KC Vacation Day 1

Kyle had some vacation days he needed to use up before the end of May. We had toyed with the idea of taking a real vacation, or even camping. Then realized if we wanted to make a trip to Missouri to see some family that now would probably be the best chance. Isaac had also been asking to go to grandma's house.  We decided to mix in some family vacation time so we stayed in Kansas City for a few nights. We rented a home through AirBnB. We'd used VRBO many times before but this was our first airbnb.

On our way down we stopped to see my cousin and Aunt. It was so good to see them and for them to see the kids. I forgot to capture any photos, but we had a nice visit at their place and went out for Pizza at Minsky's.

Saturday we had a fun filled day. The kids took forever to get to sleep the night before, they were all in one room

And of course we were all up at the crack of dawn. Kyle and I didn't sleep well either so we knew it was going to be a long day ahead. We had breakfast at the house and the kids spent sometime on the swingset in the back yard.

We went to crown center first to get tickets for the Kaleidoscope Family Art Session. Kids weren't eating ice cream this early but this little shop was Latte's and Ice Cream! Mom & Dad did get coffee :-)

We had some time to waste before our ticket time so we walked around the plaza and enjoyed the day before the rain and storm rolled in.

Kaleidoscope is a free event that I remember doing as a kid. I had told Kyle I remembered making a puzzle and sure enough they still had it. Here's Isaac coloring his puzzle.

Here's Isaac turning the wheel to have his puzzle cut into pieces.

Lots of different art stations set up that you can make whatever your little creative heart desires. There is no direction and basically just a free for all with hallmark scraps. The kids made kaleidoscopes, a clock, a cape, book marks, painted pictures, and Mary liked to just gather up random pieces of paper and put them in her bag.

We had lunch at Crown Center and then had plans to meet up with my brother and his kids. We made a quick trip back to the house to let Harpo out and give the kids some time for a good van nap. Isaac even fell asleep!

We met up with my brother and the kids' cousins and went to the Science City at Union Station. We spent the whole afternoon there, wearing out the kids and the parents! There was SOO MUCH TO DO!

The cousins had so much fun playing together. Here's Isaac turning the bike petals to make electricity.

Mary attempting it but her legs weren't long enough.

Group photo and it only took a couple tries to get everyone looking!

After setting some ground rules from the beginning they were pretty good about staying with us and staying together. The place was pretty busy with lots of kids. Aliyah took to Emma and Alyson took to Mary which was helpful in keeping the headcount in order. Isaac and Brayden were usually playing together as well. Here they are all six actually in the same spot at once.

Everyone took their turn (or a few turns) climbing up to the top of this.

We were all pretty worn out and hungry AND thirsty! We left science city and headed across the tracks to Jack Stack Barbecue. Since we had a party of NINE the wait was about an hour. The kids were surprisingly good, well a few times getting on to them but overall very patient in waiting for a table. We ended up waiting a little over an hour and got to see a lightening storm and downpour.

We said our goodbyes and we picked up Andy's on the way home. The kids went to bed much better than they did last night, and hopefully we all get a better nights sleep!