Kansas City Temple

 

This temple was dedicated in 2012 so it's really new. I don't know if you can see the flag in the background, but the wind was blowing pretty good.

Because the hotel room had a fridge we brought food with us on the trip. In fact we only had to go out to eat once. It was nice to enjoy a picnic on the temple grounds. There were plenty of grassy spots beyond the parking lot.

I always wanted to 'sepia' a photo. I think it looks pretty cool.

The Hotel

The hotel we stayed at was great. It had free breakfast and dinner (wasn't the best food ever, but free is good). It also had a fun pool that was half inside and half outside. We swam two of the days we were there and the kids loved it. The Chief has to skip the pool because of the chlorine and his poor skin, but he enjoyed watching his crazy sisters.

She is soooo excited to go swimming. It's still too cold on June 8th to go swimming outdoors here.

While Lizard swam Little Bird would jump into my arms (her daddy's on the other day) and splash around. She likes blowing bubbles and going under water for a second. Her cousin's in Arizona can swim at 6 months, but she hasn't has a lot of chances to get in a pool. :)

Would you just look at that face!

He's still bald. Looks like there's no going back.

Kansas City, Missouri (and Kansas City, Kansas)

Our first stop in Kansas City, MO was the Hallmark center for a free Curious George exhibit that was on loan from a kid's museum. Then walked from the Hallmark Center (through floating covered walkways since it was pouring rain) to Union Station. We finished our trip with a visit to a popular BBQ place in Kansas City, KS and a stop for some fireworks in Rockport, MO. There are a lot more fireworks legal out here than there are in California. So bummed I didn't take a picture inside one of the stores.

I told Little Bird to smile and show me her teeth and she opened her mouth like I was going to brush them.

She understood what I was looking for a little better in this picture.

Lizard helping Little Bird make a craft.

She has this thing with eyes...touching them. The Chief is not a big fan of this tendency...it makes him uncomfortable.

The ceiling of Union Station.

The long corridor where people used to walk to reach their train platform. I should have taken a picture inside the bathroom. Platform twelve is in the ladies room. Very cool.

Volunteers run a toy train exhibit and the nice man let the kids go behind the tracks and get a closer look. It reminded me of my grandfather who was really into trains and used to make scenes like this in his basement.

 

Okay, in my defense we never go out to eat...so I wasn't on my guard. He survived though, and his immune system has proven itself.

The name of this restaurant is Oklahoma Joe's and it is run out of a gas station. Some gas stations have a subway or McDonald's, this one has a BBQ joint. It was pretty good and you can't go to Kansas City without trying some BBQ.

Liberty, Missouri

These are some photos from our visit to the Liberty Jail visitor's center. Hubby actually took the photo of the bell below in Independence...but, it works on this post better. :)

We didn't get any pics of The Chief, hubby or me because I had to feed the Chief at the end of the tour and then the other kids were ready to go. They did good though and Lizard enjoyed learning more about that event in our church's history.

Independence, Missouri

Lizard's last day of school was May 24th so we were able to get away and spend four days in Missouri the last week in May. We drove down on Memorial Day and came home Thursday evening.

Our first stop was Independence and the Visitor's Center there for our church.

This is a display inside the visitor's center. Little Bird really liked the little chickens and tried climbing over the fence to get them.

It seems like every picture we take of The Chief he's got his pacifier in his mouth, but he really doesn't use it all the time. See...he doesn't need it when he's driving a wagon.

Little Bird thought the wagon was the best part of the whole tour. 

Lizard gathering water from the well. We sure have it easy with our running water.

 Little Bird was not willing to hand over the reigns.

 The Truman library (on the right) that we didn't go into because you had to pay. I read the book "Truman" by David McCullough and really liked it. The building on the left is nicknamed the "Hershey Kiss" and has very unique architecture. (Oh, and both of those photos were taken within an hour of each other. The day started out sunny, but the clouds took over and didn't let up for most of our trip. In fact we had a tornado warning and multiple severe thunder storm warnings while we were there.)

 

On our way to the Truman Library we passed by a donut shop. I Googled it an it got good reviews...it's famous after all...so we turned around and stopped there. Whoa!! I could have bought out the entire store the donuts looked so good, but I showed some restraint and bought five for the family to share. They really deserve the 'famous' on their sign. Delicious!

Little Bird Looks for Ruffs

 Our next door neighbor has four dogs, three dachshunds and a white mutt they rescued. The dogs live indoors, but a few times a day they come out of the house for a "potty break" and bark at the golfers. Little Bird thinks they're absolutely wonderful and will run to the windows shouting "see ruff, see ruff." Yesterday we were out enjoying the nicer weather and she was able to pet one of them through the fence. Today she was hoping to do more of the same, but they didn't come out. I wish you could hear her better, but the sound doesn't work great on my camera.

The cute dress was a gift from my grandma right before we moved. 

 

The Chief Eats Real Food

I have been nursing The Chief exclusively and at his last appointment the doctor said I could try giving him some solids. He hadn't shown an interest before now and was growing great (he's in the 89% for height) so I wasn't in a hurry. 

His first reactions were so cute, but we weren't able to get him to do it again on camera. I still think he looks cute in the video, but I wish he would have made the same faces he did originally (puckered mouth, furrowed brow, and he got the chills).

Lizard making a comment on The Chief's reaction to food. It's kind of funny if you play it over and over again.