Kansas City: Next Stop, Italy

Kansas City. We puked in corners, tantrumed a little and laughed a lot.  A unique toy store, Zoom, had the adults just as engaged with the merchandise as the children we came with.  Big Momma cinnamon rolls started our Saturday eating binge that ended with pizza at a "dive" called Grinders which was, according to Guy Fieri "off the hook in so many ways."  Ella summed up the trip, "Kansas City. I love it. It's beautiful here. Can we come back again? (The only bad part was driving forever, so I decided just to be quiet and watch the movies.)" (which is more than I can say for Sophia "are we there yet?")

If my brother and his wife ever planned on having kids, we've certainly given them reason for changing their minds.  They learned a few things from us:

• Things don't go according to plan
• You will be late
• Tantrums will occur at any time, but especially while sitting in restaurants.
• Toddlers poop in their diapers in dark corners of toy stores and their demand for privacy squarely contradicts how they request privacy -- screaming. 
• Children who are not fed on time and get overheated and overstimulated in Blanc Burgers WILL THROW UP the entire chocolate milk they just downed thereby flooding the clean diaper you hurriedly snatched, hoping for something -- anything -- to catch what was coming and thrust in front of their spewing mouth.
• You will not be able to keep your train of thought or finish a sentence un-interrupted and most certainly do not ever expect to have an in-depth conversation.   

Dinner at Grinders -- notice there are no children left at the table -- that's how it goes.  It's called eat and run...Uncle P has a glow behind him, I think that is his saintly-ness showing up since he treated us to this wknd.

It makes sense that Andi was Aunt Header's little buddy for the trip.  Andi hates having her pic taken almost as much as Aunt Header does!

Actually, Uncle Pancake and Aunt Header were great sports, diffusing the responsibility for the kids thus lowering tension, making for a happy, smooth, awesome weekend.  I got most of my Christmas shopping done and spent the paycheck I haven't gotten from the new job.

Sophia was in girly-girl heaven at a store for tweens.  Before I could blink, she had bee-lined to the make-your-own-lip-gloss table.  Ella was right behind her and we ultimately left with enough glitter lip-gloss, glitter-gel, and glitter-body lotion to coat an entire army of strippers -- or allow me to profit off my new Zumba moves and start a second career as a "dancer."

Sophia creating lip balm

Ella making her glitter concoction

Ella found her favorite spot without leaving the hotel; the pool.  She swam happily in the pool which was an indoor/outdoor pool while I got to go explore the Country Club Plaza with Aunt Header. 

The outdoor portion of the pool seen from Uncle P's room

Andi's favorite thing was...The chocolate store, of course.  She staged a toddler version of a sit-in and had a tantrum-in screaming, "I don't want to go!!!"  A fellow chocolate lover/onlooker asked, "Can you blame her?" 

Andi gorges herself on Chocolate Fudge cake from The Cheesecake Factory

 The most embarrassing part of the trip -- the part that I think, may have brought the huge, swarming crowd of tech lovers in the Apple Store to a halt -- was when I impulsively pulled out my pay-as-you-go, four-year-old flip cell-phone to make a call to my mom. Did she want me to buy the Tin-man and Lion dolls at Zoom for Kelli for Christmas?  Yes she did.  It was a good thing I made the call.  I only keep the cell phone for emergencies and the cuteness of those dolls constituted emergent use of a phone. The stares I received as people studied the pre-historic equipment held to my ear were worth it.

Even my two-year-old is more tech savvy and tech appreciative than I am....

Andi LOVED the children's stations at the Apple Store

  
And lastly, a few more pics for the relative readers of the blog...

Giant Big Momma Cinnamon Roll

Agatha came to KC, too!  Andi was fascinated by Agatha and her leash for some reason, "where's Agatha? Where's Agatha's leash?"

"This is Andi's! Not YOURS!" The chalk board at the Crayola store.

All the girls love it when Uncle P uses his graphic design skills/passions and sit and color with them.  Here they are at the Crayola store.

Ella's critique of the Crayola Store Cafe's burger making ability.  Who can blame her?  She had eaten a Blanc Burger the night before.  Does anything really compare?

Ella rubs the same warthog nose mommy rubbed as a child -- then deposited a coin for mercy.  Some traditions never die; however other traditions such as Trader Vics and Steve's Shoes were long gone.

"I love Kansas City.  For our next vacation, though, I'd like to go to Italy," said Sophia.

Right....about that......