gone for a walk, they were going to come to the church service but had woken up too late. Greg ordered cheese fries from Charlie's, a local truck stop that we frequented while in college at Hesston, and Greg also grilled some pork burgers for lunch.
Luke wants to be like mommy!
We were pretty relaxed all afternoon except that the boys had a little cooking adventure as Tom had agreed to make fried rice for us and Greg tried to help. They ended up having to run to the store but everything turned out amazing and Tom can now boast that he fed spam fried rice to pig farmers and got away with it. My parents and brothers came to eat with us and stayed to play games all evening. I wish I had gotten a picture of the feast!
Monday Luke and I drove Tom and Dori to the airport and said good-bye for now. Their wedding is in just a few weeks so we will see them again really soon. Of course we wish we could be close by all the time, but for now we will have to make due with visits. Tom is already planning their next trip and I heard him talking about buying the house across from the Space museum! We had a really great time showing you guys around some of our favorite things but best of all was all the time we got to spend just catching up and hanging out together. We miss you!!!
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