Apple Days

Every September Fort Riley hosts Apple Days. It takes place on a Saturday from about 9am to 3pm and is open to the public. This was obviously our first year to attend and even though it was really really HOT we all had a good time. They had inflatable bounce houses, slides and one inflatable thing where the kids could hook themselves up to bungee cords and see how far they could pull themselves before snapping back. They also had tons of military stuff out for everyone to look at and get inside. There was even an area where you could shoot military rifles (with blanks of course), but we didn't do that. The line was just too long. You may be wondering why this event is called Apple Days since I haven't mentioned apples yet. Well they sell these amazing apple pies during this event only. Supposedly there is only 1 person who has the full recipe for these pies (the commanding general's wife) and different groups are in charge of making specific parts of the pie and then they are all combined in the end (so no one knows the exact recipe). I have no idea if this is true and we haven't even tried ours yet (we bought a frozen one) but from what I've been told I think we are going to wish we had bought more than 1 :-) Yes they are apparently THAT good. Here are some pictures from that day. I don't remember what all of the military vehicles are so I'll have to come back once Adam is home and have him tell me, yet again, so I can label them all.

Andrew showing off the spider he had painted on his head. Sadly it was soo hot and Andrew was soo sweaty that it didn't last but about 15min before it was wiped off.

Andrew in front of the Kiowa helicopter. The windows were all blacked out because it is apparently top secret stuff so you couldn't look inside.

In the turret of a humvee checking out the gun.

Sweet girl just hanging out. Maybe next year she can get on a few things.

Up in another turret checking out another gun.

Walking up to the M1A1 Abrams tank

Down inside the M1A1

The ammo used in the M1A1 tank

Going into the back of the M2A2 Bradley fighting vehicle

Inside the M2A2

Checking out all the controls and pretending to drive

Coming out the front hatch

Bounce house fun

Little Miss was getting hot and sweaty

Getting hooked up to the bungee cord

Pulling hard

And back he goes

Lets go Royals lets go!!

On Friday night Adam and I took Andrew to his first major league baseball game. I don't know that I would consider either of the teams great (it was the Kansas City Royals vs the Cleveland Indians) but all in all it was a good night. The Indians won 10-4 and Andrew had a great time. We were lucky that our babysitter was willing to drive from Lawrence, KS where she goes to college (Univ of Kansas) to watch Ava for us. That's close to a 2hr drive. Here are some pictures from the game.

Andrew getting his face painted
Gotta show support for the home team

Kauffman Stadium has a great Kid Zone that Andrew got to play in before the game started

They had an area where kids can see how fast they run from home plate to 1st base

Practicing his pitching. They even had a radar to tell you how fast you throw.

In this area kids get several balls pitched to them and then are able to run the bases on a mini field.

Run Forrest Run!!! (Adam swears Andrew runs like Forrest Gump)

Showing off his souvenirs with the stadium behind him.

Andrew and Daddy hanging out before the game.

Me and my little man.

Every time a Royal hits a home run they shoot off fireworks. There were 2 Royal home runs that night.

The view from our seats.

Trying to catch one of the hot dogs that were being thrown to fans in between one of the innings.

He got one!!! Can you tell Andrew was super excited?

After every Friday night home game there is a fireworks display. Andrew loves watching fireworks so this was the perfect ending to a great night.

Of course we had to get a family picture once the game was over. I think this is something we will probably try to do with Andrew every summer. Next year the All-Star game is in Kansas City so we might have to try and get tickets to that game. I know Adam would LOVE it.