Road trip to Kansas City and beyond.

FINALLY posting pictures from our road trip to Kansas City and Lincoln in June. Yep, it's been almost two months but here we are...better late than never!

We took our first non-mountain, long road trip with the kids this past June. Our destinations were Kansas City to see friends and family and Lincoln, of course. The kids declared road tripping awesome. McDonald's in the car plus snacks plus movies equals a good time for sure!

We stayed in Lawrence with Don and Susan on Saturday night. They were gracious enough to tolerate our late arrival and made us feel incredibly welcome in their home. Sarah, Joe, and the boys came over Sunday morning for a delicious brunch. The Noltemeyers are old friends but they always treat us like family. It's so nice to having people like that in your life.

Speaking of Noltemeyers, our next stop was Olathe to see Matt, Sally, and the girls as well as their new home!

Love the Noltes and love these kiddos. They are all so sweet and are all so sweet together. Must because they have awesome parents. (Tee hee.)

Fireflies. Madelyn and Sawyer were beside themselves with the fireflies.

Brunch on Monday before heading to the Plaza. Let's do this again soon, Noltes!

Monday we moved to the Sheraton in the Plaza. We walked around some and did a little window shopping.

Met the cousins, Aunt Judi and Uncle Elvin, and everyone else at the Kansas City Country Club for night swimming and a picnic. It's been too long since we saw everyone but we had a blast. The kids loved the high dive and swimming. (Our joke was to see how many different pools we could swim in on this trip. As of this point, we were only at two.)

What a sweet group. Aunt Judi and Alasdair recruited us to help plan the Knight family reunion in the Fall and we're happy to help. Looking forward to seeing everyone again sooner rather than later!

Tuesday, we went to Oceans of Fun and had an ocean of fun. The weather was perfect and we got to the park early enough that we got to do multiple rides on all the really popular, really fun rides.

You'll never believe it but in the park, there was a trio of men playing drums and they were wearing tank tops with cats surfing on slices of pizzas. You should ask Madelyn if she saw it. (Also, wink.)

Hey, it's Ben Franklin!

After dinner treat on Tuesday - The Waffle Bar. Mine was good but I should have stayed simple.

Wednesday was an important day for our family. It was Sawyer's 7th birthday. Happy birthday, little brother! It was also the day we left Kansas City to go to Lincoln. GO BIG RED!

Stopped at the Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City. Took a tour and picked up our free baby trees.

Ate lunch at Valentino's also in Nebraska City. Madelyn has declared their spaghetti to be the best. I'm not even sure what to say about that. Hello...pizza?! I know she's mine but sometimes her food choices make no sense. Either way, thumbs up all around for Valentino's.

After arriving in Lincoln and checking in at the Cornhusker, we drove over to campus. There really is no place like Nebraska. I got all sorts of nostalgic walking around campus. For real, it's been TOO LONG since we visited.

It was also really hot but that didn't cut my campus tour short.

Memorial Stadium. This was as close as we could get to the field on short notice. Also, one of my little campers was quickly running out of steam and any interest in doing anything else besides having some birthday dinner and swimming, again.

Birthday dinner at Shogun. He was intrigued but a little nervous. Griff caught the shrimp in his mouth and while Sawyer wasn't interested in catching shrimp, he did realize that he really likes shrimp. Happy birthday, Sawyer!

We had birthday cake back at the Cornhusker. I think it was a molten lava chocolate cake in a cast iron skillet with ice cream although I don't have any pictures of the treat. But, we did get a picture of this tiny boot of beer. How cute is that?

We headed back to Colorado the next day and it was good to be home.

This trip made me realize I miss the midwest, humidity, mosquitoes, and all. I loved getting to see our family and friends and getting to share Lincoln with my family. Bonus: I may have sold both kids on going to the University of Nebraska, too, so I think the trip was a win all around.

Oh, and our final pool count is below:

1 - Matt and Sally's neighborhood pool

2 - Swimming with the cousins at Kansas City Country Club

3 - After KCCC, swimming back at the Sheraton KC Plaza

4 - Oceans of Fun

5 - Swimming at the Cornhusker

Seattle, Yo.

There's been a lot of flossing, "yo", and "bro" at our house this Summer. As you can imagine, it's been delightful and very mentally stimulating. (Insert eye roll.) Naturally, when I think about our trip to Seattle, the first thought that comes to mind is "Seattle, yo." 

Thought I'd share a few pictures from our trip this week to Seattle. The weather was terrific. After having been above 90 degrees for I don't know how long in Colorado, Pacific Northwest temperatures in the 60s and 70s was a welcome relief.

