Kansas City Re-Cap

KC was a blast. The car ride there and back was a very specific kind of torture, having to watch Topher be so miserable, but it was so much fun once we got there. Poor Topher just hates being strapped down. How would YOU like to look at this face for 3 1/2 hours?? It's so heart-breaking. I hate it. Even with frequent stops, he's fine the second we take him out and miserable the second we strap him back in.

We stayed with my sister Regina, her husband Justin, and their two girls Audree and Juliette. They have a brand new house in Olathe, KS that is just gorgeous and we got to stay in the "pink princess" room (Audree's) and it was beautiful. Topher loved his cousins, even if he did dwarf Juliette, who is almost 2 years old. She might be taller than him, but he is heavier and has a much bigger head. Whenever Topher would grab one of her toys, she would gently pry his fingers off of it, one by one, and by the time one hand would be free of the toy, the other hand would have already reached up to grab it. It was fun to watch them interact. It's funny how, at 2 years, a child is still such a baby. I mean, she could walk and babble, but we still saw her as a baby. Both girls were a lot of fun, and so kind to Topher.

Saturday morning, we took Topher and Audree, 6, to the pet store while Regina and Justin ran some errands.

Ever the gracious hostess, Regina planned a big lunch on Saturday for any of my family that could come and see us while we were in town (which saved us the trouble of driving from house to house, and after finally getting Topher out of the car, that would have been very hard to do.) We saw my mom (Mar-Mar) and Grandpa Larry, my dad (Grandpa) and Grandma Lori, and my cousin Anna, 16, who was in town making a documentary on my mom, the Marble Lady (that's a whole other blog in itself.)

That evening, we all went for a long walk around the new neighborhood. Topher was able to borrow Juliette's push-car, and was having some serious fun. You should have seen the look of concentration on his face as he held the wheel with both hands and seemed to think that he was really driving. Best of all, there didn't seem to be any mosquitoes in Olathe, which is a huge change from Cambridge (where we can't even walk Topher without a mosquito net covering his stroller.)

Sunday morning, my dad made breakfast for all of us and we played some more and then we had to hit the road again (isn't there some other way to transport a baby other than a stupid car seat???) But we made it home in one piece and were sad that the weekend had to go so quickly and that we didn't get to see more of my siblings. Luckily, the family reunion in Utah is less than 2 weeks away so we'll see everyone again very soon (and we'll get to fly in a plane!)

Thanks for hosting a great weekend, Regina and Justin. We can't wait to do it again.

--KC