Kansas

We headed out to Kansas this past weekend to visit my brother Adam his wife Rhea and their son Lukas. It was a long drive and I think we spent almost as much time in the car as we did at their house but it was totally worth it. We left on Thursday after school and drove to Fargo to spend the night. The hotel had a pirate ship pool which the kids were very excited about. We spent about an hour in there but I found the water to be a little cold. I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to cold water. The highlight of the evening may have been the pizza and breadsticks we ordered from Papa Johns. That food was our supper, part of breakfast and lunch the next day. After a fairly good nights sleep and an early morning of breakfast and Scooby Doo we hit the road. It was a pretty nice drive except that we were against wind most of the way and we hit some thunderstorms in northern Missouri. So just under 11 hours later we pulled into Lawrence, KS. I don't remember if we actually did anything that evening. We were pretty wiped. The kids absolutely loved being with Lukas. They were excited about being able to see him and took every opportunity they had to entertain him. Saturday was a busy day. After a wonderful breakfast of sausage and eggs we walked downtown to a farmers market where we picked up some Raspberry/Jalapeno jelly which upon reflection, I'm not sure made it home with us. Anyway, it's very tasty and we used as a glaze on the chicken breasts we grilled that evening. They we watched a parade put on by the local arts group. It was very cool. Lots of decorated cars and bikes. It wasn't a long parade but it was still a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it. I love downtown Lawrence. If you've never been there it's a college town. (home to Kansas University) There are lots of little shops and tonnes of pedestrians and lots of organic food. (Ok that was more for Tina). That afternoon we played Settlers of Catan, Traders and Barbarians. We gave Adam the game for his birthday last year and played the barbarian scenario for the first time. It was a lot of fun. Tina ended up winning. DARN!! I was close. Griffin definitely captured the most barbarians. After picking up some much needed Warhammer supplies. (Grave Guard for Griffin and The Empire army book for me) We got ready for supper. Adam and Rhea's friends CJ and Miriam came down. It was a nice evening. After everyone went to bed Tina and I watched the first half of Saturday Night Live. It was verrrry funny. I love Will Ferrel. Amy Poehler is really good too. The next morning Adam, Griffin, Emilia and I got up at 6:30am to go fishing. This was very special because it was the first time that Griffin had ever gone fishing. We had to stop at Walmart to get our fishing lisences first. I think the guy was in shock that a Canadian would come down to fish in Kansas. We drove out to this man made lake called Lone Star Lake. (there are no natural lakes in Kansas) and set out to catch some fish. It was a gorgeous morning and we had an enjoyable time. Adam caught a fish about 10 seconds after he threw his line in the water. It was a little perch. That was the only fish any of us caught. Griffin had a nibble but reeled in so fast the poor fish didn't have a chance to grab the hook. Griffin knows better now. We got back to Adam's house and quickly got ready for church. Adam and Rhea go to a Mennonite Church USA church called Peace Mennonite. I was the featured story teller. The sermon was on depression and hope. I had a lot of trouble coming up with a story. I figured out the body of the story while we were fishing and worked out the details when we got back. Tina is my theological advisor for my stories. She makes sure I don't screw up the kids too much. The story went good, and the kids enjoyed it. (parents too) The sermon was really good. I'll have to talk about it more some other time but he was a Psychology professor at KU. After lunch we had a nap and played another game of Settlers. Adam won this time. ACK!!! After that we headed to Community America Field to watch the Goldeyes and the T-Bones. It's a really nice ball park and we had great seats. Third Row right by first base. I think everyone had fun except for Emilia, who's not a baseball (or any sport) kind of watching person. That night we got the kids ready for bed and did some packing. Monday was the looooong trip back. We left at about 8:45am and got back home at 11:15pm. 15.5 hours. yuck. The drive was uneventful except that it did get progressively colder as we headed north. (go figure) Everyone was pretty tired by the time we got home. But we're happy to be back.