Road Trip, Hays, Kansas

There are good people in Hays, Kansas...

Just so you know. In case you get stuck there because of a blizzard, or leave your purse in a restaurant. (none of this happened to me, I'm just saying...)

So we made it to Hays, Kansas. We had a hotel with a pool and a brewery/German restaurant to try, so we were content. The swimming was just what we needed after a long day in the car. And the food was decent.
The beer, well, nothing can compare to the other one, is all I can say and that I have been ruined forever. Thanks, beer from St Louis! HAHA!! I am sounding a little psycho over beer right? I don't even drink it that much, that is the sad thing. Moving on...





We walked around the little downtown a bit.

Here's the restaurant:


Max is standing like the statue of Wild Bill- former mayor


And the others joined in... I love the serious faces


and pulled their guns out







the necklaces they are wearing are little dog tags that we had made out of a machine with our cell numbers on them. I figured if we lost them at Disney, they might get flustered and not remember our numbers. Anyway, they wore them everyday, but at first Max was upset and said he did not want to wear a dog collar!



and for the record... Kansas ALWAYS has construction. There has never been a time that I have driven through that state and not gone down to one lane. but, it is the sunflower state and that makes me smile. that is all...

The Arch

School started this week, so I am feeling a little pressure to blog about our summer!

If you haven't ever seen the St Louis Arch in person, well, it's WAY bigger than you think it is in person!! I am always surprised.


I had been before, but the kids hadn't. We made a reservation and it was great! It was at 7 in the evening and it was a cool, lovely evening. It wasn't hot in the little egg-pod you go up in either!





We really couldn't have asked for a better experience.



Even the museum underground was basically empty! And no lines!

I took this picture from the top. I knew the carriage was in the picture, but I didn't realize how clear the shadow of it was until I saw it later.


I zoomed in a bit and took the cars, and made it sepia toned for fun...





My niece is a big Cardinals fan, so I was taking pictures of the stadium on my phone and sending it to her!!




This trip included Disneyland, so the kids knew all about rides we were planning on going on. Max somehow included this on his list of rides mistakenly. When we got to the top, he said that this ride was pretty BORING!! (it is slow)



They enjoyed the view, however.




I thought it was interesting how wonky this street was...



And since they don't want to delay any departures, they don't want you to take pictures entering and exiting the egg pod. So, they set up a replica.


And, I didn't have the right lens for the photo I wanted, but I love these pictures anyway...






It was a great first day of a vacay...

Road Trip!

The day after school got out, we packed up and hit the road! We had to cancel our big trip out west last summer when Ross got deployed, so this year, we were making up for it! The plan was to road trip out to Colorado (to see grandparents and pick up a bunch of stuff for Ross) and fly out to California to spend time at Disneyland and wonderful San Diego.

First, the road trip...

We debated how many days to drive and decided on a little more leisurely trip, stopping to see the St Louis Arch along the way.



In preparation, I bought lots of little, fun, travel books and games. I didn't reveal the goodies until that morning!



Max was easily occupied for hours with these new books! One of them was the license plate game in sticker book format! We got a ton filled in in the first couple hours of our trip... (We never did get Delaware, Hawaii, (which we saw the day we came home!) and Washington, D.C. (that one doesn't count though, right?)).



Not that we were visiting, but it was good to be leaving for a while. We all needed it!



A side note, I was born in Indiana, so I have to give a little nod...

I like signs and pictures of signs... this is driving into Indianapolis...


and heading towards St Louis! My sister lived near here for a while, so we are not strangers to the city, but the kids don't remember it, and they wanted to see the arch!


we went to dinner down in Laclede's Landing by the arch. I used "yelp" a ton on this trip and we definitely dined better because of it. There weren't a ton of highly reviewed restaurants in the area, but we found a brewery- Morgan's - that didn't disappoint us.




The food was good.


The location was fun!



the company... hilarious, as always.

But, the beer, did I mention it was a brewery?


The beer was the best ever! I LOVED IT! I never say that! It was their honey wheat...



It was smooth, like buttah, without any "ick"... I think my next job should be beer label writer, what do you think?



Ross liked it too! I'm not joking, if I drove through there again, I would stop in!



After our beer dinner, we walked over to the arch. We had an appointment (it is the way to go)!

August Ten on the Tenth

The idea is to take ten photos on the tenth of the month and share it, documenting a day of your life and the ordinary moments. There is beauty in the ordinary.


When did the beginning of August become the end of summer? Well, here we are celebrating another day, trying to see the beautiful in the ordinary...

This morning started pretty early... I have to run before Ross goes to work, but I guess it gets me up and ready. Here is breakfast for Ross getting started.



I had to get the kids up early too for a doctor visit. Just annual check-ups.



As a treat after their doctor visits, we headed to Barnes and Noble... we seem to go here a lot on the tenth of the month. coincidence?



And then Ross called and said he could meet us for lunch! Always fun!


We went home after lunch and watched some Olympics. Max was running some sprints. Later in the evening we were doing a relay as a family around the kitchen! Everyone argued who could run the anchor leg.


We headed out to dinner too. Friday nights are better that way, right?




The kids were having the pillow pets have races down the stairs.



And the temperature outside was actually very cool. The coolest we've had since May, so Ross and I enjoyed the sunset on the deck.

I took pictures and he did this...



And then we watched the sunset, which is one of the best things about this house for us...


Cheers to you on the this tenth!