Road Trip to Wilson, Kansas for the Annual Czech Festival

This is the 2nd trip to the Wilson Czech Festival. We enjoyed the parade and it was crazy that some horses were at the beginning of the parade and dropped their usual droppings right in front of us. The kids had to deal with the manure and trying to get candy. We didn't move since the street was lined with people. After the parade, there were many pieces of candy too close to the manure for anyone to want them and some in it. I think the horses should "take up the rear "next time, no pun intended.

This is Mik's and Drew's pose for a fun shot at the parade. They usually have atleast one disagreement per hour or so, so here is what that looks like.

Mallory and Trey, on the other hand, have worked through all the brother and sister stuff and enjoy each other!

Dale wasn't sure about putting the bag with Bella in it on his shoulder, but he is the strongest and had no choice! Bella isn't the best with crowds. We trained her a little by making her deal with it until a gun shot went off to start the parade. That pretty well put her in the bag.

Here is a picture of Czechoslovakia before it was divided differently. I don't know all of the history concerning these countries, but I want to learn more. It is interesting to see Prague and the words (Bohemia). Dale always said he was Bohemian. I learned at our recent Mleynek reunion that Great, great Gpa Vaclav (the last a is pronounced with the long a sound) went from the Prague area into Austria, as many Czechs did to leave the country. Many Czechs still live in Austria.

Here is an authentic Czech dress. I missed the authentic man's clothing, but men were dressed in dark pants, white shirt, and a red vest with a lot of decoration sewn on it.

We walked through a Czech flea market that didn't have a lot of authentic things, but I did find this jewlery display of authentic Bohemian jewelry! The owners were really nice and told us they order straight from Prague. The people are based out of Wilber, Nebraska, which is where the National Czech Festival is held each year. It will be next weekend. For more info, www.ci.wilber.ne.us . The name of the store that carries Czech jewelry is Wilber Czech Cottage, 218 W. 3rd St., Wilber, NE 68465.

I got 10% of on this nice cross. Most of the pendants were over $40, but the stones weren't cut so fancy on this, so it ended up being under $20! I was not expecting to get anything, but I couldn't pass this up!

More Catching Up!

Tyler and Lauren weren't able to make it to the Mleynek Reunion. This was because the Mleynek reunion was scheduled the weekend after the 4th of July. I can't remember the last time we drove to Iowa two weekends in a row. It was worth it, though! All of the Mleyneks really wanted to meet Tyler and Lauren and hear of their trip to Czech Republic a few months ago. Something else that was very interesting was that we learned that the name "Lauren" is not new to the Mleynek family. I was hoping to get a picture of our Lauren beside Dale's Dad's firt cousin, Mr. Loren Mleynek! He is the son of Fred Mleynek, Dale's Dad's brother. Another really neat thing about Loren was that he is a strong Christian and prayed the blessing over our evening meal on Saturday night. It was a powerful prayer to the LORD for us all.


Mr. Loren Mleynek


Speaking of Mr. Mleyneks, here is the youngest one in the family right now. I was pretty impressed to see Cooper want a hard- boiled egg! He's a good little eater, and look at those beautiful brown eyes! We found out at the Mleynek reunion that one of the brothers of Donald, Dale's Dad, living in a small town in Iowa called "Cooper"! That really makes Cooper's name even more significant and Derek and Amy didn't even know this before they named him! God gets the glory for this.



Back at home, Dale had put off putting up the pool for the kids until we were home to take care of it. Everyone was excited and helped Dale get it going.

Catching up on the Wichita Mleyneks

Mallory started Eric Fisher Academy to be a cosmetologist this past week. She was chosen by the owner to be the model for a shampoo, cut, and color video. It was a big surprise and free! Mal has been growing her hair out, but I thought now that she is in hair school, that the long hair would be cut soon! She went in saying she would keep her length, but came home with the look in the next picture. I like it. This is the first time I've seen a complete color job look natural.



Amy, my daughter-in-law, has been doing our hair for 9 years now. She is the only hairstylist Mikiah has ever known. Just a couple days ago, Mikiah was begging Amy to cut her hair. Amy told her she should wait since Mallory is starting to cut now, and she could practice on her. I thought that was so sweet of her to think of Mallory. Amy was right! Mallory came home with her new kit with scissors, etc., and couldn't wait to put the penguin cape on Mik and give her a nice trim. She even tapered her hair a little in the front, something she already knew how to do thanks to her years watching Amy do hers!

Derek went on a camping trip with some guys for the week, so Derek, Amy, and Cooper stopped by our house on Friday night to borrow our trailer. We had some fun with Cooper and the toys that Braden has at our house.


I like to get a picture of my sons together some times, since 2 of them don't live at home anymore. We are missing Tyler here, but I couldn't resist when I saw Derek surrounded by his brothers.




This is a funny pic of Braden, our little neighbor/boy. We love this little guy and provide childcare for him. Actually, we just include him in the life we live. Mikiah took this great shot.