One Glorious Month

We went back to visit our other home in Kansas City from June 15th to July 12th.  We had a fantastic time.  This is one of the best times of the year in Kansas City.  The days seem endless; the sun stays up until almost 9:00 pm.  The kids are out of school, but it is not so far into summer that they are bored yet.  When driving, it feels natural to roll the windows down and turn the radio up.  The evenings are best spent outside with a cool drink while enjoying the company of family and friends.  The kids can run around chasing fireflies after dark without a thought of a "reasonable bedtime".  It is a feeling of complete freedom.  

I think part of the reason we enjoyed our time in Kansas City so much, was because we knew the month would fly by.  We savored every moment.  The time became more bittersweet as the month started drawing to a close.  As hard as that may seem, I think it is actually one of the benefits of living this crazy, dual life.  We don't get a chance to take things for granted.  

If we had continued our normal lives in Kansas City back in March, 2012, there are so many experiences we would have missed.  And I'm not just talking about in Australia.  This past month spent in Kansas City has been full of experiences all the more special because they are no longer part of our norm.  And it has reminded us of everything we love about our "real" home.  It has opened our eyes up to how rich our life is in Kansas City.

Day to day life has a way of bogging us down.  I know I felt completely bogged down while we were living in KC prior to moving.  I had two young children, a husband that frequently traveled, and worked 3-4 days a week at a job in which I no longer felt was fulfilling me.  That was part of the reason we decided to make this life changing move.  By the time we move back, I will have not worked for 2 years and both kids will be school age.  I am now doing some major soul searching on what I want the rest of my life to look like.  I am certainly looking forward to moving back to KC next spring, but I want to figure out how to retain this feeling of appreciation once we have returned and are entrenched back into the day to day grind.

Enough of my musings, the point of this blogpost is  to recap some of the highlights of our trip back to Kansas City.

On one of the first mornings back, Aubrey and I went down to English Landing Park in Parkville.  She rode Carter's old bike while I went jogging.  We love English Landing Park and we have missed it so much.  I had taken a couple of photos of it right before we moved to Oz.  At that time it had just suffered a horrible flood and looked terrible.  I am happy to report it is back to its beautiful, green self.  

It is always exciting when a train goes past!

Beautiful riverside setting

There is a reason we had to keep up the exercise when we were in Kansas City.  The food!!  Sean and I purposely lost some weight prior to our trip so that we could fully enjoy the all yummy food without the guilt.  And it was soooo worth it......

One of our first meals back; a big burger and a Blue Moon with an orange at The Yardhouse.  It is making my mouth water as I am writing this! 

On Friday, June 21st, the kids and I went to my sister's house in the country for a weeny roast and hay ride.  The kids love spending time at Aunt Suzie's house.  And there has been a new addition in the 8 months since we were there last: chickens!  

Carter mastering the art of roasting a hot dog on a stick.

Aubrey only stuck her hot dog in the ashes a few times. 

Aubrey had a great time watching and feeding the chickens.

Carter on the hayride

Carter standing in front of Aunt Suzie and Uncle Mark's house

In the following week, Aunt Suzie and her sons, Jake and Joe, came up to Kansas City for a couple of days.  On Wednesday, June 26th, we went with them, along with my sister Julie, to a Royals Baseball game.  We didn't end up watching very much of the actual game, but spending the evening at Kaufman Stadium is always a good time.  

Carter and Aubrey in our nosebleed seats

Carter got a little excited riding the carousel in the Little K.

Aubrey loved riding on Slugger's back.

The next day we met up at a Japanese steakhouse, Stix, for lunch.  Then, we went downtown to Union Station and Crown Center to walk off all that food. 

Carter demolished his meal at Stix. 

I thought my fortune cookie message was very apt.

Jake and Joe with Carter and Aubrey with downtown KC in the distance.  Aubrey cannot get enough of her cousin, Joe.

On Friday, June 28th, we met our old neighbors, the Stephensons, at Zona Rosa for lunch and for the kids to play a friendly game of laser tag at Maze Craze.  

Aubrey and Danika reunited

The girls ended up getting a little freaked out playing laser tag.  The boys had no mercy!

  That weekend we enjoyed our spring/summer Saturday morning tradition of going to the farmer's market at City Market.  It was an absolutely gorgeous morning.  Aubrey got a balloon animal hat, the kids rode on the barrel train (pulled by a riding lawnmower), and Sean and I got to enjoy some of our favorite coffee in Kansas City.  We followed it all up with lunch at Winslow's BBQ.  What a perfect day!

