The First Day of School...at THREE Schools

New school year, here we come!

Jackson is off to Lee's Summit North High School.

Mom and Dad can't believe

they have a Freshman

Just two guys,

waiting for a bus

It's just Beck and I left at Highland Park

(This is the 10th year there's been a Reed here!)

Beckett, all ready for 4th grade

in Mrs. Harmon's class

Me, a 2nd grader in Mr. McVay's class

For posterity--

it's been a dramatic morning.

For some reason, I can't wear dirty, stained shorts

on the first day (or any day) of school

Just 2 Huskies,

ready for the year!

Don't worry--

once I got to school

with all my Thunderchicken teammates,

things were alright.

And the last to roll out in the morning:

Weston, strolling into 7th grade

at the brand new East Trails Middle School

Weird to loose these two kids

from the HPE bus

They're on the middle school bus

and banned parents from getting any closer

than this to the bus stop

But other parents got closer!

Just to be sure the middle schoolers knew how much they were loved

AND be sure they were embarrassed as possible,

after waiting for the kids to climb on the bus,

all the parents (now 20+ strong) broke out in waves

and cheers and shouts of "I love you!" and

"Make a new friend!" and "Have a great day!"

Yep.

Gonna be a crazy but great school year.

 

Lots of Firsts

Jackson started middle school during Covid,

so he had to miss out on a lot of milestone events.

But 2 years later,

we all got caught up!

Today was Transition Day for 7th graders

(when we ride the bus, walk through our classes,

and meet our teachers)

It was also Transition Day for Freshman--

Jackson didn't miss out on this one!

Another big First--

my flag football team

decided to tryout for the middle school team...

tackle football, here I come!

All these firsts,

you know what that means...

Thanks for reminding us, Beck

 

Wrapping up summer

The last few weeks of summer 

were packed full of fun.

Tuck and I went to Zoo Camp for the first time

(with my BFF Colby)

We got to help break in Austin and Kayla's new backyard pool

I went to Art Camp.

And we tried out a new brewery

Dad spotted while driving me to Art Camp

It was a rainy night,

but it was fun sitting under the tent,

playing games and drinking beer/rootbeer

Man! 

Summer FLEW by!

 

Uuuuuuuuugh

When your soccer socks come

and you don't like what your parents' picked out:

#thunderchickens

#doesntwanttowearthechickensocks

#theparentsthinktheyareawesome

#itshardtobeseven

 

Squeezing it all in

While Mom and Dad had to had back to KC today,

Mema and Pappo "happily" agreed to "watch us" at the lake.

However, this quickly turned in to 

discussions of payment for babysitting/"shore excursions."

Despite being fully potty trained,

packing our own lunches,

and carrying our own bags,

Mom and Dad still took a beating

over leaving us behind.

We did our best to earn our keep.

We ate lunch over the side of the boat

so we left no crumbs.

We entertained our cousins

by teaching him to evacuate the ship

Let's go, Coop!

I think it all turned out ok.

Mom and Dad haven't paid up yet though.

They did get back in time

to enjoy an evening swim

and some chill time with the Klusmeyers

It was hard to tear ourselves away from this gorgeous evening

so we did some boating

I'm getting better at driving

maybe soon Dad can really just relax

and enjoy the view

In addition to lot of lake time to make up, 

we need to catch up on Father's Day.

We gathered for Joe with Pappo on the deck

because we had to give him his overdue shirt!

(but apparently forgot to take a picture of the front...)

Lots of craziness this weekend!

It was a good time!

The Faces of Jack...reprise

Back in 2015, Mom blogged about me when

she found these pictures of me on her phone:

Good to know 

some things never change:

Hey Mom--

Don't leave your phone unattended.

(And thanks for the braces.

I guess I'm ok with you "changing me")

A long time coming

We finally made it back to the cabin

(it's been a busy summer!)

and after all the chores and clean up,

we got a chance to relax

and ride 4 wheelers

and play around.

But the best part about this weekend

is that our friends the Heinz's

(who Mom and Dad have known for nearly 25 years)

FINALLY made it down to the Cabin

We spent the day lounging and wrestling

swimming and exploring

and, of course, tubing

I, of course, needed to show off a bit

All this AND a trip to the 

"best Mexican restaurant in Osceola?"

I'm sure this won't be the last visit!

The Triumphant Return to Worlds of Fun

It's been 3 years since we've made our annual WOF trip

and we were SO excited to be back!

The upside to being away for so long

is that we are all much taller than last time we were here

which means LOTS of roller coaster this year!

We ALL rode the Boomerang

and the Prowler.

But turns out, Tucker's stomach isn't up for roller coasters yet.

He threw up after the second coaster.

He recovered with Dad and Jack

while I hopped back on with Mom and Wes

(see him in the back?)

I was hooked.

I'll ride anything, anytime, anywhere.

But...

there's something about Snoopy World

that always draws me in.

We rode everything there too,

including the little boats.

The day was PERFECT--

it was supposed to be blasting hot

and then they thought it was going to rain.

That seemed to keep everyone home.

But it ended up being warm and cloudy

and we had the park to ourselves.

We spent most of the day in Worlds of Fun,

riding everything multiple times.

Check this out--

even Jack hopped on some coasters!

Tucker braved the Mamba,

but threw up.

He decided to stick to wheels that were a bit slower.

In the late afternoon,

we headed to Oceans of Fun

and rode EVERY slide, 

rode the waves in the wave pool

and even begrudgingly wore life jackets

in the activity pool

so that we could say we did it all in OOF.

You'd think that would be enough for one day,

but you clearly don't know the Reeds (and Mema).

When Oceans of Fun closed,

we headed back to Worlds of Fun 

for a few more rides...and some pretzel bites.

We headed to the taxies

for a jaunty drive through the country

(and got to see a family of skunks that are 

apparently living in the park!)

We rode the Viking Voyager

but broke with tradition and finished the night

with multiple rides on one of Mama's favorites,

the Sea Dragon

We got into a yelling contest on our last ride,

trying to see which side could be the loudest.

Not sure who won.

We tried to top of the night with WAFFLE HOUSE

(delicious, right?)

but when they were only serving take out,

we had to settle for Taco Bell

so that we could sit in a booth

and take a load off to debrief the day.

It. Was. Awesome.

Gate opening to gate closing.

Making up for lost time.