Kansas City - Part III: The End

(KC Part I and KC Part II)

Even though we're not super rigid with a "schedule" for Gianna, she does much better if we follow a rhythm in our days.  During our Kansas City trip, schedules, rhythyms and the like - went out the window.

Her usual bedtime is 7pm.  This grilled backyard dinner was at 9pm.  Good little sport.

I packed tons of Gianna's books for her to read.  She found Abuelito's books to be far more entertaining.

There was a girl making balloon figures at the mall to raise money for a mission trip.

She road her first Carousel ride at the mall too.  She went nuts. (I truly think she's gonna stroke out the first time she goes to Disney world.)

Gianna discovered Abuelito's ukulele in his den and was obsessed with it the whole week...."Tito's Tar!" (Abuelito's Guitar) she would say. 

Here's Daddy playing the ukulele for Gianna.

...and no, he doesn't know how to play.  (But he's rendition of the stereotypical Mexican "Aye, Aye Aye, Aye" was riveting and sent Mommy into hysterics each time he performed.)

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It was also her first IHOP experience. This was her awesome breakfast....

.....which she didn't eat.

She did, however, discover the wonderful invention of Gogurt which ranked pretty high on her list of firsts.

Her new thing is to look at the world through her fingers. She does it especially when she goes into her shy mode.

Another first:  Cracker Barrel.  Those chairs are so darn cute....and expensive!

Not sure what this expression was for...

She made Tita play the head game...

...she instructs people to put objects on their head, and tells me to sing about it.  It's a Laurie Berkner song with a Gianna twist.

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And then we buckled up for the LONG ride home.....Gianna: sleep-desprived and getting over being sick, Mommy: right smack in the middle of being sick and Daddy: on the verge of becoming sick. Woo Hooo!!!

PePaw gave her a cute little plaid hat that she doesn't wear, but uses to put snacks in while riding in her car seat.  Best invention. She doesn't spill anything.

Oh...and here's another first....Gianna watching our new portable DVD player. 

Out of the 30 hour trip, she only watched about 2 hours...not bad.

And then we got home.  She was ecstatic.  I dragged the over-packed suitcase inside to begin the laundry marathon and....

.... I found her tossing each article of clothing out of the suitcase exclaiming,

"Helping! Helping!"

In the words of the best known resident of the fine state of Kansas,

"There's no place like home!"

Kansas City - Part II - Family

(If you missed the first post, you can find it HERE.)

It was over a year since Gianna and her Kansas City grandparents saw each other.

A welcomed, long-overdue reunion...

Abuelito having fun with Gianna.

Sweet Moments.

And this was our nephew, Stephen, when I first went to Kansas City seven years ago:

He was 7 or 8 then, and here he is now along with his grandparents and cousin.

He has grown into a fine young man...

When he was little, he stuck to me like glue during our visits.  I would always plan to make some fun project (usually food related) while we were there, and he'd always look forward to it and talk about it for days/years afterward.

It had been two years since we'd since him this time.  I thought maybe since he was 15 and in high school, that he wouldn't want much to do with us when we were there.

I was wrong.  When I spoke with him on the phone, he asked me in his newly deep voice,

"Um, Aunt Maria, are we going to make something this year?"

We did.

Homemade pizza...

...and Oreo Truffles.

Yum.

Gianna was starstruck by Stephen the whole visit.  She called his name incessantly, but was very shy around him.  I wasn't leaving without a few pictures of the two of them.

My favorite:

Knuckles!

You can find the next KC post HERE.

Kansas City - Part I: Are we there yet?

Friday night. Seven o'clock. Car packed. Munchkin buckled.  On the road......for 15 hours.

We knew she'd be exhausted since she was at my parents all afternoon...and figure she'd sleep immediately.

HA!  She was still up  at 9:30pm saying, "Big trip." She finally gave it up at 9:45pm.

She'd only sleep for a few hours at a time and any time we'd stop for gas, she'd awaken.  Good little sport though.

There were a LOT of firsts on this trip.  It was her first fast food restaurant in almost two years. We didn't even say the word, "McDonald's" - we just called it a restaurant. :0

And her first orange juice.

She looks a little intoxicated in this picture, but it makes me laugh.

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We finally got to Bonner Springs (the suburb where my inlaws live) and decided to stop in Wal-mart to buy milk and a few other essentials before we get to Iain's folks' house.  We walk into the produce department and wouldn't you know....Iain's mom is right there.  Gianna even recognized here. I was SO excited that she went straight to her Abuelita with hugs and kisses.

All that anticipation was so exciting. She was excited to be going to Tito and Tita's house (her version of Abuelito and Abuelita). We finally arrived at their home...

They have a lovely home, but our favorite part is the outdoors - where both my inlaws work so hard tending all their beautiful plants and flowers. They definitely have green thumbs.

Tita had fun giving Gianna a tour.

"Hi Mommy!" was the number one spoken phrase of the trip.

These next shots, she saw me with my camera and started smiling and saying, "Cheese, Mommy!"

Cute little birdbath.

Who knew birds really do take baths in these things?

Click HERE for Part II.