City Market with downtown KC in the background

Carter outside of City Market Coffeehouse

It's messy, but it is so good.  Winslow's tided us over until we were able to make our way down to Oklahoma Joe's later in the trip.

On Sunday, we had a playdate with our friends, the Cronhardts.  Carter and Aubrey had a fabulous time playing with Ian and Ella.  Aubrey and Ian have been besties since they were born (they are just one day apart).  Aubrey is still very adamant that she will marry Ian someday.  We will just have to see what the next 20 years holds.....

Aubrey, Ian, Ella, and Carter

Monday, July 1st, we traveled up to Platte City to visit our old neighbors' new house.  Their new house is beautiful, but we miss having them just 3 doors down from us.  After dinner, we sat out in the driveway and chillaxed.  Love this photo of Sean and Mike sitting back in camping chairs drinking some beers as the sun went down.

  

Ahh...living the good life

Aubrey is loving on the Stephensons' puppies, Mayhem and Havoc.  Aubrey became quite a dog lover during our time in KC.

We were very excited to be in Kansas City for the 4th of July.  It was yet another gorgeous day.  We were looking forward to the parade in Parkville in the morning.  Then, we were going to visit Sean's grandparents that were up from Texas.  We were planning on ending the evening back in the cul de sac in our neighborhood for a barbecue and fireworks.  The day mostly went as planned.  The only downside was that the vehicle we were borrowing from Sean's parents broke down on the side of the road in the afternoon.  It all worked out though and just put a minor crimp in the day.

Ready for the parade to start!

Aubrey and Papa

Aubrey also posed with Abraham Lincoln

Carter was enjoying the parade.

 A couple of our favorites from the parade.....

Old school fire truck

A car from the Model T Club

Hanging out at Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's motorhome in the afternoon.  The kids had just went for a swim at the RV park's swimming pool.

The one dark patch of the day

A look down our street at the party in the cul de sac  

The girls even had a little pool party.

We had a great time lighting fireworks to celebrate our country's independence. The street did resemble a war zone by the the end of the evening.  Well, a war zone with confetti. 

Carter looking a little devious with a sparkler

Sean's grandparents stayed for the week of July 1st-5th in Kansas City.  It was nice to spend some good quality time with them.  On the last day, Friday the 5th, we went out to lunch at a KC legend, Stroud's Restaurant.  It serves traditional, pan-fried chicken in a family style manner.  It is the best fried chicken I have ever tasted (next to my mom's).  The restaurant is located in a farmhouse from the 1800's, complete with a goose pond in the backyard.  Our waitress even gave the kids cinnamon rolls to feed to the geese.    

Papa and the kids feeding the geese

Over the weekend of July 6th, we traveled out of the city to Wien for a little get together with the Meissen family (my family).  We all met up at my brother and sister-in-law's house.  A Meissen gathering is rarely small as I am one of 8 children.  Then, you add in spouses and grandchildren.  Now, we are starting to also have spouses and significant others of the grandchildren.  My parents' first great-grandchild, Cooper, was even born last year.

We didn't get a lot of photos from the evening.  Probably because we were too busy catching up with everyone.  It was a lot of good fun with a potluck dinner and a firework show put on by my nephews.  The night passed by much too quickly and it was difficult to visit with everyone we wanted to see.  

Chilling outside

Aubrey learning how to play volleyball from my niece, Jana, and her boyfriend, Kevin

Our last week in KC was spent trying to tie up as many loose ends as we could before leaving the country again for 8 months.  We tried to see a few more people, finish up our shopping, and get our house back in order.  By the end of the week, it was time to return to our Aussie life.  

Our driveway on our last night in KC.  Carter and Aubrey had a great time hanging out with the neighborhood kids.  It looks like we were having a "bike party". 

All of these photos barely scratch the surface of everything we did and all the people we saw while we were back in KC.  And we still didn't get everything done that we wanted to!  It was a whirlwind, but we loved every moment.   

We are ready for another journey halfway around the world.  Aubrey was traveling incognito.  Luckily, we made it through security with all these bags, especially considering Carter packed a water gun in his carryon luggage (unbeknownst to his parents).  Thank goodness, security had a sense of humor about it.  Traveling with children is never boring.

Final goodbyes with MomMom and Papa

On the plane again.......

After traveling about 28 hours (4 more hours than the usual thanks to an extra stop in Auckland, New Zealand), we finally made it back to our apartment in Sydney.  I think this photo tells everything about how we were feeling.......