For Spring Break this year, we were off on new adventures to explore areas none of us had ever been. And boy, did Kansas City surprise us with all the amazingly fun things to do. First of all, it was a looooong drive. And we didn't nearly expect it to be as cold as it was.
Our first few stops were at LDS church historical sites. Independence, MI was our first stop, seeing the visitors center and future temple site there.
Then we drove north a little more and saw Liberty Jail
This was also Carmen's real birthday and she picked some Mexican food for her lunch. It was delicious and so fun because she had to wear this giant sombrero and was serenaded by our waiter and then later her dad.
Then it was more driving up north to Far West, MI. It was bitterly cold here and gave us a greater appreciation of those early saints who were consistently kicked out of their homes, sometimes in the dead of winter. Each of these sites were so solemn and sacred. And even though we froze our tails off, I'm so glad we got to visit them and give our children the opportunity to see them first hand.
Our final stop in Missouri was Adam-Ondi-Ahmen. At this point in our travels, our car was pretty filthy.
This is the location believed to have been the Garden of Eden. And while I'm sure it's a gorgeous place in the spring and summer, it was pretty dreary when we were there. If visiting Adam-Ondi-Ahmen, don't go in the winter or early spring.
After freezing to death, we stopped to grab a bite to eat at a literal hole in the wall, but our only option, gas station. It was called the Red Bird Cafe. The food was decent and we must have been tired at this point because we all were a little punchy. I've never laughed so hard in my life. The whole place was odd and we just found everything hysterical there.
We got a picture from our dog sitter of Koda. She works in a flower shop and took her dog, Rosie, and Koda with her to work every day. I'm sure he totally loved every minute of that and got a lot of love from everyone who came in.
Finally in Kansas City we saw Tuck Everlasting at the Coterie Theater in the Crown Center. We were there along with every other 5th grader in Kansas City. But it was a fun play and I'm glad we went.
Dallin's choice of activities was the Legoland Discovery Center, which was small, but packed full of fun things.
We ran into Dorothy there, she welcomed us to Kansas.
We basically played with Legos for the rest of the day.
The girls each made a Lego square to put up on their wall. Carmen did UVA, Charlotte did a BYU one and Aliza did Fame Allstars, which she worked on the entire time we were there. That beauty took a lot of time!
After Legoland, we visited the Aquarium next door. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but it was pretty spectacular too.
The next day we explored a little hidden gem of the City, the Hallmark museum and Kaleidoscope Center. The museum was interesting to me to learn about their different shows and the history of their card making. I even held their Emmy.
We saw how they make all those fun bows that people buy at Christmas time. And made some for ourselves.
And then the Kaleidoscope Center was a big surprise. I was totally skeptical that my kids would like this place, but they begged to go back every day after wards! It's basically a big room with different stations and access to all the card making supplies you could dream of. You have free reign, but only 45 minutes to make whatever you want. Your own cards, your own puzzles, bows and even glow in the dark paint! This place was insane and so much fun. Even our teenager loved it.
We made quick stop at Central Station and decided there was too much to see and we needed to come back the next day. But here's view of the ceiling there. It was so beautiful.
After going through the model train rooms, we were out of time and needed to head home. We'd come back the next day.
We had a tiny little Air BnB that we enjoyed just sitting on the front porch and playing in the yard....until they saw a snake.
The toy of the trip was Yo Yo's!
Carmen and Dallin taking a rest after a long day of walking and exploring.
Of course we had to eat Kansas City BBQ. Joe's BBQ was the most recommended by the locals, and the Z-Man was the must have item. I was the only one to try it, but it really lived up to its fame. I could have eaten that for lunch everyday!
So, the next day we headed back to Union Station to visit the City Science Center. This place did not disappoint either. So much to explore inside and outside.
After playing mostly outside, we visited the Art of the Brick exhibit. This was spectacular to see as well. This artist takes really well known pieces of art and then creates them out of lego bricks.
Dallin has just learned about Star-y Night in Art print at school, so he thought this was pretty cool.
And then we played with Legos some more.....
We decided to watch an IMAX movie about the weather and ended up having that whole ginormous theater to ourselves!
And that's a wrap on our Spring Break Adventures. Overall, we highly recommend Kansas City and the surrounding church sites. On our drive home we took a tiny detour to the Louisville Mission home to show the kids where Dad served his mission.
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