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Last night as we went to bed, I was a bit worried about how Whitman would sleep but I was also concerned with how well Keaton would sleep. On the way to the hotel, she had asked to go home a few times. It was pretty late so that was understandable but then I realized she probably doesn’t remember staying in a hotel. So when we came into our room, I showed her all around-you will sleep here, I will sleep here, the potty is in here. This seemed to appease her and she did sleep well. This morning, we told her that breakfast was downstairs and her eyes grew huge.
We weren’t at breakfast bright and early but we did get ready fairly quick. I can not say it enough about how much the kids love, love breakfast at a hotel. Reagan had bacon and cereal. Anderson had bacon, a biscuit and yogurt. Campbell had cereal, an apple, a banana and some of a waffle. Keaton had a few bites of Campbell’s other waffle half and finished off my yogurt. Graham had bacon and a waffle and Whitman had a waffle and a banana. And everyone hauled off a box of cereal to eat later in the day.
Our first stop was the Walmart Museum at the Walton 5-10. It started off in an old timey store where Robby found himself a candy bar (Big Hunk). We all sat to watch the short video clip at the beginning of the museum and then we quickly walked through it. At the end of the museum you walk through a soda shop. And Keaton walked across the little shop to show me a “microwave”-but it wasn’t a microwave it was an old television.
I pulled out the laundry basket tonight as we were changing into pajamas and poor Whitman kept crawling into and then getting stuck inside of the laundry basket-he may not be the brightest baby. The kids were tired but they watched a Bible story movie and then we read our Bible story while our laundry dried. Before Robby could even finish the story, most of the kids looked like they had already fallen asleep. Today was another great day.
When we walked into the soda shop, Robby reminded the kids that we had just eaten breakfast. But then he saw the 99 cent price tag on a scoop of ice cream so he quickly changed his mind. The kids all ate their ice cream scoops while I had a root beer float. When I finished, I took Whitman (who was a bit bummed that he didn’t get his own tiny cone that was 50 cents-but Robby had paid by the time we saw that one.) I went to the gift shop to pick up a Christmas ornament and found a little truck for Whitman to ride in. The people at the gift shop even gave me dimes for all of the kids to ride when I asked if it worked.
So I grabbed the camera and put Whitman on it. That poor thing was not too sure if he was supposed to enjoy the ride or be afraid. But as soon as the others saw what he was doing, they were all waiting in line. We still let Anderson on even though it did have a 50 pound weight limit (shh, don’t tell anyone!-how could we leave him out?)
The next stop was just down the road at Crystal Bridges. It didn’t take us too long to walk through the museum. They did have beautiful artwork there but we were able to see it plenty as we walked through the place. The kids liked our stop at the kiddie area. Anderson found him some blocks that he could have played with forever-I put them on his Christmas list. And Reagan loved playing with the stencils.
At the end of the museum, we walked outside to explore some of the trails. The grounds of the museum were absolutely gorgeous. We walked up a little trail to see the Crystal Spring-the spring water was cold and the kids loved sticking their hands in it. Reagan even took herself a big drink of the water. Once we finished our walks, we loaded up and hit the road. To get everyone quickly and calmly into their seats, Robby bribed them all with a lemonhead-it worked! And when I returned from the gift shop, I passed out snacks and drinks for a next leg of the journey.
The next leg of our journey wasn’t too long-about an hour before Robby saw a sign for the George Washington Carver National Monument. We hoped that they would have a place for us to have our picnic lunch and it certainly did. Sometimes when you drive out of the way to see something, you start to wonder if it will be worth the stop. The grounds had a great picnic spot for us. The boys played ball while we made the lunches. And after lunch, Robby and the kids had a few races around the trees.
Keaton had been asking to go to the bathroom but we weren’t close enough so the poor child had to go behind a tree to potty. Don’t worry, she wasn’t too scarred because we soon did take her to the bathroom. We walked around the museum and then quickly hit the trail-¾ of a mile. It was a beautiful trail that went past his boyhood home and some of the fields that he worked in. It was mostly in the woods and was pretty pleasant.
Back in the car, we turned the air on, passed out some candy, turned on Little House and away we went. After a while, duty called for Robby and he had to do a bit of work, work so I drove and he worked on his computer. Speaking of “duty”-the other day one of the boys used the word “duty” correctly in a sentence and then they both busted out laughing. And thinking about how mature my boys are becoming, at the museum today there was a painting of a naked woman. Graham pointed at the painting, called his brother over and snickered with his hand over his mouth.
Around supper time, we hit Kansas City and ate at Winstead's-a local diner. The burgers were fine but the highlight was the skyscraper milkshake that Robby ordered. We knew it was going to be big (because of the price) but had no idea how big it would be. Nor did we have any idea that about 4 employees along with tambourines would bring it to our table chanting “skyscraper, skyscraper, coming your way, whoop, whoop!” Anderson’s eyes were huge when the lady sat that drink down in front of him. Of course we took pictures with each of the kids beside it but we did order only one-and actually, we didn’t even finish it. At one point, Graham had milkshake up to his elbow and some on his hair. How does that happen?
After a drink that big, we needed to walk around a bit. So we walked around Country Club Plaza and enjoyed looking out the big fountain. I am sure people nearby were taking bets on who would fall into the fountain but no one did-Campbell and Graham did like to get as close to the edge as possible though. Then we walked down a street taking in all of the sites and sounds. It was a pleasant evening out and after our walk, we had a quick potty stop and then a 30 minute drive to the hotel.
The hotel was easy to find and soon we were all unloaded and tiptoeing around our room. I do hope that we have a few first floor hotel rooms-16 feet can not be quiet. When Whitman walks, he just runs and when Graham walks, he just stomps. I guess that I should feel lucky that we haven’t been called by the front desk yet (I know it is just night 2).
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