Midwest Catholic Family Conference

Our family trip this year was to Witchita, Kansas for the Midwest Catholic Family Conference. It was our 1st trip as a family of 6!

We stopped in Ardmore, OK for dinner at Whataburger:

Then we stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn Express in Oklahoma City. As one friend describes this sort of sleeping arrangement: It was time for family bonding!

This is one of MANY continental breakfasts....ugh....

When we got to Witchita, it was too early for the conference to start, so we took a "field trip" to the Science Museum. The kids had a blast.

My little Highnesses:

We just couldn't tear her away from these puzzles:

Part of the exhibit was dedicated to the history of air travel. Jamie is manning an early model airplane here:

John Paul harvests grain:

As we were leaving, it was hard not to notice the 100+ degree temps that we somehow didn't escape by traveling 7 hours north! We immediately craved our favorite Frozen Yogurt joint back home. Thanks to Smart Phones, we tracked down a nearly identical place called the Orange Leaf about 10 minutes away:

After a short opening to the conference, we got to our hotel and crashed:

The next day the conference was in full swing. John Paul and Gianna shared the Preschool class together. They had a blast! The brothers and sisters ran all of the programs and it was filled with great activities all day long. (Mom and Dad got to enjoy the speakers and vendors without distraction...so nice!)

Each of the kids made a thank you card to give to one of the many priests and religious at the conference. This is Jamie talking to her chosen recipient:

Here's the token souvenir photo:

Yum! We ate at this Souper Salad twice. A great way to feed starving kids a variety of foods and get more bang for your buck!

For being so good, we surprised them with some shirts we couldn't resist buying at the conference.

Another breakfast:

Here's a glance at Jamie's class...lots of kids!

The kids show off some of their crafts and say good-bye to the conference.

We were planning on staying one more night in OKC on the way back, but we instead decided to truck it all the way home. It was a great weekend (even though it was no escape from the heat and our van's battery died and had to be replaced). We are already looking forward to going again in the future, probably when Josie is old enough to attend the children's activities. Maybe some of you will join us!