5 On A Dime: KCMO Trip

Showing posts with label KCMO Trip. Show all posts

Monday, September 21, 2009

Life is a Highway

It sounded like a great idea at the time.
Pack up the van and drive 19 hours, across 5 states to Missouri.
What were we thinking?

The good news is we made it there and back safely, but not without incident.
The next 17 posts are filled with our crazy adventure through parts unknown.
Hope you enjoy.

Potty Break.. Already?

Not even out of Phoenix yet and Izzy has to go pee! One of many, many potty breaks we took on the road.

First photo op of the trip!

Nice.

Lillian keeping busy reading her book.

Being stuck in the van for 19 hours is no fun.
So when we got the chance we got out and stretch our legs.
Local parks were a great way to burn off some energy!

Our fist park was in Grants, New Mexico.
We stayed the night in this town and had pancakes in the park the next morning.

The swings were a major hit.
Lillian decided she didn't need to go on the baby ones and held her own on the big girl swings.

Izzy is still learning the fine art of swing decided to go rogue and swing with her belly!

I couldn't pass up a chance to play!
Izzy gave me a push while Lillian, who refused to get off her swing, watched on.

Park Number 2 of the day was in Santa Rosa, New Mexico.
As you can see Lillian on the swings again!

Both girls loved the thrill of the merry-go-round.
They liked spinning around very fast!

Park Number 3 was in Amarillo, Texas.
That was a nice park in a very nice neighborhood.
Look at Lillian run right to the swings!

The park stops helped fight some of the car crazies!
It was also a nice way to get to know other neighborhoods.

Stormy Night

The road was getting long.
It was the end of our second full day in the car and everyone was getting restless.

Poor Lillian, she was having a hard time sleeping in her car seat.

A sleeping Izzy, finally catching some zzz's after much protest.

We got caught in a huge storm as we rolled through Oklahoma.
The rain was pouring down and some amazing lightning lit up the sky.
It got so bad we pulled off the road to wait it out and poor Ceasar had to get out and replace our windshield wipers.

That wasn't the end of our stormy night. Once we reached Oklahoma City our battery died.
We were able to get a jump and the van started right up. It was the middle of the night so we had to stop until it was light outside, just in case something when wacky with the van again.
Let me just say that the motel room we stayed in was not the best.

Oklahoma City Memorial

Our drive took us through Oklahoma City which most of us remember was the sight of a terrible act of terrorism.
We felt the need to go to the memorial and pay our respects

A look at the memorial from the street.

The Field of Chairs. Each chair represents a life lost.

The Survivor tree.
This American Elm is more than 80 years old. The tree survived the bomb’s blast.
Also it kind of looks like a peace sign.

A statue outside a church across the street.

Stuck in Wichita!

Well the van made it from Oklahoma City all the way to Wichita, Kansas when it decided to start acting up again.
The battery light clicked on and we pulled off the highway and pulled into an auto parts store.
We checked the battery and found it was not the problem. Now what?
With the help of some employees of the O'Reilly Auto parts store, we were hooked up with Armondo.

He came out to us and diagnosed the problem as an issue with the alternator.
He quickly fixed what was wrong and after only a couple of hours we were off and running again!

Thanks Armondo & Marco (the dog)!

Finally!

After a long ride in the car we finally reached our hotel in Kansas City, MO.
Everyone was so exhausted and ready for showers and bed.

Baths, snacks and TV! Happy to be out of the car

Relaxing just before we turned the lights out.

Check out the smile on her face! So loving this hotel and glad this leg of the trip is over.

Thanks Aunt Brenda!

Parkville

Once we got a good nights sleep, it was time to hit another park.
This time we chose to visit Parkville.

The girlers had a good time playing on the playground.
Izzy met a nice boy (he kept calling her Elizabeth) and Lillian went right for the swings.

The girlers and I strolling around about ready to take a look at the Missouri River.

There it is the Missouri River.
A body of water rich in history. Fur traders, Native Americans and even Lewis & Clark roamed these waters.

Pizza Shoppe!

The rehearsal dinner was at the Pizza Shoppe. A place that holds many memories for my Kansas City Family.
The pizza was great and I even got Ceasar to try some salad with "Pink Stuff"

The Bride & Groom the night before the big day.

Izzy & her buddy Luke crushing up some crackers (Thanks Scott)

Aunts & Uncle

Cousins (Almost all of us. Eric is the only one missing)

A "Word to My Mother" moment outside the Pizza Shoppe.

A good time was had by all.

Going to the Chapel

Finally it was time for the Wedding.
Stacie & Tim got married at Platte Woods United Methodist Church.
This location is very special to the Buchman family.
It has seen lots of weddings, a few baptisms and many of us kids attended Sunday school there.

The girlers dressed and ready for the big event.

Down the aisle Izzy went.. but she forgot where to go when she got to the end!
No worries, she spotted me and ran right over.

Lillian also got a bit confused, she decided to go back down the aisle and pick up all the flower pedals her big sister dropped!

Ceasar had to step in and corral out little flower girl

Stacie and Scott make it to the alter!

Scott giving away his oldest daughter (It was a little smoky in there.. LOL)

Lillian ready to bust out of her flower girl accessories!

Izzy blowing bubbles at the newly married couple!

Congratulations Stacie & Tim. We wish you both all the best.

Time to Party!

After the Bride and Groom said their "I Do's" it was time to party!

Here is Isabelle and her good buddy Luke.
They both had a really great time together.