Missouri Trip 2006

Lots of great stuff lately! I spent last week at my parents' home in Missouri with my kids. I picked up the girls about 10AM last Tuesday and hit the road. It's become a "thing" so we stopped in KC at a Steak & Shake for lunch. I love this restaurant and try to take my girls when I can. They have grown to love it, too, and with my love and my oldest daughter's love for KC, we try to combine those things. We also spent some time driving in downtown KC. My girls had only seen the skyline from a distance, so it was cool for them to see things up close. We also drove through Crown Center. I just wish I had more time to show them some of the places I frequented in KC and where I lived. In the future we will pick a different part of KC to go through each time.

We arrived at my folks' place just after 5pm. We ended up going to the Montgomery County Fair, which my dad was supposed to ride in for the American Red Cross. While they were getting the parade in order, Mom took us to El Rancharito. Very nice Mexican food and environment. We sat outside to watch the parade. We thought Dad was supposed to be at the front of it, but as more floats passed, we were beginning to wonder where he was. Paige was collecting candy with the occasional help from Brittany. After most of the parade had gone through, Dad came walking up the sidewalk. The van they used for the American Red Cross had made it about 2/3 of the way through the parade and then broke down. They had to push it off the route and start hoofing it the rest of the way. At least they made it through most of the parade. This little town has a huge fair and the parade can last a good 90 minutes or so. We were able to leave not long after Dad arrived.

Wednesday was spent at the St. Louis Zoo. It was very hot out, but we made a route that allowed us to see many of the animals and still stay cool for much of the day. We didn't see any large cats, hyenas, or giraffes, but those animals were probably staying cool, too. We did get quite the entertaining show from a certain puffin that was taking a bath and dancing on the water. He even got close to the edge a few times and splashed us. We got back home about 4:30pm which allowed us to hit most of the zoo while leaving a few places out to hit next time.

My mom made some great meals all week long. We had my favorite meal, meatloaf, on Wednesday evening. We had roast beef au ju for one dinner. We had biscuits and gravy the final morning we were there with other meals including breakfasts of pancakes and sausage and an eggs and bacon day. It's always great having home cooking.

We spent a lot of time swimming in their pool. The girls got a lot of time in doing that and even invited a neighbor girl over to swim with them. We also learned about Sudoku puzzles, which I had never heard of before. The girls made key chains and spent time doing other crafts with their grandma.

We got together for dinner with SB and Patti and her kids on Thursday evening at Denny's in Kingdom City. It's always great seeing friends that you don't see often. We had a corner booth and spent a lot of time visiting and laughing and letting the kids goof off.

Friday morning I took Brittany to Mexico, MO, with me. I used to work at a local grocery and the public library there so I was anxious to see if I knew anyone still working there. We initially stopped at this gorgeous woman's apartment. (Yes, I'm finally seeing someone.) We visited there for about 45 minutes and saw her new, but empty, apartment. She was pretty excited to get this move of hers over with. We then went to the grocery store and ran into two former co-workers there and had a great visit. One of them used to be my boss so we caught up on what a few other people were doing these days, too. I then headed to the library and was able to see three former co-workers there. That was probably my favorite stop as I used to have a lot of fun at that library. It was great catching up and seeing everyone that day.

When Brittany and I returned to my parents, we awaited the arrival of my youngest brother and his wife. When they arrived, we grilled out and then they took us in to the Def Leppard/Journey concert, which you can read about below. It was a great evening of great music.

We took off after breakfast on Saturday and stopped in KC for lunch again. The girls were anxious to get back and so was I. It was a long, exhausting drive, but after such a great trip, it is something we all hope to do again soon. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving where my other brother will join us with his family and it will be a great holiday with all three generations of my family together. It's amazing how much more important family becomes the older we get. I can't wait to see everyone again.