Fall Kansas Trip

Grant made sure I saw the sunrise each morning...

I think our fall trip to Kansas might have to go down in the books as our funnest family vacation yet!

On our first day of vacation Monday we headed to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City.  I thought the boys would like it but was somewhat worried they were to young for it.  We all had a blast and would definitely go back sometime.  They were too young for some things but they were just the right age for other things.  Rex loved the indoor water park, Grant loved the bunk beds in our room, I loved eating at the T-Rex cafe (and not cooking), and Will loved driving by the KC Sporting stadium as many times as he could while we were there and also going to the Nike outlet store and buying soccer jerseys!

the boys in their bunk beds

The boys looking through the window into the water park

a pic of the front view of the water park

Rexie-Roo

The boys both liked the lazy river

Will herding boys out of the lazy river exit

We were a bit nervous about taking Grant to the indoor water park considering he didn't care to get wet in the pool all summer long.  But surprisingly he warmed up to it pretty quickly and had a good time too.  He liked the very shallow kiddie play area, the lazy river, and even the big pool area when we were holding him.  I think it helped that they keep it 85 deg in there and all the water is warm.  I even got Grant to go down one of the big waterside rafts with me and he said it was scary but he liked it.  For dinner we went to the T-Rex Cafe across the street in the legends shopping area.  Will and I have shopped there several times over the years and always said it would be cool to take our kids there someday.  The boys were both a little intimidated by the dinosaurs right at first but after a few minutes they both really enjoyed it and we had a really fun meal. 

Mommy and Grant.

Daddy and boys in our shell booth

a pic I took from above the shell on the left is where we were sitting

checking out the triceratops

dont eat rex!

petting the t-rex on the way out

On Tuesday morning we got up had breakfast in the room and spent the morning playing at the water park again.  By lunch we were all worn out and ready for lunch.  We met Uncle Jason for some wood fired pizza.  Then we headed on to Emporia and the Farm and the Cats and the Cows, and Grandma and Grandpa!

The farm cats were very popular on this visit.  These 2 cats in particular were very tame (thanks to cousin Hannah) and enjoyed the attention.  Rex named his cat Basil (after a friends cat we know named Basil )and he named the cat Grant is holding Chalkie.

Obviously this cat is desperate for attention because it was even loving this.

Grant the cat herder

A fun trip to the Roga Pumpkin Patch on Wednesday....Grandma and Grandpa's country neighbors but none of us had every been to the pumpkin patch before.

Rex's favorite part was the hay bale play area

jumping bales

boys on bales

heading out to the patch to find the perfect pumpkin pie pumpkin for Grandma

We really got to see a lot of family this trip!  We saw Uncle Jason at lunch in KC.  Aunt Amy took some vacation and came down and spent the day with us Thursday.  We visited Great Grandma Laura one morning.  And we met up with Aunt Sherry and Co. in McPherson for dinner Thursday night.  Will and I even got to go on a running date in town while Rex and Grant went to feed the cows and do some farming with Grandma and Grandpa.

Playing at the park before dinner in McPherson.  

The cousins all had lots of fun playing together.

while hanging out at the house we started seeing cattle going by out the window.  Apparently someone was driving cattle  so we went out on the front porch and watched the cow parade because thats not something you see everyday.  

We headed home on Friday but the vacation wasn't completely over yet.  On Saturday morning we got up and took the Metro Link into St. Louis for the Rock n Roll marathon fitness expo.  The boys of course enjoyed riding the train.  Then Grandma Cindy came and spent the night so Will and I could get up early and go run our half marathon in the morning.  Sunday morning was a chilly one.  It was 39 degrees while we were waiting for the metro in the a.m.  Despite the cold it was sunny and the winds were low by race time it was in the 40's great running weather!  Will and I both had good runs and enjoyed the atmosphere and the experience.  This was my first time to do a big St. Louis run and I LOVED it!  I even managed to get myself a new PR (I beat my old fastest half marathon time by over 4 minutes!).  This was also the first time Will and I had run in a half marathon together since 2009.  Even though we run different paces its still fun to be there running it with your best friend, something I appreciate a lot more now then I did back then.

selfie after the race

my bib and medal

My watch showing my time, distance, and pace.

So that's it.  Then vacation was pretty much over.  It was a wonderful week.