City Market Saturday in Kansas City

Plaza

Plaza

Plaza at Dusk

Another clear but cold day here in Kansas City; right now it's twenty three degrees out, not a cloud in the sky, the kind of weather which reminds me of this area...huge, empty skies, and either cold or very warm.

It's about 8:00, Marlena's up, working in the kitchen with Evie, making turkey soup, Bella's on my lap, her usual spot when I am on the couch, Nick's sleeping and his parents had a night out and are staying down at the Marriott in the Country Club Plaza.  For some reasons, our kids tend to leave us alone with their children when we are in town and take off for the weekend or just a day and night.  Understandable and fun for us, as we have the kids to spoil, with no parents intervening and saying NO.

Yesterday was a cold day, hats, warm coats and gloves were in order for much of the day.  Tom and Mary went to work out mid morning.  Nick was still asleep, recovering from his 5:30 morning basketball practices, so Marlena, Evie and I decided to take a hike in a nearby park called the Winterset Summit Park, about a half mile away.  It follows the same creek behind their house, but this section is much wider, lots of big rocks, a couple of trails to follow and longer, so it was great.  Crisp and sunny, perfect for following the creek, climbing over rocks, avoiding soakers as we crossed the creek, climbing up paths, all the things Marlena loves doing with us.  It so much fun to have an enthusiastic child along on the hikes to liven it up, open our eyes, as we see things we missed because of her eyes.  We walked for little over an hour, out and back, and though we did not snack or picnic, other than apple, it was great fun.  We all want to do it again.

Going for a Hike

Hiking the Creek

Raking Leaves with Bella

The Good Son Earns a Buck

Marlena

Left overs for lunch, for me, a warmed plate of turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing and gravy, the good life.  Then, about 3:00, we all drove down to the Plaza, to walk and eat, taking two cars as we were bringing the kids home.  We had a Genius appointment at the Apple store, to try to solve an ICloud problem and found out the most likely cause of the lost of Photo Streaming was  that Evie's IPAD's memory was filled with photos, thus she could not import any new ones.  The store was a mad house though we were able to get help right on time.  We then took some pictures of Tom and family, for a possible Christmas card.  And we walked, to the kids dismay and shopped some.  It is a stunning area to walk, especially at dusk when all the Christmas lights are turned on.  It is literally like a Christmas wonderland sans snow.  Every building roof, every nook and cranny, had lights.  Amazing to see.

We went to P. F. Changs for dinner, sat at the bar for about twenty minutes, then ate an assortment of Asian meals, all quite tasty.  I think Tom's Kung Pao shrimp and my eggplant in Sezchuan sauce were the two favorites.  My Dan Dan noodles and Mary's chicken in black bean sauce seemed to be the least favorite.  Lettuce wraps and endame for an appetizer were both hits.  We walked some after the dinner, then said good by to Tom and Mary and drove home, Nick giving me directions via his IPhone as I was not familiar with the route.  We did not get home till about 8:30.  Evie put Marlena to bed then the three of us watched a movie, Unstoppable, with Denzel Washington, a true story about a run away train in Pennsylvania.  I enjoyed it and was pulled in to the tension of the train, of whether it could be stopped.  It was directed by the late Tony Scott of Top Gun fame and had the same kind of action and tension.  He was a master.  We went to bed around 11:15.

Today, we are having the Burlingame's over for dinner, a buddy of Tom's from the neighborhood who also happens to work at USA-800.  And this morning, we are going off to the City Market in downtown KC, much like the West Side Market in Cleveland.  We went last year at this time and all of us had fun shopping the vegetable stands and ethnic markets.