I made it to the other side!

This past weekend was my 30th birthday and I survived. Here are my nephew and nieces wishing me a Happy Birthday all the way from Croatia:
Mike surprised me with a trip to Kansas City to celebrate my birthday. We had a fantastic time touring and, as always, eating our way through the city. I'm not sure how my metabolism will change being on this side of 30 but I certainly put it to the test this weekend with another culinary adventure. We began out feast at Waldo's Pizza.
It was pretty good! We had our pie with a delicious Honey Wheat crust which I thoroughly enjoyed and plan to beg Mike to make in the near future. Waldo's was a fun place, a little reminiscent of Shakespeare's in terms of the quirky atmosphere. They had mixed Trivial Pursuit cards on all the tables. Our tabled had Star Wars and Baby Boomer edition cards and it was fun trying to figure out the obscure answers. Mike has evidently secretly memorized those editions as well and annoyingly had no trouble retrieving the information from the recesses of his brain. Another fun thing about the Waldo's was the "bucket of beer". They had an extensive beer menu but if you wanted a little adventure you could ask for the "beer bucket". Any beer in the bucket was $2. No telling what's in there and it's always different. I couldn't resist. The bucket had some assorted imports, a seasonal pumpkin beer, and Natural Light. I went with a New Zealand selection that wasn't bad. After walking around the Plaza for awhile we retreated to the hotel for an early evening in watching the Presidential debate.

Saturday morning we headed downtown where we happened upon the annual American Royal Parade. This was a great surprise and Ava loved it. I thought she'd be afraid of the load marching bands but she was jumping all around when they went past. She pointed at all the horses and flags. It was a massive parade that went on for hours. We stayed for nearly an hour before moving on to explore Crown Center. Kansas City has a ton of great stuff for kids. I think we'll be spending a lot of weekends there as Ava gets older. We took Ava to the Crayola shop and eyed the Crayola Cafe "for kids of all ages". The next stop was the famous Arthur Bryant's BBQ on Brooklyn. We waited in a very long line to yell our orders through Plexiglas lined with piles and piles of Wonder Bread bags. We ate way too much but it was delicious. I pparticularly enjoyed the pulled pork and beans. It was so much food that our culinary adventure abruptly ended there for Saturday.

We then somehow ended up at the WWI memorial (Mike was driving and suddenly we took a "wrong" turn and ended up in the parking lot). There is a new museum there that Mike thought we could check out since we were in the neighborhood. The Memorial, built in the 1920s, is stunning and offers great views of the city. You can take an elevator to the top but signs warning of wasps and my new found fear of heights when Ava is in tow kept me on the ground. We headed for the museum. The tour began with a great introductory video setting the stage for how the war began and what the world was like prior to 1917. We were then released to explore the high-tech and interactive museum. Mike roamed the halls reading all the signs. Ava was suddenly in the mood for walking so she and I walked from room to room and back again, over and over. I think I caught all the exhibits, at least the lower half of them. I just had to remember where I'd left off before she decided to move on. Just before we left Ava passed out in her stroller. She stayed asleep as we transferred her into and out of her car seat several times that afternoon. That walk tuckered her out!
While Ava napped in the stroller and car seat Mike and I headed to Westport to wander around. We then headed back to the hotel and with Ava finally done napping we went to the hotel pool where she had a great time riding in her floaty. We stayed in for the evening and rested. It had been a busy day!
Sunday we visited the City Market and then went back west to eat at the Blue Bird Bistro for a lovely brunch. The Bistro uses only sustainable, local, organic food to prepare their meals. It was wonderful, if a bit fancier than we were expecting. They were very accommodating and Ava devoured the free lemon-poppy seed bread they brought to the table.

After brunch we returned home with a new found appreciation for Kansas City. There are many great children's activities! We made a long list of places to visit again when Ava is older. There are so many neat neighborhoods and everyone was really nice. I had many conversations with strangers there! I'm not sure if that was due to the boldness of being on vacation or simply having a more leisurely approach to the day than I have when I'm at home. Either way, it was nice.

Back in Columbia, I was able to get together with my family tonight to celebrate my birthday with them at a new restaurant in town, Agave. My sister made Pumpkin Pie cupcakes for my birthday and we all gathered back home to have Ava entertain us, which she did. She even said "mama" and hugged me. How's that for a birthday gift?