Thursday, March 23, 2017

Spring Break 2017: Kansas City

We made the trip to Kansas  City last week for Spring Break.  We had a great time exploring - it's such a kid friendly city!

We left Tuesday morning and stopped in Columbia for lunch at Shakespeare's Pizza.

What? You don't wear goggles for a road trip?




We arrived in KC, got settled in our hotel and went to dinner at the T-Rex café.  The kids thought it was pretty great and each came home with some new dinosaur toys.






















It took the kids a while to settle down and go to sleep that night.  They were all in one room and couldn't stop talking and giggling!  Jason and I slept on the pull out couch in the living area.  It's been a long time since I've slept on a pull out couch - they are not comfortable at all!
Wednesday we spent most of the day at Crown Center.  There is so much to do there! 

LEGOLAND was a hit with everyone! SO many legos!





"I made a cake!"

Jason was in heaven.











We took a break for a snack and some hugs


These scenes from The Wizzard of Oz were made entirely of little Legos!




Jason and Peyton went on this ride.  As you pedaled your seat went higher and higher.  They were the only ones on it and you could hear Peyton's screams through the whole place!

Next door to LEGOLAND is the Sealife Aquarium.  It's a small aquarium and maybe not as impressive as some larger ones but we really enjoyed it. 






























We had lunch at the Crayola Café.

After some relaxing back at the hotel we went to dinner at a restaurant in the Power and Light district.  After eating at mostly kid themed restaurants, Jason and I really enjoyed a delicious meal of "grown up" food (and drinks)!


After dinner we took the kids swimming at the hotel pool.  They LOVED it!  And they all went right to sleep that night!

Thursday we decided to go to the KC zoo.  A friend of ours who lives in Kansas City highly recommended it and hooked us up with free tickets and a special tour.  We were very impressed!  It's a huge zoo with lots to see and do. 

The highlight was the behind the scenes tour we got of the penguin exhibit!  It was amazing to be up close with the penguins and touch them! 







As soon as the door opened and we walked up this ramp all of the King penguins came rushing at us.  Apparently they know that when that door opens they get to go for a walk around the zoo.  It was incredible to be rushed by a dozen penguins that were almost as big as Charlie!  They stood by the door honking the entire time we were in there!









The goat exhibit is brand new and was really cute!
This was the biggest goat I have ever seen!  He was also super greedy!



The kids loved playing on the playground and riding the carousel














Peyton made a point to get a picture at every one of these displays that we passed.

The kangaroo exhibit was open air.  Meaning there was no fence between us and them.  It was really neat.

Charlie with Buddha.  This one's for you Grandpa :) 



This orangutan was hiding under a blanket.  All we could see was his eyes. 






After a long day at the zoo we went back to the hotel to rest before meeting our friend, Katie for some yummy barbeque at Q39.


Friday morning we packed up and then hit a couple of more stops before heading home.

We went back to Crown Center to explore Kaleidoscope, a kind of arts and crafts place sponsored by Hallmark.  I knew it was something Peyton would really enjoy.  It was a really fun little place!

















Our final stop before hitting the road was the donut shop.  They had a make your own mini donut option!  Can you tell who made most of the choices?  Talk about sugar overload!


The car ride home got a little long for our littlest traveler but all in all it was a great trip.  It's a lot of work to travel with young kids but well worth it to see them experience new things and new places.  And bonus that at this age they are very easy to impress!



Monday, January 23, 2017

Nora: 18 Months

At 18 months Nora:

  • Is talking more and more.  I would guess she has over 25 words and is adding more all the time.  She is putting together 2 word phrases.  The other day she said "Yeah, Mama!"
  • Likes to play with her baby dolls
  • Had her first haircut
  • Loves to play with Peyton and Charlie.  She goes where they go and most of the time they are good about including her.
  • Likes to play outside and go bye bye.
  • Loves to be silly with Charlie. They are two peas in a pod!
  • Is starting to be very opinionated.  She has been picking her clothes out lately.  When I tell her it's time to get dressed she will go to her closet and pick a shirt and then go to her drawer and get pants.  I'm pretty impressed with her choices most days!  Also, "No", "Mine", and "Yeah" are some of her most used words.
  • Is a pretty good eater although if she had her way she would eat bars for every meal and snack.  She's also on a big peanut butter kick right now and loves chocolate chips.
  • Is very fond of her cousin, Aiden.  She calls him "YaYa" and gets so excited when we see him.  Even though they are only 3 months apart she is like a little Mother Hen with him.  She followed him around for a good 10 minutes last time he was here helping him drink out of his water bottle.  It was too cute!
  • Has perfected her pouty duck face and makes it anytime she doesn't get her way.
  • Is our sweet and sassy little lady!  I can't believe how quickly she is growing!












One of her outfit choices!

Sweet and Sassy!


Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Ice storm 2017

We stayed in most of the weekend due to the ice storm. The kids needed to burn some energy so we set up an obstacle course in the basement. The kids enjoyed it and Jason and I even did a run which was quite a sight.