Our Kansas Trip

The drive down felt faster than we all thought it was going to. Maybe it was the anticipation of meeting new cousins, knowing we'd be staying in a hotel with a pool and/or seeing the roadside sights. My favorite part of the drive was the southwest corner of Wisconsin. Of course I could be biased, but it just seemed so beautiful to me with the rolling hills and farmland mixed. In an alternative universe, I'm a farm girl.

We stopped for lunch in Des Moines. The service was a great disappointment, but the food was okay. She got our order wrong, blamed me, and then ended up charging us double. It ended up being too long of a lunch stop.

Missouri wasn't all that exciting to drive through. Most of the land seemed to be pasture, only we didn't see any grazing cows. I wondered why there weren't more corn fields.

Kansas City proved to be a little bit of a challenge navigating, but my parents had loaned us their GPS and that helped.

After checking in to our hotel, we headed over to Aunt J & Uncle T's. They have a beautiful home and it was wonderful to meet most of our family waiting for us.

Friday morning began with a swim in the pool,  while I raided the complimentary breakfast and served my family poolside. They had the coolest waffle iron that made cute little waffles, instead of one big one.

After breakfast, we did a little shopping at the Legends Mall. Its a newer shopping center built with a historical theme. You can walk the outdoor mall and learn about historical Kansas figures and a little Kansas trivia. We found a few new stores, but most were chains we were already familiar with. We did drop a few bucks at Books A Million.

After lunch we headed over to Aunt J & Uncle T's. I was asked to bake cookies for our picnic so I made walnut bars and chocolate peanut butter cookies. The rest of the Kansas cousins arrived and we all enjoyed pizza and visiting on the patio.

Our Aunt and Uncle have such a nice yard for entertaining. DS14 showed the younger cousins how to operate his video camera and they had fun making monster movies, running around the backyard. I can't wait to see the footage.

We headed back to the hotel for a late swim and brought G-Ma with us to stay over in our hotel room.

Saturday was the big picnic day. We all headed out to a park where Uncle T and Aunt J had rented a shelter and set up a grand barbecue. We played cards, chess, badminton, horseshoes, and flung chickens. We rested in the shade on blankets under the trees while watching the young ones run through the sprinkler. It was a perfect summer picnic day.

Saturday evening we gathered once again with family back at Uncle T & Aunt J's and ate leftovers.

DH, DS11 and DH's cousin went to a late night movie, Predators. DS14, G-Ma and I rested in the hotel room.

Sunday morning we said our goodbyes and after the thunderstorm, we headed back out on the road home. We really hope to be able to return to Kansas City soon. Its a shame we all live so far apart from one another.

We stopped at a 7-11 in Missouri for Slurpees. We don't have 7-11's in Wisconsin so it was suppose to be a treat getting Slurpees on the road. Unfortunately, I chose a Crystal Light Mango Peach flavor. I had thought, cool, a sugar free Slurpee! I ended up drinking half of it and suffering stomach cramps the rest of the ride home. I am done with artificial sweeteners and colors. I'm planning on avoiding soda altogether as well.

Monday I felt a little better stomach wise, but my cold was still lingering. I had very little energy, but my parents were here for a visit so I took them to Costco so they could load up on tuna. We made a spaghetti supper and invited over my sister's family to help us eat it. Needless to say, I got very little unpacking done, but it was nice to visit with family.

I'm sure it will take me the rest of the week to feel normal again. With all the time in the car, all the visiting, all the eating, fighting off a cold, I'm spent.