Vacation: Hays: Day 2

Our second day was actually our first full day in Hays. After our hotel breakfast, we hit downtown to walk around and grab lunch. We visited a baby boutique that was kind of cute, but ridiculously priced for what I didn't think was very cute clothes. Oh well, we still managed to walk out of there with a first year baby calendar. So score one for baby boy!

We looked in another store, but seeing that it was 11 am and the girls were whining, we decided to stop for lunch. There was an old time soda fountain place right where we were walking. So we dined there for lunch. I'll say the fountain vanilla cokes were totally worth every minute we spent there, the food was less than stellar. But honestly, that was the only bad food we had the entire trip-- that would be one out of eight meals! Sweet Bug loved sitting up on the bar stool!

Okay, actually they all did. And Scrunchie did join in the bar stool fun, but for safety reasons I took her down to take pictures. That's how we roll when mom is flying solo!

Some of the girls needed a little rest, but the older ones were claiming they didn't. So to make everybody happy, we took a little side trip to a nearby (even smaller) small town. My dad grew up in Wakeeny, Kansas, and upon his death, he returned to that town. As I told the girls, this is where he is "buried." I had a hard time finding the words to describe what cremation means. So we stuck with "buried." Anyway, for whatever reason, the girls thought it was very exciting to visit this town and "burial" site.

My dad served in Vietnam, so he had the option to have his final resting place be here. Though he died during my pregnancy with Peach and never knew of her existence (or any that followed, obviously), all of my kids wanted to visit this site and pose in front of it.They're sweet kids, really!

After all that posing, we kind of goofed around to lighten the mood. I have a couple of sensitive kiddos, so I thought taking silly pictures was in order to distract them from some topics they aren't ready to discuss yet.

And we posed more!

My mom bought each of the older four a disposable camera. Growing up in the digital age, my kids had no idea how this gadget worked. The older two eventually got it, my Bug totally took all but a few pictures this day, and poor Boushka couldn't get the winder to work--she's too tiny (GRIN)! Nonetheless, having their own camera was so fun for them. I'm all about letting them have ownership in good and not so good events--I really prefer the good/fun ones!

Aren't they adorable? It's so hard to get a picture of them all smiling--at least, a posed picture! But I'll take it what I can get--because they're totally cute to me no matter what!

She doesn't know what a salute is, but this kind of looks like she does. Really though, Brownie is just keeping the sun out of her eyes as she looks at the wall.

And these items have a fun little story. I don't know much about my dad's childhood. I only spent a handful of summers and weekends with him over a span of seven years or so. I know even less of his parents. So being in his boyhood town, I decided to try to find out more. I ended up stopping at an antique store on main street. There was a sweet 80 year old lady in there working. It was very crowded with stuff, my five kids, my belly and all the sweat we were producing since there was a mere fan blowing nearby--no AC! Kids were pulling on my legs complaining of needing to potty and how hot they were. But for a few minutes, I was able to talk to her about my family. I asked her if she'd lived in town for long--she said "since '65." So I asked her if she knew where the old John Deer store used to be. She said "Oh the one owned by _________________(insert my g'parents' names here). I said "yes, they were my grandparents." "Oh, yes," she said, "I remember," and then she proceeded to tell me where it was. She even continued with some fun stories about the old days--probably about 40 or so years ago.

By this point the needs of the girls were overwhelming, and my new friend could tell we needed a potty. So she showed us to the next door True Value where we were able to take care of business. But I really wanted to look around her store, so we ventured back over there to take a peek once we were done. Upon my entering the store, she said that as soon as we left earlier, it donned on her where my dad actually grew up. She proceeded to tell me all those details--and really it was like a block and a half away from her store. And I decided I'd drive by there after I browsed through old stuff.

I walked through her store and found the items above-- an old Pepsi crate and a craft container (that the lady guessed to be from the 1940's). She gave each of them to me for $10. I was taken aback with her sweetness and kind offer. I took her up on the deal and left her store with those treasures.

I then drove past my dad's childhood home and the store where his parents worked. It was a little surreal to think about all things I never had a chance to ask any of the three of them before they passed, and then to happen upon a kind woman who, as she says, was pretty good friends with my grandparents. She filled in some blanks that I never even knew were there, quite honestly. I love it when life works out these little details.

After our tour, I stopped and got the girls an ice cream to enjoy for the ride home. We met up with Dad shortly after arriving back at the hotel, and we all went out to eat at a local pizza restaurant. There were only a couple tables, and we were the only customers in there--but tons of people came in to pick up pizza while we were there. Not being locals, we obviously didn't understand the small space available to stuff your face with pizza. But I'm glad we were the only ones there because we had one tired Boushka on our hands. She didn't nap in the car at all this day like I thought she would, so she was all ready to throw a great fit once we sat down to dinner.

Matt had to take her out of the restaurant because she was screaming so loud. Everytime a customer opened the door to come in and pick up their pizza, I could hear her scream. Several minutes passed--probably about 20 or 25--and then suddenly we heard a train. We were across the street from the tracks that run through town. Then all of a sudden, in walks a calmer Boushka and a Daddy through the door. Apparently, the train mesmerized her enough to bring her out of her fit trance. So, right after we got our pizza those two were able to join us for the remainder of dinner. And I think this was the one and only night we skipped swimming--or maybe a couple kids and I skipped. There were just too many tired kids to have that much fun!