Caleb, Emily, Phineas and Silas hopped in a station wagon and headed west for a week of family fun.  They stayed in Newton for half the week (where we joined them for a day) then spent the rest of the time hanging out with us in KC.  It’s a lot of kids packed in, but we all had an exhausting blast.

Seven guys from FBC piled into a rented white, fifteen-passenger van and drove north to Duluth for the 35th annual Grandma’s Marathon. This is their story:

Friends from England, on their year-long tour of the world, stopped into Gardner for a few days. As we do with everyone that comes into town, we threw them a party. In return they graced us with a wonderful little Beatles concert!

Their journey over the past year is a fascinating one. You can find out more at beatnikbeatles.com.

What a great weekend at Richera!  For those outside of the Cooper family, “Richera” is the family farm named for Kate’s great-grandparents, “Richards” and Vera, located in the fertile plains west of Wichita.

We arrived Friday night in time to watch the sunset and climb fences. Saturday we woke to breakfast by the lake and a chilly dip in the inflatable pool. We fed our pet cow “Number 61″ apples, toured the land in the golf cart (adorned with fake sunflowers – a Mumsie original), went on a treasure hunt in the Quonset hut (rescuing a beautiful antique sewing machine for Kate), canoed the pond, and roasted brats on the fire. As you can see, for Blake and Henry clothing was optional.