The Gum Wall. It's more like gum alley. I've heard that they clean it off at least once per year and it quickly gets re-gummed. (Is that a word?) And, in case you forgot your gum, there are a few stores close by that thankfully sell gum. We had our own.

When in Rome, you stick your gum on the wall. Sawyer didn't want to part with his gum so Griff added his to the collection.

Day 1. On Wednesday, Griff had a meeting with a client so the three of us were on our own for the day. Madelyn really wanted to visit the Seattle Aquarium. It is such a neat place and a really good aquarium. You can even ride on the back of an orca. (Wink, wink.)

We happened upon the sea otters' feeding time. Aren't otters the cutest?! Then, I found this brother and sister otter pair frolicking and generally having a good time. They're pretty cute, too. 

We visited the harbor seals a few times including once during their feeding and toothbrushing time. Each seal has their own Sonicare toothbrush that the keepers use on them to keep the seals' teeth clean.  Who knew?! And, on our second visit to the harbor seals, we watched as the "Madelyn" and "Sawyer" seals fought over who got to lay in the sun with "Mama" harbor seal. In the end, "Mama" let both of them stay with her in the sun.

After lunch, we took a break from the aquarium and ventured down to Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe...so much stuff and so many weird things. Definitely saw a lot of curiosities! We saw the mummies and shrunken heads and gawked at the Harry Potter wands. We sampled fudge and picked up a little to share with Papa later in the day. Madelyn found some shades she liked. Isn't she the prettiest?

My favorite was possibly the antique Wurlitzer (player) organ outside on the pier.

After walking around the waterfront, the kids wanted to go back to the aquarium which was fine with me. This time, we spent about an hour at the touch tanks getting sea urchin "hugs" and touching the tube worms and anemones. On our first visit, Sawyer didn't want to touch anything. On our second visit, he couldn't get enough. At one point, he was two-handed touching two different sea urchins and I swear I heard him exclaim "Madelyn! I'm touching two urchins!"

The volunteers at the aquarium are terrific. We learned so much through casual conversations with them. We still would have had a fun experience without the volunteers but thanks to their knowledge and accessibility, we learned so much more and had such a neat experience. I highly recommend the Seattle Aquarium.

Day 2. Griff was done with his client meetings so all four of us did some excellent sightseeing.

Fortunately, the kids arrived just in time to catch this piece of public art and hold it up. It surely would have fallen without them.

We did a duck tour and quacked our way throughout Seattle.

We watched a float plane take off past us in Lake Union.

And, while we enjoyed our duck tour, the events in Branson, Missouri, have been on my mind. I realize thousands of other duck boat tours, including ours, have had no troubles. I'm thankful for that. However, it hit a little close to home and I'm so sorry for all those people affected.

Back on land and done with our duck tour, it was time for the Space Needle. Here we come!

After we bought our Space Needle tickets, we had about thirty minutes to kill before getting in line. We found an awesome playground in Seattle Center. Madelyn climbed, Sawyer and Griff did the maze on the ground, and I solved the rebus puzzle.

What a view from the top of the space needle. I don't have a fear of heights but a sheet of plexiglass between the ground 600+ feet down and me is a little unnerving.

The rainforest Sphere at Amazon's headquarters in downtown Seattle.

Day 3. Back to Pikes Place Market. We only had the morning as we were flying home in the afternoon. Nonetheless, we arrived at the market around 8:30A. The shops open at 9:00A. But, the kids and I knew from walking around on Wednesday that there's a little window where you can buy the best looking pastries around - Three Girls Bakery.

What the kids and I speculated from our scouting on Wednesday was correct. Their pastries were THE BEST. I don't even have other words to describe it. I had a spinach and feta croissant, Griff had a ham and cheese croissant, Sawyer had a blueberry scone, and Madelyn had a cherry turnover. But, that's not all. Someone in our group (who shall remain nameless) suggested we get a second set of pastries and try some other things. The rest of the group consented and we ended up with two cheese danishes, a s'mores danish, and a raspberry cream danish. None of them went to waste and none of them lasted very long.

Bellies filled with goodies, we walked through the rest of the market. 

Bought some pickled herring at Pike Place Fish Market for our favorite Scandinavian fellow. Yes, they threw the jar of herring. And, while I paid for it, someone else in the market ordered two salmon which promptly flew right by...one of them was juicy.

Poppie reported that this pickled herring tasted different from the pickled herring at Costco. Neither he nor Griff could elaborate on how it was different.

And, Billie the Pig. We found him. His "sister" Rachel the Pig is in front of Pike Place Fish Market. He's less busy so we could get a good picture.

I'm happy to have visited Seattle. It was so nice of Griff to let us tag along on his work trip and I'm glad we could make it happen.

And, so much for cooler temps in Seattle. It's still hot back here in Colorado.