The Stillwells Take on Kansas City!

I have decided the kids are big enough to do more traveling. I have been waiting on them to get old enough for this for awhile and with Noah in school now, I wanted to start summer vacations. While I am not sure we are completely there yet, we managed to have a good time on our summer vacation this year. We decided to go to Kansas City to take the kids to their first MLB game and go to Legoland. 

We started out driving up on Friday. We got to our hotel (Candlewood Suites - which I love) and unpacked and changed clothes and headed to Kauffman Stadium for the game. We hit up the gift shop and got our stadium food (we wanted the full game experience) and got to our seats about 15 minutes before game time. Our seats were on the 5th row on the 3rd base side - they were in the shade and there was a breeze so it was no nice! The kids did good for this being their first game - we even got some compliments from the people sitting around us about how well behaved they were. (Of course the people beside us not only knew where Clarksville was but have family that lives here - I swear we can always find those people wherever we go) They both asked several times if the game was almost over - starting in the 4th inning. But, as long as Noah had food (he ate popcorn, nachos and pizza) and Ryan got to cheer (I think we have a future cheerleader on our hands) they were happy. The Royals won and we got to see an awesome firework show to end our first night in Kansas City.

The next morning we got up early and got a McDonald's breakfast and headed to wait for Legoland to open. (We were a little excited) :) This was not a Legoland theme park, but a Legoland Discovery Center - but it was still a lot of fun! We got a tour on how Legos are made, got to see how many Legos the kids weighed, and what their height is in Legos. We got to ride rides, go to Ninjago Training Camp, build with giant Legos, build and race Lego cars, make Lego pizzas, and watch a 4D Lego movie complete with rain, wind and snow! We had the best time and the kids cried when we left because they were sad it was over already! I am hoping we get to take them back someday!

LaserMaze

Making Lego Pizzas

From there we went to lunch on a recommendation from a friend to a place called LC's BBQ. The neighborhood was not the best, to be honest I was a little scared. Once we pulled up I thought a lot of people were there, which made me feel better. Turns out it is right beside a junk yard and those were all junk cars. Back to scared. The food was really good, the staff was really nice, but I was more than ready to get back to the hotel. 

We were meeting our friends Jason and Sarah that live in the area for dinner at the Legends Outlet Mall. We went early and did a little shopping and then introduced the kids to Dave & Busters - which they loved! (And who are we kidding, Momma and Daddy loved it too). We wanted to eat at T-Rex Restaurant but when we went to get a table they said it would be 2 hours. Yeah, the kids would never make that, plus we were wanting to swim before the hotel pool closed. So, we ended up at Jose Peppers. The food was pretty good and it was nice to catch up with our friends and let them meet the kids. Then it was off to the hotel to get a quick swim in before bedtime. 

Sunday morning we got up and Nathan and I got everything packed up while the kids slept until after 9:00! They were worn out! Our first stop was Cabela's - which was so cool! We went before when visiting, but it was a whole new experience with the kids. We went through the aquarium and the Deer Mule Museum and the wildlife exhibits. Noah loved the shooting range and for the first time ever asked if he could go hunting and get a deer head for our wall :) We decided to try to eat at T-Rex for lunch since Noah was so disappointed we were not able to eat there the day before. They said an hour wait so we decided to go back to Dave and Buster's next door while we waited for our table. After only 20 minutes our table was ready! 

We quickly went back to cash in some of our Dave and Buster prize tickets and started the long drive back. The drive back seemed to go by a lot faster than the drive there - which is not usually how it goes for me. We were all ready for our own beds and to get some rest before starting our week. SO many good memories were made and I cannot wait to plan our summer vacation next year - maybe even a little bit bigger of a trip :)

DISCLAIMER: While this vacation was full of so many great things, I don't want to give the false reality that it was all perfect. The kids fought in the car, were too loud in the hotel room and didn't want to eat their food at the restaurants and were threatened with their lives several times. Everyone of us was "hangry" (hungry/angry) a few times. Ryan skipped nap time each day and would just cry for no reason while we were doing things. However, these are not the things I will remember. I will remember how excited Noah was when he was at Legoland. I will remember the squeals and smiles from Ryan while we were swimming. I will remember Nathan smiling at me and giving me a wink during the Royals game. I will remember that we were all together making memories - my favorite thing to do!