144 Hours In Kansas City

Granny and Marlena

Nick Intense

Nick Ready For Game

Up at  6:30, CT, just me and Bella, the family dog, sitting on my lap of course, making it difficult to type with one hand because I have to pet her or she whines.  Nick and his Mom are up by 6:50, so Nick can have some breakfast before heading off to school and his first class, Physics at 7:30.  I remember those days.  It looks like an amazing six days here in the heartland of the country, sunny and warm every day, highs to get in the 80's.  Maybe we will swim in Evie's sister's lake later in the week.  We brought our bathing suits.

We left from Effingham yesterday about 8:00, arriving in Lee's Summit, a southeasterly suburb of Kansas City around 2:45, an easy six hour drive or less if you don't stop at the country western store, Kleinschmits which we always do so I can pick up another Carthart flannel shirt, the farmer's favorite.  We browsed the store for about a half hour before heading to KC.  When we arrived, Nick was already home from school, with Mary, so we quickly unloaded the car, played with Bella, and got caught up on all the news.  Nick's soccer team was playing their bitter cross town rival Lee Summit North, at 6:30, so he was a bit on edge, excited but nervous, and not sure what to eat before the big game.  I remember those days when my Mom would make me pancakes.  We met Marlena at the bus, which was fun because she was so excited complaining that 'the day went so low because I couldn't wait to see you.' What a kid.

Tom's Cool New Wheels

While Marlena worked on her math homework, fractions, we waited for Tom to get home, at 5:30. He had a new car, obviously a mid life crisis sort of vehicle, a Jeep Wrangler with a removeable top, a cool vehicle, ready for anything, on or off the road.  Both he and Nick were excited to show us their new iPhone 6's, bigger than the old 5's, almost like a small iPad.  We went to the game around 6:00, saw the end of the JV, easily found seats in the stands though their was a good crowd, lots of boisterous Lee Summit West students, supporting Nick's team.  Nick's school is fairly new, a modern building with great facilities, in this case a football stadium with a turf field, a composite track, the equal of many colleges I suppose.  It was a perfect night for soccer, in the 60's with little wind.  Nick's team fell behind by two goals early in the second half but came bouncing back to tie the game at 2 all, before losing 4-2 in the end though they played hard and well.  All the boys were disappointed, as were the coaches, but they will get back on track.  We are staying till Monday so we can see Nick's next game, on Monday evening.   And as an added bonus, we get to watch Marlena's soccer team play Sunday at 12;30.

Lee Summit West Field

Nick Again

We got home around 7:45, Nick not till 8:30 because of a team meeting.  Mary had made spaghetti and meatballs ahead of time, her specialty, so we heated them up for dinner.  Great meatballs, great sauce, her Dad's Sicilian recipe, as usual.  We talked with Nick who was down, of course, because of their loss but buoyed by their hard play because the game could have gone either way with some luck.  We were all tired for some reason, so all of us went up to bed around 10:00.  A good choice because Evie and Tom and Marlena are still sleeping and it's 7:30.

Not sure what is on the agenda for today, taking it easy in Lee Summit, perhaps a walk with the dog, some shopping, and maybe lemon chicken with rice for dinner, Tommy's favorite.