Lawrence, Kansas

We made two trips this summer -- both by mini-van -- the westward venture was to Kansas to see aunts, uncles, and cousins on Chad's side of the family in Lawrence followed by a wonderful drive through the Flint Hills to family friends in Wichita.  Our eastward trek followed a week later to see family and friends in Pittsburgh and aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, and a grandma in coal-mining country, Cambria County, PA.

Here, I'll share the pics from Lawrence  .  .  .  While we enjoyed our drive through the KU campus, we spent our time with family .  .  .  Above is Chad's cousin, Marcy, standing at the far right, and her son, Alex seated at the far right.  (Her husband, Doug, was unable to take off from work.)  Anna and Jameson found it interesting that Alex, too, came home to his family by way of adoption (from Russia).

 Below are Chad and Marcy with Chad's aunt and uncle (Marcy's parents), Shelby and Gene. 

(Marcy's brother, Kyle, and his wife, Korri, live in Texas.)  I always find it remarkable how much Chad resembles his Uncle Gene (Chad's mom's brother).

 

Here's Bay just moments before the "squirrel incident."  Notice her looking upward in a concerned fashion?  Welllll, right after I snapped this shot, one of the two squirrels that had been playing tag up above fell off (yes, that's right, actually fell off) the top of the swingset, somehow missed clobbering Bay by a micrometer, and landed on the ground just to the left of her swing.  Need-less-to-say, I was cackling heartily; Bay, not so much.

 

"Mom, I don't want to be second cousins; can we be 'real' cousins?" asked (who else?) Bay.

 

 

Alex may be hiding from this proposition.

 

We also spent a bit of time exploring the shops downtown -- some fabulous boutiques.  My favs were side-by-side stores, one of which featured British goods and the other French treats -- soooo wonderful!  After reading this summer in my grad class about 1960s Lawrence, it was interesting to encounter three different groups asking for signatures on petitions or "spreading peace and love." 

All kinds of fun to be had!