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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Birthday in KC!

Last weekend was my cousin's 26th birthday. I had a couple of options for "travel" last weekend and was completely torn on what to do until Thursday afternoon. Nick and Tommy were going to Stockton with his family. I had the option to go with them or go to Kansas City with my family for my cousin's birthday. OR I could stay home and have a girls weekend just with me and Tess. Finally, in the final hour, I decided to go to Kansas City. Whitney travels a lot to see our family and my kids, so I figured it was my turn!
Me, Tessa, Brooke, Michael and my mom left Friday after work. We got to Whitney's house around 8:30pm. Tessa did pretty good on the ride down. She got a little antsy towards the end, but there were no major fits or meltdowns, so I'm counting that as a win! We decided to order Papa John's (yum) and hang out for the evening. Tessa passed out on me shortly after we ate and the rest of us just hung out and talked until I got too tired to keep my eyes open.
The next morning (Whitney's birthday!), we got up at 8:30am-ish and didn't stop moving until 8pm. First, we went to a couple thrift stores. I hit BANK! I only found a few things for Tessa, but I found SO many things for Tommy. Lots of dress shirts and cute t-shirts (all name brand) that were on sale from the already pretty low thrift store price. I think I ended up getting him 22 items for $28!! So excited about that.
Then, we headed down town to the City Market. On the way, we found a garage sale....WOOT-WOOT!! Brooke loaded up on baby girl clothes for one of her friends (she got over 40 items for $10). I loaded up on some décor and a few things for Tess. Funny side note--in order for all of us to fit in my sister's Dodge Nitro, someone had to ride in the very back (which is illegal, but don't tell me you've never done it). My mom took one for the team.......so when we left the garage sale, she was crammed in the back with all of our stuff! Thanks, Mom!
We went back to Whitney's to unload everything and then finally ended up at City Marker. Love that place. The atmosphere is so fun! There weren't as many vendors there that there has been in the past, but it was still just such a beautiful day to be outside. They had the best deals on produce....you better believe we bought a flat of strawberries!

Tess was such a trooper the whole time. No whining or fussing. It helped that we bought some home made cookies as soon as we walked in. That kept her entertained :)

The cookies and fruit were all we walked away with, but the weather and atmosphere made it the perfect way to spend our morning!

Whitney had heard about a St. Patrick's Day parade going on near her house, so we headed that direction next. Now, I completely understand that Benton and Kansas City are totally different towns. But I have to say, when I thought of parade, I thought of a 30 minute waltz around a few blocks. No. Not the case. We had to park almost a mile away and trek to the parade site. The streets were PACKED. Like, there was nowhere to stand along the road. We finally chose a spot and then me and my mom went in search of something to eat and drink. That took forever to get through the crowds. But we did see some pretty cool stuff!
This hamburger truck was my favorite!

Tessa watched from Uncle Michael's shoulders....
...and then from Nana's arms or my arms.
She was being SO good. I could tell she was hot and tired, but not a peep came out of her the whole time!

We stayed for an hour and the parade still wasn't even close to being over. I could NOT believe how long it was lasting! I finally camped out on a patch of grass while everyone else watched. I'm glad we left early though, or I can only imagine what traffic would have been like.

After the parade, we went back to Whit's to relax for an hour or so. Then we headed downtown to eat. By fluke (because where she wanted to eat her birthday dinner was already full), we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. And I am SO glad we did. There was a 45 minute wait, but again, the weather was wonderful, so we were able to wait outside and people watch the whole time.
Me and the birthday girl!
She was such a big girl, holding onto our beeper!

It really didn't take too long to get seated and we got to sit outside in the fresh air. I ordered a burger with a chili relleno on it. Best. invention. ever.
Like, I'm glad I don't live down there or I'd want to eat one every day. It was seriously SO worth the wait. The company was perfect, the food was perfect, the setting was perfect. Best dinner ever.
We went home after that for some much needed relaxing. I ended up falling asleep with Tessa around 9:30pm and I don't think they stayed up too much later than me! We were all exhausted from our non-stop day.
We headed out the next morning around 11am. It was sad to say bye to Whitney and Kansas City, but we were ready to head home.
Overall, it was SUCH a great weekend. So glad with my decision to go there!!
Happy birthday, Whitney!!

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