Love notes

I found this little note tucked in my purse the other day. It's a little hard to see, but it says I love (heart) you mom. You'll have to turn your head to really see it, but it just melts my heart into a puddle of goo.

Ps this is Amelia's handiwork.

Fancy signatures

Recently I asked William to sign his name on a birthday card for someone. He went all out for this person! He also went ahead and signed Gemma's name as well. I think it is so sweet! Even if it got a little mixt up.

Take me out to the ball game

Recently the St. Louis cardinals have been doing well and they went to the World Series. Amelia's dance teacher came up with a cute dance for the girls to cheer on the team. Can you believe they ( baseball team) didn't win?

Guess who?

Guess who likes gold?
Doesn't have a favorite sport?
Likes hamburger pizza?
Like the movie ice age (and based this on a 22 minute viewing while he got his teeth cleaned)?
Likes the game called stack the countries?
Wants to be a paleontologist when they grow up?

Any guesses?

Accessories make the outfit

Don't they? More is always better, right?

Missouri Town 1855

After wrapping things up at the Trex Cafe, we had one more stop to make on the way home. There were two living history museums in the area and we love living history. Someone else fields the kids' questions and we all learn something. Win/win.

Missouri Town 1855 is a collection of buildings from Missouri. Most have been moved from other parts of this state to this Town (as far as I know, none of the buildings were original). They had buildings from as far back as 1830. Sadly, only 2 reinactors were working. However, we still had copious questions and got lots of really good information. We wandered around to the 10-15 buildings on the property and enjoyed the mild weather. A little more than an hour later, we were ready to hit the road back home again.

T-Rex Cafe

Saturday night in Kansas City we realized despite being on the Missouri/Kansas border, we had yet to cross over into Kansas (and thus, be able to cross it off our state visited list).  We then spent over an hour researching for the right location to visit the following morning on our way out of town.  Our criteria was as follows:

1. In Kansas
2. Not so far into Kansas that it would tack on an additional hour of travel time to get home.
3. Memorable enough to tell the kids when they are older ("yes, we went into a grocery store in Kansas.  You loved it SO much!)
4. Age appropriate (casinos are out)
5. Inexpensive
6. Big enough to make the stop worthwhile, small enough to see in a short time
7. Open on Sunday. Or open before noon on a Sunday.

So, we had a very short list of possibilities.  We hit the road intending to go to one location of interest.  There was a miscommunication between the adults and John ended up getting off the highway.  We weren't where we were supposed to be and weren't sure how to quickly rectify the situation.  John pulled in to get gas while I tried to determine the best course of action.  Spoiler: there wasn't a best course.  While we were discussing, we realized across the street was another attraction we had on our list.  It had become second choice because it was a store (money) and we felt the historical site we were hoping to find was more educational (education=win).  We hopped across the intersection and were happy to find the T-Rex Cafe (a dinosaur themed restaurant and gift shop catering to dino lovers.)

Let's say by this point the kiddos were a little impatient and tired of trying to find somewhere.  They were alos probably tired of hearing something was going to be a lot of fun and it turns out the pool is closed or it is a boring historical marker.

We walked up to the store (you couldn't see it from the parking lot) and William and Amelia were both complaining.  I didn't tell them what we were looking for because I wanted them to be surprised AND if it was closed/gone/empty they wouldn't be disappointed. Just around the corner, I looked up and saw a dinosaur head peeking out from behind another store.  I told William to look.  He did.  He stopped walking, frozen to the spot for about 20 seconds.  Then he yelled, "Wow! We need to check this out!" and took off running with a giant smile on his face.

When we walked up, there were a few skeletons to admire.  William raced around, words falling out of his mouth faster than could be understood.  John and I looked at each other.  This was the right place.  When the doors to the gift shop opened, William opened the door and about walked into a giant dinosaur's face.  I thought he might expire from happiness.


The cafe didn't open for another 2 hours, so we browsed the gift shop and made our purchases before hitting the road.