Brian Gimlett's Wedding

We got back from Kansas City just in time to head to NYC for Brian Gimlett's wedding.  It was a moment we had been looking forward to for a long time.  We stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel which was right near the reception site and a few blocks from St. Patrick's Cathedral where Brian wed his lovely bride Lauren.  It turns out they were filming a movie called "Man on a Ledge" at our hotel the day we arrived.  I made Nick and I feel like we were ready to head to the nearest ledge as we drove in circles trying to get to our hotel only to find street after street blocked by the movie crews.  It was maddening.  Luckily we made it to our hotel finally with about 45 minutes to get ready and head to the church.

You can see a little crane type thing up on top of the building.  That was were the man was on the ledge.

 The wedding itself was beautiful in every way.  The reception was an absolute blast and the food was amazing.  We also were thrilled to reunite with so many great college friends.

Nick, Brian, Doug, Paul, and Bobby

Doug, Bobby, Brian, Nick, and CJ

Katie, Doug, Paul and Kelly Mehan

 Testing out my camera settings on Katie, but I think it turned out as a pretty cute picture!

After lots of dancing!

Our last days in Kansas City

Our final day in Kansas City we headed to Little Monkey Business one last time only this time we brought our friends Dana, Danika and Deacon and we had a blast!  Isabella decided she had a little frog with her too.  It played with her the whole time and she climbed around the gym with her hand clasped like it was holding a little frog.  Here she is showing me her friend.  

At some point Danika took her frog and released it back in to the wild.  That did not go over so well, but Danika had been taught that frogs need to go back in the grass.  It was pretty hilarious to us adults, but the kids didn't appreciate it as much.  In the end Danika reunited Isabella with her froggy friend.

Jack really enjoyed the enormous building blocks

Our last night in Kansas we headed out to our absolute favorite place to eat: Oklahoma Joe's BBQ.  Our friends came along for our farewell dinner.  The girls really enjoyed spending dinner together.  

The next morning the kids and I were on our flight back to VA and Nick headed out on his long drive back.  I was happy to get the flight, even if it was with the kids.  

We will really miss Kansas.  We had a great time there, but in the end really "there's no place like home" and in our case home is in PA.

Halloween 2010

For Halloween we went to my friend Dana's house and did trick-or-treating with them in their neighborhood.  It was a good time, although I think Isabella was pretty over it by the end.  It was a lot of walking for her.  It turned out to be a pretty cold night so I was glad that Jack had such a fluffy costume and we had to add a sweater to Dorothy's costume.  

Jack and Deacon

Isabella and Danika

The first house

It got pretty cold

Antioch Park

We headed to Antioch Park on a Sunday after church and breakfast at our favorite breakfast spot, Santa Fe Cafe.  It is an awesome park on a pond.  It has a couple big playgrounds and a little village of play houses for kids.  It even has a city hall with a jail and a tunnel on the outside of the jail so the kids can make their escape.  It was a ton of fun, especially since we had daddy with us. I included a video of that.  It was a terribly cold day though so we didn't last too long.

Climbing wall

Fountains, fountains, fountains!

We headed downtown on Saturday to explore the Plaza area of the city.  Kansas City is known as the City of Fountains.  It has over 200 fountains.  We just saw a small sampling while walking around.  Isabella threw a couple coins in the fountains while we were downtown.  We explained to her that you toss a coin in and make a wish.  After trying it for the second time, we asked her if she was ready to go.  She replied "No"  I said "Why not?" and she said "I want to watch my coin turn in to a toy".  Apparently we should have explained a little better how the coin in the fountain thing worked.

This was the fountain where Isabella was intently watching her coin and waiting for it to transform

Night of the Living Farm

The Friday before Halloween we headed to the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead in Overland Park, KS for the Night of the Living Farm. It was a fun festival with trick or treating, hayrides, marshmallow roasting, and lots more. The kids got all dressed up and off we went.

Our little Dorothy Gale 

The cutest cowardly lion

Roasting Marshmallows

Me and the kiddos!

Preparing for Halloween

The kids were entirely ready when Halloween finally came as it seemed we were doing pre-Halloween stuff the couple weeks before.  Grandma sent this great scary book...Isabella absolutely loved it!!

Nonna sent her these adorable pj's that couldn't have been more true!

"So cute it's scary"

Jack fell in love with this pumpkin treat basket at Target and so we got it for his trick or treating.  He insisted it come with him for naps and bed time.  Adorable!  Trick or Treating in his dreams....