Our trip to Kansas City

We had an enjoyable two days in Kansas City. The kids knew that Dad had reserved a hotel room with a POOL, so they were excited already.

We went to the zoo first, and it was a beautiful day for animal watching. We saw a baby chimpanzee, and some other kind of baby monkey which I cannot recall what kind. Watching the chimps was so great, because they were getting fed and would raise their hands and reach out to the zoo keepers as if to say, "Hey, throw one my way!" The baby chimp was being fought over by other chimps. That was funny. We walked until we couldn't walk any more. As we were walking back to the van, Molly asked if we were going to use the "exercise commitment" at the hotel. We had to laugh about that. She meant "exercise equipment".

We checked in to the hotel, saw the pool, and headed out for dinner. Now, if you know Dennis, you know that he likes food and is also looking for the best "deal". The kids and I had decided Waffle House sounded good, but he wanted to try a buffet at a hotel/casino/shopping complex. We found a place to park, and walked into this large building. We finally found the restaurant he had heard about, and they rang us up--$81 for all of us, including only water to drink! I nudged him and we told them we were sorry, but we had changed our minds. We were leaving the complex, but needed to go up an escalator. Molly has a fear of them and needs help getting on and off. When she got off, the look on her face was priceless! She had very wide eyes, and a smile as she exclaimed, "Whew!" Driving away, we decided we should have just went to Waffle House to begin with. :)

After dinner, we went back to the hotel so the kids could SWIM! (Their favorite part) After swimming, we showered and settled into bed. But before we slept, Dennis had mentioned that he didn't see an ice bucket. One of the kids found it, and Shelden said, "There's no ice in it." Again, laughter. We explained that it doesn't COME with ice in it, we just store some in there. As Molly was about to go to bed, she asked, "Where do the people that work in the hotel sleep?" I'm telling you, this trip was priceless just for the comments alone!

We arose this morning in just enough time to have a LARGE continental breakfast, and then we headed out for Crown Center. The kids got to go to a "What do you want to be?" exhibit where they could go into different "rooms" and pretend to be a mechanic, football player, race car driver, astronaut, chef, doctor, vet, bull rider, portrait artist, beautician, teacher, ...I can't remember if that was all, but it was so COOL! Then we looked around at the different shops (more escalators involved), and took them to Kaleidoscope, which is a place where kids can create art. It was fun. We went to J C Penney Outlet, went out for lunch and came home.

Shelden & Sammy have a birthday party tonight, and tomorrow the kids and I are going to Joplin. It has been a busy few days, but very fun and worth spending time like this together.