It's the Tuesday after a holiday weekend,
and I don't about you, but I always need at least another day to
recover. However, that's never truly available. We have swimming lessons
this morning, a sore throat to soothe (McKinley's), and an epic grocery
store visit. Not my idea of a day of recovery.
But
let's focus on that fabulous holiday weekend! We started ours with a
swimming lesson Friday morning followed by our summer Country Club Plaza
Fountain Tour. Not familiar, well I will be posting about this fun
little adventure later. It's a tradition that started out of activity
desperation that didn't cost must, or anything at all. We traveled the
Plaza in style, McKinley eating Goldfish crackers from his stroller
tray, while we discussed the cool 1968 Double Decker Bus we found, what
each fountain design might actually mean, and McKinley making wishes in
every fountain along the way.
A super rainy Saturday found us with
finding an indoor activity that we would all love. We decided on Crown
Center, one of McKinley's favorite city destinations, and we found
ourselves among the rest of the metro scrambling for family time
indoors. We visited Sea Life where McKinley really took his time (mainly
because he was forced to with the throngs of visitors) and explained to
Dada all the different fish. He specifically loves the lobsters, sting
rays, octopus, and touch pool. He was incredibly patient, very well
mannered, and for a moment, I felt that all that parenting had finally
started to sink in. We had lunch at Fritz's, his restaurant of choice,
tried to explore in the Mr. Potato Head exhibit (we'll go back later
this month), and decided to try and ride the Streetcar. With a drizzle
in the air, the line was the perfect length, and we waited to board the
trolley.....I mean streetcar. It was pretty darn cool. The ride is
smooth, the streetcar is light and airy, and the city is so fun to watch
from the large side window. McKinley was in awe. He pointed out
different buildings, loved hearing all the different noises, and
announced that next time we ride the streetcar, we're definitely getting
off at the City Market for a day of exploring. I love that he's got an
adventuress side to him. And we will definitely embrace his request.
Saturday night found us on a date night that was totally epic! We hit
our local....Applebee's. We had a giftcard, totally lame I know, and
shared the 2 for $25 menu. We drank adult beverages, ate a super chocolately
dessert, and tried desperatetly not to talk about McKinley. We succeeded
for a bit, but as you know as parents, the discussion eventually found
it's way back to him. We talked about how cool our kid is, how loud our
child is, how inquisitive, how smart(alec), and just how truly awesome he is
before heading home to watch TV and falling asleep on the couch before
11:00. We truly are an uber cool couple!
Sunday and Monday were pretty much the
same. Family time overload, which is exactly what we needed! Sunday we
spent time at the mall, McKinley's other favorite haunt in the city,
where we ate pizza in the food court, rode quarter fed cars, shopped the
mall toy store, browsed the Disney store, rode the carousel, explored
in Build-A-Bear, and headed to my parents for an early Fourth of July
BBQ dinner. The best part of Sunday was the ride home. Over Memorial Day
weekend, we spent $3 on two Road Trip Bingo board games and it has
truly been the best $3 ever spent. McKinley decided he wanted to play
the game on the ride home, a ten minute ride mind you, and I obliged.
But instead of just driving home our normal route, Joel took us all
around side streets, parking lots, wrong ways, and back streets just to
continue the board game fun. We laughed until we cried, made funny jokes
about the things we saw, and honestly had the best time just coming
home from already amazing day together. Definitely a memory for the
books!
Monday
we spent the entire day at Worlds of Fun. We rode ride after ride (and
McKinley got off only to get right back on some), lunched, played games,
rode more rides, and finally called it quits after a five hour park day!
But the fun didn't stop there. We hit fireworks for McKinley's first
time and our child was beyond excited! We packed snacks, toys, chairs,
and blankets for the hour wait. But instead, we bough ice cream from the
ice cream truck, bought a drink at Jimmy John's so he could use the
bathroom, and chatted with our fellow viewers until the first boom hit.
From there, it was watching our child stand up from time to time to
applaud, listen to him oh and awe, exclaim how big the fireworks were,
and smile at each other over his sheer joy of watching something we can
take for granted year after year. As they say, children definitely keep
you young.
But
after all that fun and excitement, this mama is feeling old. My back is
killing me, my eyes are swollen from lack of sleep, my house is a
complete mess from coming in and dropping things off, my cupboards are
bare from all the eating we did, and I wouldn't change one bit of it. Well,
maybe one thing. That tiny one pot of coffee that I brewed. Time to
make a little more!!
How
was your holiday weekend? I hope you were able to spend it with family
and friends. And I hope you made some amazing memories as well. I know
This Kansas City Mama did!
XO,
Andrea
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