To Do in Kansas

This is my tentative list of things to do in Kansas before we move:

Eat at Lidia's in Kansas City (Missouri).

Tour the Kansas state capitol in Topeka.

Go to the Kansas City Zoo (again, Missouri).

Visit the Moon Marble Company in Bonner Springs, KS.

Take pictures of my kids in a field of sunflowers.

Last weekend we went to Topeka to return library books, find Alf Landon's grave (this was on B's list of "to do before we leave Kansas," we were unsuccessful), and tour the Topeka Capitol. B, Princess Sparkley and Buddy even got to go to the top of the dome and outside to see all of Topeka from a bird's eye view. Unfortunately no one bothered to tell us that Baby X would need to be able to walk all 296 steps on his own or would not be able to go on the tour. We'd already been past security, and through the gift shop where the worker there (who ended up being our tour guide) directed us to where we needed to meet for the dome tour, but didn't bother to mention Baby X would be unable to go on the dome tour. So Baby X and I hung out eating fruit snacks while he tried to escape over the back of the bench we were on, to fall 20 feet down the stairwell. PS and Buddy went to the top with Jed and were both scared, but very brave.

Yesterday I took the kids to Moon Marble. I may have been more excited about this than my kids, but I think they (well, maybe not Baby X) enjoyed it as well. The guy who started it used to be a wood worker. He was making wooden game boards that needed marbles but couldn't find any of the cool marbles from his childhood anywhere. He finally found a company in West Virginia that would sell him some, but he had to buy 12 crates (I'm paraphrasing and may not have everything right). When they arrived, they came in a semi-truck and there were over 5,000 marbles. He says he's been in the marble business ever since that day. I'm not sure how he got into making marbles (Baby X was fussy during this part... I wouldn't recommend this for the littlest kids) but part of the tour is watching him make a marble. It's pretty cool. He asks that if you take pictures, you do so without a flash. This is not good news for me since my camera takes horribly fuzzy and out of focus pictures when the flash is off. I'll include pictures, but look here for better ones.

The marbles he makes sell for $30+. If you look at the marbles for sale on the website, they sell marbles from a variety of talented glass artists and some are as expensive as $350. They also sell a lot of vintage games and cheap marbles they buy from somewhere else.

My kids each got a, handpicked by them, tube of marbles and a shooter marble. Buddy is obsessed with the game.

Cabin Trek 2009: Day 1

My parents built an A-frame cabin in the mountains above Cedar City, UT in about 1968 when they were living in Las Vegas. It was a bit further away when we were living in southern California during my childhood, but we still visited often. Over the past couple of years my parents and brother have bought land and built a bigger cabin with electricity and running water (the old cabin did not have such luxuries).

We left home Friday, June 26th in the afternoon, stopping at the library in Topeka to stock up on even more books to entertain our kids (mainly to PS since she finishes at least one library book before we've left the library parking lot) on the long drive and the subsequent time at a cabin lacking a TV or internet access.


Here's Princess Sparkley hurrying to finish a book before we return it.


Our first day's drive was not long... about four hours to Hays, KS.


Buddy and PS in their hotel bed.


Baby X did not do so well the first night in a hotel... here he is the next morning asleep in our bed. Luckily this horrible night did not reflect the entire vacation or we might have only lasted a day.

Zoo

For my first birthday I went to the Santa Barbara Zoo, and for my 30th I took the kids to the Topeka Zoo. They are both about the same size although Santa Barbara might be slightly larger.


the kids and the giraffes


Princess Sparkley, Buddy and the elephants


Buddy and the hippos


the kids in the bird rain forest


Princess Sparkley and the Bald Eagles


The best part of the zoo for Buddy... the train. And it's not even in the zoo. It's part of the park, Gage Park outside the zoo. And is only $1 per person (2 and under free) for about a mile train ride around the park... including a tunnel and railroad crossings. Buddy was so excited. We never do the train at the St. Louis zoo because it's like $5 a person. So this is awesome. Afterwards he asked if some time when we are in Topeka can we just drive through Gage Park because he wants to be one of the cars that has to stop at the railroad crossing.


Me and the boys on the train. (photo by PS)


Princess Sparlkey wanted to be on her own row.

Wizard of Oz friends

These are Princess Sparkley and Boy's good friends. We went to Topeka the other day, to Gage Park and next to the carousel were these cut outs. Very fun since Princess Sparkley has been obsessed with Dorothy since we moved to Kansas, has read The Wizard of Oz (with Daddy) and seen the movie, and requested and received a Dorothy costume from Grandma M for Christmas.

L as Dorothy.

Princess Sparkley as Dorothy.

A as the Tin Man.

I as the Cowardly Lion.

Boy as the Scarecrow.