Exciting Times in Kansas City

We didn't have much time for site-seeing in Kansas City with all our moving projects.  There were four different trips to Lowe's for supplies for repair projects.  So Mark came to know that section of town very well.  He is on a first name basis with several of the guys at Lowe's now.

While the men were on the first trip to Lowe's, the women headed to a local grocery store--Price Chopper--for food supplies.  We planned our menus and had a list.  It took a considerable amount of time for three women to make group decisions on the kind of cereal, the number of tortillas needed, the brand of hot sauce, etc.  It was getting late by the time we brought our carefully selected cart of food to the check out counter.  We waited while Jordan's Mother made another trip down the aisle to pick up some cheezits.  We were next in line when there was a very calm announcement made over the store's intercom, "Attention Price Chopper customers--there has been an emergency and everyone must exit the store."  We looked at the cashiers, who continued to ring up purchases.  Another calm voice repeated the same emergency message, and we looked at each other, wondering what they were talking about.  It wasn't until a woman appeared waving her arms and yelling, "Everyone out!  There's a fire!" that we were herded out the front door and across the street. We had to laugh as we left our carefully selected cart of food and four fire trucks pulled up outside.

We could see large flames in the deli area through the front windows.  We giggled from exhaustion as we made jokes about our first day in Kansas City.  "We would have bought ingredients for smores if we knew there was going to be a  fire!" and "We would have been out of there if wasn't for your dang cheezits!"  After watching the firemen put out the flames, we realized that they probably wouldn't be back in business for a while.  We considered running inside the smoky building and begging the firemen to just let us pay for our groceries so we could go home.  But we finally ended up going to another Price Chopper across town, hoping to complete our grocery list before they closed at 11:00 p.m.  It was a full day!

Kansas City was in a flash flood advisory while we where there, and we had rain every day.  It was too much rain that caused these two massive trees to fall in the park a few blocks from Luke and Jordan's house.

Mark likes to climb trees, especially big ones that are now horizontal.  You can see him in the bright blue shirt in the picture below, standing on the trunk of one of the fallen trees. The locals told us that the first tree fell, and thirty minutes later the second tree fell in the opposite direction.

A  local news station was on the scene reporting on the tree incident.  It blocked the well-used Harry Wiggins Trolley Track Trail that runs for eight miles along Brookside Street.

We also made a trip to two different farmers' markets on Saturday morning.  The organic market in Brookside is closest to their house, but the downtown market had better deals.  We had lunch at one of the permanent eateries that surround the market.  

Denisa was ecstatic to find fresh garden peas to buy--and bought them from three different venders before we left.

Jordan was looking for flowers for the front of the house, and got expert advice from her Mother.

Luke was trying to blend in with the locals in his new Kansas City Royals cap.  He is excited to now live in a city with professional baseball and football teams to cheer for. It's a perfect situation for him, because Kansas City doesn't have a professional basketball team so he can continue to cheer for his beloved Oklahoma City Thunder.









Our only other tourist stop was a taste of the famous Kansas City Barbecue.  After we saw a too-long line at Kansas City Joe's, we  rerouted and then enjoyed a tasty meal of the original barbecue at Arthur Bryant's.  It was very good!  There are no pictures because everyone knows that your fingers are too messy to run a camera when you are eating barbecue.

We also drove by Children's Mercy Hospital, where Luke will be spending most of his time for the next three years.  It's a well respected children's hospital, and we feel so lucky that Luke was chosen here.  It was his and Jordan's first choice, and they have been blessed.

We left Kansas City early on Sunday morning with Jordan's parents, leaving our children well settled in their new home.  Since we started this blog entry with a fire, it is fitting that we should end it with a blow out.  This was the second tire that had to be replaced on the moving trailer this week.

 
We know we will be back to Kansas City during this three year residency, and we are excited about all the things left to explore there!