Seeing our Kids in Kansas City

Our last trip to Kansas City was six months ago to move our son and daughter-in-law into the home they just purchased.  He had just graduated from medical school and was getting ready to start his residency in pediatrics, and she was looking for a job as a Physician's Assistant.  We were anxious to see them both, so another trip to Kansas City was on the top of our travel list.  Here they are, sitting on the wall overlooking Union Station and downtown KC.

We had just finished painting bed rooms and got everything moved inside the house when we saw them last.  Now they have everything decorated and arranged and looking so cute!  They are no longer rookie home owners--they are experienced residential investors.

Because we spent most of our time painting and working on our last visit, they took us for a tour of the area this time.  We headed north out of the city to the little town of Weston, Missouri.  They are gearing up for holiday shoppers, and we just happened to find Father Christmas out greeting visitors.

Jordan just happened to find something else--an old sled that could make a nice decoration beside their fireplace this winter.  Luke wasn't convinced, but agreed that it would make a good gift for Jordan for Christmas.  So Mark was sneaky, and returned to buy it when Jordan wasn't looking, and then hid the sled in the car.  Alas, when she went back to the store to make the purchase, it was gone.  We wanted her to have it early to use it as a Christmas decoration, so we gave it to her right there in the parking lot.

We just missed the peak of autumn foliage in Kansas City, and it looks like their street was stunning with all the 100-year-old trees turning colors.  It made Denisa happy just walking down that avenue of giant trees.

We went on a long walk around their neighborhood, and found some trees that were still in their prime red foliage.

While on that walk, Denisa took this picture of two of her favorite men.  You might notice that Mark is participating in "No-shave November."  He has always been good at growing a beard, but this year's model has more gray hair than he remembers.

Mark, Denisa, and Luke were walking a few miles, while Jordan was doing a training run for an upcoming marathon.  Along with several of her 26-year-old friends, she is determined to run a 26 mile marathon this year.  So Jordan, and her best friend Jordan, are running a 12.5 mile training run this day.

We enjoyed our time playing games, singing, and being with Luke and Jordan!  It was a great trip to KC!

It was a good time in KC, but we also had great fun getting there and back.  We stopped in Stillwater, Oklahoma to visit our niece Beth and her family on the way to KC.  On the way back we made a stop in Owasso, Oklahoma, to visit our nephew Michael and his family.  We love spending time with our nieces and nephews, and we appreciate them fitting us into their busy schedules with their growing families.  Our travels have allowed us to see almost all of our nephews and nieces this past year.  Even more fun, we've gotten to spend time with most of our great nephews and nieces as well.   One of the greatest parts of being retired is having the time to spend time.