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| Take me out to the ballgame.. KC Royals! |
(click here for today's pictures)
The first thing that I remember from this morning is Keaton crying and Anderson telling me "I think I did that." I jumped up to get her some milk and then Graham left Robby's bed to come to our bed. I quickly told him to go back and lay down. I seriously thought that it was 3 or 4 in the morning but just thought I might check the time to make sure-yep, it was 8:30. I love hotel living and hotel curtains.
We did stir pretty quickly and Robby took the kids to the breakfast area to pick out their food. The breakfast area was too small to handle our brood so we just ate in the room. That was fine since it was quicker and we left at 9:54 a.m. And the total miles from yesterday was 282 miles. Robby told me what our total mileage is so far and it is pretty unbelievable. I will save that little tidbit for another post though.
After leaving the hotel, we had to get gas and then we drove by the capitol. Anderson continues to sneeze before and during nearly every picture that we try to take. Oddest thing. The kids didn't get to run on the grounds so they were a bit disappointed. After a few more miles, Robby had to make a pit stop and we watched and waited for him. Graham was teasing and said "there's Daddy" talking about a man with a beard. Anderson replied with "that's not Daddy. If he had a beard he wouldn't get to kiss anymore." What? Where did this come from?
Some time while in the car today, Anderson said "I am ready to go to Arkansas." We watched some Hallmarkish horse movie on the way Missouri. It must not have been too exciting for Graham because he said "can we watch some football?" We all must have been too preoccupied with the movie because when the state signs came near, I wasn't ready. I was able to get Missouri's sign but we needed to get Iowa's sign as well. Robby thought about turning around illegally (as he did in North Dakota) but I nixed that idea since there was traffic (none in North Dakota). But I did manage to get a good shot of the back of the Iowa sign so that will have to work.
We ate at Jack Stacks for barbecue when we made it to Kansas City. It was very good but we ordered way, way too much. We could have fed a family of 14 with all of the food that we received. Though Anderson, my non meat eater, did eat quite a bit of his sandwich. After lunch, we saw some fountains around town and then went to the Hallmark visitor center.
We pulled into a parking garage to park and Robby was getting a ticket from the machine when he heard someone holler at him. It was a worker man on a golf cart. The man said that we were too tall for the garage and quite possible we were (roof bag remember) Robby took the ticket and started wondering if he was going to have to pay to turn around while I was studying the ceiling making sure that we could turn around safely. We drove until the curb ended and then turned around and then we heard a loud kerplunk! Oh, my! I didn't see what happened but the golf cart followed us in the garage and the parking entry arm crashed down on him (don't worry, he had a roof). Of course our first thought was that we hit the ceiling, then we wondered if we had done that and then we just wanted to get out of their quickly. We did zoom out quickly knowing that we had not been the ones to hit or break anything!
Robby decided that it would be best to drop us off and then he came to meet us. We did the Hallmark visitor's center. It didn't take too long to go through and the kids enjoyed pushing the button to make a bow. We even watched the movie at the end of the tour-they are all getting big enough to do that now. Reagan takes everything in and is so serious about things-wonder where she gets that? When we left the kids all had their booklet with stamps in it from the tour, the bow they made, a bag of artsy stuff from the place next door and we had postcards and some nice record your voice book (which I think is a bit creepy).
After that, we drove to the World War I monument. We took a few pictures and the kids enjoyed walking up and down the steps. They have a museum there but I don't think that the kids would find it that interesting yet. We will have to put that on our list of things to do when we return to Kansas City.
Next up was checking into our hotel. This hotel must be full of quite a few soccer teams so it is crazy. They have a free light supper and it was so packed that there was no place to sit. I did fight the crowds and make the kids a hot dog and Robby found them popcorn so they were tickled. We had our traditional baseball game food before the game.
It wasn't far to the baseball game and I forgot to pack the juice boxes that we had gone to Walmart specifically to buy so I could smuggle them in the game. Oh, well, it was fine since I still crackers and fruit snacks. Anyway, Anderson made sure that Graham wore his baseball hat when they got out of the car. They were so excited about the game.
Robby had our tickets on his phone and we were about to walk through when they wouldn't scan so he had to go and get printed tickets. It didn't take too long and we were on our way to our seats. Our seats could not have been any better-they were near the bathrooms, on the backrow so I could leave my stroller up, a short row so it was just us filling the whole row, under the deck above, completely blocked by the wind and near the concessions area so you could smell all of the food. If I was a Royal's fan I would buy my season tickets right there.
The kids watched in awe-it was no Traveler's ballgame. These fans were noisy! Graham asked a zillion and a half questions and I or Robby had to narrate everything that was happening for him. Anderson knew pretty much what was going on. Keaton clapped and bounced watching Campbell clap along with the other fans.
We went on a walk around the stadium and the kids immediately saw a playground. I let them go and slide for a few minutes and even though I could see most of them most of the time-It made me pretty nervous since it was just a wide open area. They all returned to me though when they saw Robby walk back because he had just gone to buy tokens for them.
They had a few things you could do-mini golf, carousel, hit the ball & run the bases-and we let everyone pick something. The boys picked hitting the baseball and the girls picked riding the carousel. Anderson was the first to bat-the man through him four balls and he hit two of them. And then he was able to run the bases around the little field. Next up was Graham and he hit 3 of his 4 balls and ran the bases as well. By this time Reagan had decided that is what she wanted to do and she was in line. Reagan also hit the ball and ran the bases. Of course, Campbell was not to be left out and she waltzed onto the field wearing that baseball hat that was way too big for her little head. She must have been watching what everyone else did because she did pretty perfect for such a little girl. They put the tee up for her and she smacked that ball each time. Then she ran and ran (not so much on the bases).
Of course, no ballgame would be complete without 8 dollar cotton candy so they all shared that. Robby thought about snow cones but they were 4 each and that would have been double the cotton candy. Everyone was pleased and sticky with the cotton candy. Keaton had her milk and fell asleep in her stroller after our walk. We stayed until the beginning of the ninth inning and then we headed to the car. By the time we loaded up, the stadium lights were dimmed and the fireworks were going off-so thankful we left when we did. Could not imagine being in there with the kids with few lights and fireworks. That would have sent Graham over the edge.
Poor Graham didn't have a nap today plus at the Hallmark place he fell and hurt is knee. He must have bruised his knee cap or something because occasionally he will just scream and grab it. Though he must not be hurt too bad because he could sure run the bases without a problem. Campbell has a cold with a runny nose and a pretty bad cough. Keaton and Anderson's excema is better though. Reagan is fine and dandy and that concludes the Dennie health report.
Back at the hotel tonight, we let everyone have some coke and then we came up for bed. We tucked them in and within five minutes everyone was sound asleep. They were so tired!...I am too!
