We recently (as in almost a month ago) returned from a week-long stay in lovely Kansas City with the T.Anthony John family. We have never been to visit my brother and his family in the Midwest so the minute they moved into their first house (literally 3 weeks after) we invaded. It was our one vacation for the summer so the pressure was on for it to be good.
We were a little nervous about flying with both kiddos and it turns out we had good reason to be. Sadie threw some of her biggest tantrums ever during our layovers. I had a super helpful airport employee come over while Sadie was in time out and tell me "honey, let me help" in that voice that comes out very high-pitched and super sweet, but it really means "your child is obnoxious and you clearly can't handle her, but I can probably fix things". Then a drunk pediatrician also offered the advice that we stick a pacifier in some sugar and give it to Sadie. Too bad Sadie hasn't used a pacifier in, oh, almost 2 years. Elise, on the other hand, was actually super easy and she slept pretty much the whole time. Elise only has sleep problems when she has to lay in her own bed. As long as I am holding her she'll sleep like the baby she is.
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| Elise actually sleeping |
Enough complaining....on to the trip!
DAY 1
The first day we slept in as much as we could and then went to the park with the kids. It was about 95 degrees with humidity you could cut through so we didn't last long. That night we headed to Fritz's Railroad Restaurant.
The kids watching the trains
They have trains that run along the ceiling and actually bring you your food. The kids absolutely loved it. The parents....appreciated that the kids were entertained. The first review of Fritz's on google sums up our feelings pretty well- "the kids liked the trains... but the food was the worst thing to ever hit a plate".
On the way out we thought we'd let the kids take a 50 cent train-ride.
This was the joy exhibited when it started moving.
DAY 2
We set up a kiddie pool in the backyard to cool off from the heat.
The kids each tried running through the sprinkler a few times, but spraying water at eye level was none too appealing for either of them.
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| Carrie is 8 months pregnant in this picture |
Sadie and Will only lasted about 45 minutes and then came inside to play with Will's toys. Sadie absolutely loved playing with Will's toys and Will pretty much hated Sadie playing with his toys.
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| One of the few times these 2 played well together |
Unfortunately, Sadie tends to use force to get what she wants and Will is a sweet, passive kid. We all kind of wanted him to hit her back so maybe she would leave him alone. Instead, she terrorized him the whole time. After a few days Will started running whenever Sadie entered the room. Sadie would come to just play by him and he would scream. Sorry Will!
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| Sadie only had to give Will this look and he didn't come any closer |
That night we went to $1 Dog night at the Kansas City Royals game. Sadie started melting down before we even made it to our seats but we were determined to make it work.
We lasted 5 innings through the tantrums, heat and humidity before we called it quits.
DAY 3
Saturday morning Anthony (aka Uncle "Towny") and Carrie took both kids and let us sleep in with Elise. I should mention Elise was the worst sleeper ever during this trip. The only reason I should mention it is so you all feel bad for me. Anyway, they took the toddlers and went to a garage sale, got some free donuts (Sadie's favorite food), and played at the park.
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| The non-sleeper |
We then watched the BYU-Ole Miss game at the home of one of the John's friends. I think the highlight of my night (besides Will wearing a BYU jersey reminiscent of those sweet 80's tear-away jerseys) was the mid-air chest bumping that occurred. Ask me if you want more details on that story.
Saturday night Carrie was attempting to get some cute cousins photos in the bathtub. Will would not look at her and she got frustrated. I walked into the bathroom and we both noticed an unpleasant stench but just figured it was one of the kids tooting. All of the sudden I noticed the brown mass floating behind Will in the water. We scooped the kids up and washed out the tub, but when we flipped back through the pictures Carrie was taking before the poop was discovered- look what we saw!
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| Situation you would never purposely take a picture of, but hilarious that we unknowingly did |
DAY 4
On Sunday the heat finally broke and we got beautiful weather!
After church we took naps and relaxed in the front yard while the kids played. Sadie and Will opted out of clothing.
One of 2 family pictures taken since Elise was born. Too bad Sadie's not wearing clothes.Good thing she IS wearing shoes.
I love this picture of little T.Will. 
Throughout the week we had little dance parties.Sadie has been loving dancing lately. She does the funniest little twirls and gallops.
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| Action shot of cousins twirling |
DAY 5
In the morning we attended the John's ward Labor Day picnic.
Sadie succeeded in getting watermelon all over herself and crying about how hot the slides were at the park. Will wanted the ball the older boys were playing with.
Since neither toddler was too happy we headed home for naps.
That night we went over to the neighbor's house for a block party. It was a little funny that we attended since Anthony and Carrie were meeting everyone for the first time and we were just visiting. The neighbors weren't sure who had moved in and which kid belonged to who. One woman got confused and made some joke about polygamy which we all laughed a little too hard about and she didn't understand why.
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| Two crazy nuggets |
DAY 6
We went to the Deanna Rose Farmstead, AKA the most awesome petting farm ever.
And it was free! Sadie loved it. She was hilarious when she was feeding the baby goats. She spoke in her squeakiest voice and kept saying over and over, "You wanna turn? Here you go. A bottle? Here you go"
We each took a turn pushing Sadie around the tractor track. It was a little hard on the back. Why can't you just grow and reach the pedals, Sadie?
There was a horse named Sadie and Sadie pretended like she wanted to pet her, but when we got close she backed down and wanted nothing to do with her. I am sad we didn't get a Sadie girl and Sadie horse photo. Oh well.
That night the adults went to downtown Kansas City for dinner.We passed the College Basketball Hall of Fame when we were walking to dinner and I got this shot of a massive Jimmer.
At dinner I had the best garlic fries ever. I also sampled some of Daniel's fresh brewed rootbeer. I am not normally a rootbeer fan but this stuff was amazing! If you are in KC go to Gordon Biersch for a delicious meal. After dinner we got to see Anthony's office building and he recognized some of the homeless people he passes each day. What a treat.
DAY 7
On Wednesday we woke up, packed up all our stuff, and attempted to clean up the mess we had made over the previous week.We made it home safely and Sadie has asked for Will, Carrie Mommy, and Tony Daddy multiple times since.
The precursor to Elise rolling over completely. She actually slept in this position every night until she figured out how to roll all the way over to her stomach.
Overall the trip was a smashing success. We are so glad we chose KC as our vacation this summer! Thanks, Anthony, Carrie and Will, for letting us invade your home for 7 whole days!
