Royals Rally

This season marks the first time in 29 years that the Royals have made it to post-season play. KC is pretty excited about it. I saw on facebook that a rally was being held on the plaza for the Royals. It was done during the morning commute from 7:30am-9am. Allison gets up early so I decided that we'd attend.

I don't like doing things on my own because Allison doesn't really enjoy it/has no idea what's going on and it's tough packing everything up and going on my own but I really wanted to see what was going on.

We didn't have any Royals clothes but we each had some blue to wear so we fit in. The JC Nichols fountain on the plaza was dyed blue and there were hundreds of people there! There was Slugger (the mascot) a drum line, the KC Crew (pretty young girls who hand out t-shirts and hats) and a lot of police and firemen.

We stayed for an hour and enjoyed the performances, the men on stilts, and the crowd singing to rousing songs, and general people watching.

 

 

Family Pictures

Today started on a sad note as JM resigned as lead pastor of Wornall Road. We knew it was coming but I was still emotional about it. Thankfully, JM and Jill aren't moving out of the area and they will stay members at Wornall. JM has taken a job with the North American Mission Board for church planting. Church planting is JM's specialty and it's a surprise that he's stayed as lead pastor for so long (but we're grateful he did!). When I think about JM resigning, I think about my family doctor, Dr. Hofhuis. He's been in our home town for decades- he lives and works there and sometimes I think that he must feel trapped because so many people depend on him. It would be hard not to live your life for others- especially when you have such an important role in people's lives.

I'm glad JM is moving on and doing what he loves.

We take our monthly (funny) family pictures but today we all looked so good after church that I wanted to take a few pictures in the backyard. I put Allison in a dress because she was covered in stains by the time we brought her home (she gets into everything). She wasn't in the mood to take pictures so once we got a few nice ones we packed it up.

We didn't have our Sunday night gospel community group meeting tonight, but we still went over to Danny and Katie's. I made a caramel apple pie and we enjoyed a couple of hours of visiting until Allison let us know she was ready for bed.

Tonight a new tenant moved into the back house. It's a nurse from St. Louis and I'm looking forward to meeting her in person tomorrow.

American Royal

Nathan has the weekend off but we didn't make any big plans. We got up this morning and tried to agree on something to get us out of the house but nothing sounded good. We went on the visitKC website and saw that the American Royal Parade was on at 10am and immediately we knew that's what we wanted to do

The Royal is an annual event that brings in BBQ, 4H, rodeos, and everything in between. It's a hugely popular event (but we've never gone). We managed to get downtown just as the parade was starting.

 

 

 

 

 

After the parade we were starting to get hungry so we went a few blocks away to Danny Edward's BBQ. DE is a small restaurant in an industrial section of town (right next to the railroad tracks). Nathan wanted to go for his birthday but it never worked out so I'm glad we were able to go. I'd never been before but it was delicious. It was a little spicy (which I liked) and I had the pulled pork sandwich while Nathan had the burnt end sandwich. We sat outside because it was a gorgeous day - 28 degrees with a slight breeze.
Allison doesn't like meat but she loved the pulled pork!

 

 

Swing

Allison has needed a lot of attention since my parents left and Nathan finished his holidays. When I don't give her my attention- she finds other ways to get it- like pulling all the toilet paper off the rolls, pulling all the tupperware and pots and pans out of the cupboards, and screaming.

Nathan got home earlier than usual (5pm) so we decided to have an early dinner and then take Allison to the park to tire her out.

 I put Allison in a swing a few months ago but she didn't like it at all, then a couple of weeks ago we were at our friend's, the Henke's, and Nathan put her in a swing and she loved it! We're really thankful to have several parks with good, clean equipment within a few blocks of our house.

Messy Moms

April hosted Mom Group at her place this week and she had some great activities planned. She filled a kiddie pool with cloud dough and everyone(9especially her son, Griffin, loved to play in it). Cloud dough is the new "it product" for Moms- it's flour and vegetable oil (or baby oil) and it makes a mold-able sand-like texture that's fun to play with.

The kids also had fingerpaints (Allison just wanted to sit in the paint), exploding sidewalk chalk, and my favourtie- fizzy bottle rockets. April mixed hyrodgogen peroiide with yeast in a waterbottle and after shaking them- they exploded. Only April was affected by the colorful foam explosion.

Allison had a great time getting really dirty. April let us know the play plan ahead of time so I dressed Allison is old, stained clothes and let her get filthy. Half way through the party she noticed that April's neighbor was doing some gardening in their shared driveway and that the hose was leaking. Allison plopped herself by the leak and had a great time squishing around in the mud.

 

 

 

End of Vacation

Today was Nathan's last day of holidays. I know Allison will miss having a buddy to build her Duplo with, and I'll miss the help Nathan has given me this past week.

We wanted to have a simple day before Nathan headed back to the hospital but it wasn't to be.
It started at 7:30am when JM (pastor) posted to Facebook that he was hoping someone could bring a birthday cake to church for Bill, a member who lives alone. Bill is very sweet and was celebrating his 69th birthday. I looked at the pantry and decided I could whip one up (since everyone else was still in bed).

It was really easy (I used a store bought mix for the cake) and while it was cooling I got ready for church. I haven't written on a cake in a long time - my hands were shaking- but for 2 hours from box to plate - it was worth it. Bill loved and and we all sang Happy Birthday after church.

After church and before the birthday party, the church held a baptism for two young ladies. I felt bad for the poor girls because the water was freezing! They handled it well and it was a big success!

 

After church we headed to the Nelson Atkins Museum. The museum is gorgeous and completely free! It's one of Kansas City's best features. Today marked the opening of The Plains Indian exhibit and to celebrate the museum put several teepee on their grounds.

The museum also had events like dancers, singers, storytellers and demonstrations of traditional crafts and dress. I love to watch cultural dancers and I was very impressed by the demonstration.

 

 

   

After the museum we headed home to give Allison a nap and have a snack before we headed out to our gospel community group. Allison was still pretty sleepy so she was grumpy at our meeting but Nathan and I took turns handling her.

Although it was a busy day, it was a great way to end relaxing vacation.