Our Grandaugher Halle Turns Ten, A Final Day In Lee's Summit, MO

Happy Birthday, Halle

Breakfast Club---Peyton, Chris, and Nick

It 7:00, time to relax and wait for the rest of the family to get up, for CBS Sunday morning to begin here in KC at 8:00.  It's going to get colder today, the warm spell over, as it's 33º at the moment, the high only 40º.  And, as I mentioned, our granddaughter Halle turned 10 yesterday; fortunately, she was able to spend it with her cousins in Darien, CT.  We will get to see her  at Christmas.

Walking Trail In Lees Summit Winterset Park

Yesterday was a typical Saturday, the boys sleeping in, me up early, the adults waking up one at at time.  Around 9:30, all were up, sort of if you look at the photo of the boys.  They are waiting for Tom and Evie to make them an omeletand bagels.  I had already had my healthy breakfast of yogurt, fruit, and homemade granola, so I went out for a walk in the neighborhood, just about forty five minutes, a good way to begin the day. When I returned, the boys were off to the gym with Nick, as was Tommy, and Mary was running.  Evie and Marlena were the only ones home, and they were playing Telefunky, a card game Marlena loves.  Around noon, the Ohio State/Michigan game came on, so I settled in on the couch to watch it, the only one in the house that cared.  Since most had a late breakfast, I was the only one that had lunch, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, just what I wanted.  We relaxed the rest of the early afternoon, most taking showers and getting ready for our excursion to the Country Club Plaza, the major shopping area about ten miles south of Kansas City, the hub of great restaurants and shops, built in the 1920's, and modeled architecturally on Seville, Spain.  It's a pleasure just to walk around its streets, admiring the buildings and fountains and towers.

We arrived at the Country Club Plaza and it looked like all of Kansas City had the same idea, enjoying an unusually warm afternoon, browsing the shops, eating at the restaurants.  We drove for about ten minutes before finding a place to park.  Then, for the next hour or two, we walked and shopped, enjoying the afternoon, the happy shoppers, the great shops.  We hit Banana Republic, where Nick picked out a new pair of khakis and a shirt.  Then on to Urban Outfitters, to browse their sometimes outrageous stock.  Next, the Apple store and surprise, Tom did not buy anything, a first.  We then stopped at Lucky's, where Tom was able to find the shirt he wanted, on sale, for ten bucks, an amazing bargain at Lucky's.  We then decided to look for a restaurant, stopped at three or four but all of them said it would be an hour or two wait even though there seemed to be empty tables.  Noone of us wanted to wait that long, so we jumped in the car and drove to Kansas City's southwest side, to eat at Margarita's, a Mexican restaurant Tom and Mary liked.

Busy Sunday at the Plaza

Waiting For Dad To Check Out The Restaurant 

A Photograph of Country Club Plaza In The Summer

We then decided to look for a restaurant, stopped at three or four but all of them said it would be an hour or two wait even though there seemed to be empty tables.  None of us wanted to wait that long, so we jumped in the car and drove to Kansas City's southwest side, to eat at Margarita's, a Mexican restaurant Tom and Mary liked. It's picturesquely set beneath a bridge, next to a warehouse, near The Roastery.  It, too, was packed, and many, like us, had to wait for at least a half hour for a table.  We finally sat down in the crowded, loud but fun dining room, ordered our Dos Equis and Margaritas, them meals, and we were all happy.  Both Evie and I had the Margarita special, a stuffed burrito with cheese sauce, the others various specialities and they were all good.  It was a good choice, our kind of restaurant, nothing fancy, just good food and lots of people enjoying the night out for dinner.  These kind of places always remind us of Turkey in the 1970's before it became hip and chic and expensive.

Dinner at Margarita's in Downtown KC

A Painting at Margarita's Restaurant
(reminded Marlena and Evie of Van Gogh's, THE BEDROOM)

We left Margarita's just after 8:00, drove home to Lee's Summit and stopped for a few minutes at their 'Magic Tree', a lonely tree set in the middle of a field, decorated with multicolored lights.  There were ten to fifteen other cars in the field, parked like us, getting out to admire the tree, a good way to end our day with Tommy and family.

Nick, Mary, and Marlena

Nick and Hannah

We were home by 8:30, and once again struggled with finding a movie we might all enjoy.  Tom settled on a classic, THE USUAL SUSPECTS, not a page turner shall we say,  as both Nick and Hannah decided to go downstairs and watch something else.  We managed to stick with it, mainly because of Kevin Spacey in perhaps his first great role.  We also had more cheesecake as we watched.  We ended the evening watching the last quarter of the Alabama/Auburn football game, a fitting way to end the night...with a football game.