KC

We were able to turn one of Mike's work trips into a mini-vacation for the family in Kansas City.  Just before leaving, we made the annual gingerbread house...

Then headed off to K.C.  Mike had meetings that afternoon, and the area we were in wasn't the most kid friendly (but an awesome spot to shop solo!), so we hopped in the car and went to Hallmark headquarters.  I felt such a huge sense of accomplishment tackling this adventure alone.  It was one of those moments where I really had no idea how the afternoon would pan out doing it solo with three little people.  Tayler is such a wild card.  And I didn't really have a set plan of how long things would be or where we'd go.  We just rolled with it.  I'd love to insert some part about how I navigated through all these complicated freeways or something alone in a new city, or how I overcame some huge obstacle, but it was really pretty slick.  Only about 3 miles away, all city streets and I had a handy GPS in my car.  And while we'd never been there before, it was pretty easy to get around and figure out where to head next.  Even writing about this weeks later, I feel such a sense of accomplishment tackling this adventure alone.  Sometimes I think to myself that the 1:3 ratio is so chaotic, but just taking them out and stepping into life and adventure, I realize that yes, it can be crazy, but it is also dang fun.  Had I played it super safe, we never would have gotten in the car, and would have stayed close the hotel.  Sure, we would have been fine, but taking that step was so much better.

The kids had a great time in the (free!) art/creativity center a.k.a. scraps of paper that didn't work to sell sitting next to oodles of markers and tape.

 Max took over for a picture:

 They left with their goody bags full of their creations.  Then we explored around the area, ate and checked out lots of Christmas decorations.

 The next day, the kids loved checking out legos...

 Then we headed to our second stop.  A night at one of those indoor water park hotels.  Slides, pools, all the fun stuff indoors.  Surprised them with a dinner at a dinosaur restaurant (hey! the food was actually good!).

 They had to take turns getting eaten!

 The kid friendly hotel had a fun story time program complete with snow.  And, a trip to Santa's lap, where my wild card surprised me with this photo!

So grateful that we were able to do this as a family.  Seriously great memories.