Pimushe 2013

 Sarah was a tad too young for a 11 hour drive, so the rest of us opted out, but my family generously took Andrew along on a week of vacation at Pimushe Lake!  He's never been gone from us for even close to that long, but sounds like he barely noticed.  These are a few pictures courtesy of my sister Chris & my Dad.  Think he had any fun?

 Yes, that is two fish on one line!

 Mom & Dad with my sibs...
we'll have to Photoshop me in the back. 

All the grandkids, minus our girls, lined up in the order they were born!  My sister Melissa designed these fun shirts for the trip & we couldn't resist.  We each have a number based on the order that we either were born or married into the family.  I'm number 8... Sarah is 44!

Thanks so much for taking good care of Andrew, everyone.  We were there in spirit.  :)

Kansas City - Day 2

 We stayed at the Sheraton connected to Crown Center.  It was huge!  This was the view out our 24th floor window.  I can't imagine what it would have been like on the 40th floor!

 We're pretty consistently Comfort Inn guests, but this was such a great combo deal with hotel, parking, Legoland, & Sea Life Aquarium tickets all together.  Plus, we were able to walk everywhere!

 We packed up early & enjoyed the fountains in the lovely "cool" morning weather.

 Then we got in line for Kaleidoscope.

 There were lots of families (& a few day cares) in line to enjoy the free Hallmark remnants that would spark our creativity.

 It was decorated very cool with different stations set up all over that would get your imagination working.  Most papers were just leftover cut-outs from cards, strings, ribbons, & stickers.  But these masks were pretty cool.  We all painted one.

 You could also draw your own picture & have it cut into a puzzle!  Very cool.

 Afterwards we headed to the Sea Life Aquarium just across the square.  I wasn't expecting much, because I think Henry Doorly is pretty awesome, but I was impressed!  They had it all laid out in such creative ways.  This touch tank was a definite highlight.

There was a guide for the kids to find the answers to questions throughout the aquarium to turn in at the end & we learned a lot of cool facts, too.  After all that hard work discovering, the single sticker prize at the end was a little disappointing, though.  Or as Andrew put it,

"That was a kind of lame."  !!!

 Then it was over to the Crayola Cafe for lunch.

Our final stop was the WWI Memorial museum.  It's very well done.  They had a scavenger hunt for the kids, too, to find different artifacts throughout the museum, which was fun.  Definitely not the same kind of war anymore.  I think that the neatest & most sobering exhibit was under a glass bridge we crossed as we walked in.  There was a field of 9,000 poppies each representing 1,000 combatant deaths during WWI.  Overwhelming.

Soon we were back on the road again with three very tired kiddos.  They ALL slept for at least two and a half hours!  With them all asleep, it was kind of like a date.  :)  What a quick but fun vacation!

Goin' to Kansas City

 Here we go...

 First time at a Chick-fil-A

Tasty food, huge walking cow, Christian music, AND a clean AND fun play area for the kids.  What a hit!

 After we checked in to our gigantic hotel, we headed over to Legoland!

 The miniature room was super cool with all kinds of displays.  They had the entire KC skyline, sports stadiums, & here they even had the spinning house, Munchkinland, & the Emerald City all from the Wizard of Oz.  Very impressive.

 Andrew was overwhelmed at the thought of having that many "Lego guys".

 We built this tower ourselves.  :)  There were tiny, medium, & big Legos EVERYWHERE to just build & build & build.  The most unique were cupcake Legos!

 Enjoyed the 3-D Lego movie complete with flashing lights, "snow", & "rain" on us while we watched to complete the experience.

 Andrew's favorite part was making vehicles to race down the ramps.

Rebecca just wanted a picture with everything cute!

 This ride at the end was pretty cool.  Rebecca was too scared to go, but that didn't stop Andrew

 or barely tall enough Teresa from enjoying it!

 For supper we went to Fritz's Railroad Cafe.

 The food was brought to the table by a model train that drove on a track around the restaurant dropping it's attached basket at the appropriate table.

 Then the tray lowered the food to the table to enjoy!  It was novel.

Before collapsing back at the hotel, we hit the free dinosaur exhibit. Pretty cool, especially for free!

 Rebecca's shirt was quite the mess!  Our room was on the 24th floor of the hotel.  After so much dry air-conditioned air & plummetting altitudes in the elevator, her nose was not happy.  She had 4 nosebleeds in 2 days!  Ah, the surprises are what makes it fun, right?

We enjoyed a little bit of Olympic soccer & then off to Dreamland.

Good night, Kansas City! 

Wedding Wrap-up

After an amazingly restful night of sleep, we woke bright & early to more fun with cousins. The hotel set-up was cool because we could step out of our room & look over the ledge down at the lobby, glass elevator, & other floors to see who was awake. First we saw uncle Dave, then uncle Kyle, & then Teresa asked for (great) uncle Ralph. :)

Burning a little energy before family Mass with Fr. Jon.

Here's Mom with a few of her sisters who made the trek.

Teresa loves her Godmother, Aunt Denise. After countless hugs, we were on our way home again.

We stopped in Sidney at Cabela's for lunch & "the wildlife".

It was such a fabulous trip! Welcome to the family, Diane! You're the best birthday present ever. May God bless your marriage with much joy!