The "Show Me" State

When we first moved to Iowa, Colby and I decided that while we were here it would be fun to explore the midwest.  We started by traveling North to Minneapolis, then we headed West to Omaha, and Southeast to Nauvoo.  Last weekend we decided it was time to head South to Kansas City.  We took advantage of a three-day weekend and some unseasonably nice weather and drove 3 hours South with our friends the Campbell's to the "Show Me" state.

Our kids were thrilled about having to pose for this picture after the long drive.  Here are the highlights of our trip.

Coco-Key

Thanks to Priceline, we got a sweet deal on a hotel with a water park attached.   The kids were pumped to spend the day at "Coco-Key" water park and they had a blast!

Abigail didn't know what to think about her first time swimming.  She splashed in the kiddie pool and floated in the lazy river with Mom, after she got used to the water she seemed to really like it.

You've gotta love this itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny bikini.

Carter wasn't a big fan of the "big" water slides, but he loved splashing in the fountains and going down the smaller slides.

Ammon loved every minute of the water park! He swims like a little fish.

Site Seeing

We spent one afternoon site seeing downtown.  We took the kids to Kaleidoscope, where they got to create their own art projects, cards and puzzles.

The kids loved exploring the different themed rooms at Kaleidoscope including a space room and an ocean area.

We also checked out the Hallmark headquarters and visitor's center.

Abbi and Logan were the sweetest little babies and didn't give us any problems.

T-Rex Cafe

After site seeing, we took the kids to lunch at the T-Rex cafe.  This was the funnest "kid restaurant" we have ever been to.  The cafe was decked out with giant, moving dinosaurs, oversized aquariums, fossils, and a "meteor shower."  The food was mediocore, but the atmosphere made up for it.

Caden, Austin, Ammon and Carter patiently waiting for their parents to finish taking pictures so they can go inside.

Even the potty breaks at T-Rex were fun.

The boys outside T-Rex cafe.  The pictures don't do it justice- it was a really cool place.

Eats

For Colby, one of the highlights of any vacation is the food.  We once drove from St.George to Vegas for an In and Out burger.  Our quest in Kansas City was to find some good BBQ.  Kansas City is known for their barbeque, but with so many barbeque resturaunts in town- how do you decide which one to try?  A local reccommended The Smokehouse, and they did not disappoint.

 

We also ate at Uno Chicago, which was recommended by a hotel brochure.  They had excellent boneless wings and deep dish pizza.

So good, in fact that Colby had to take a picture of his.

Church History

We finished off the trip by touring the local church history sites.  Missouri doesn't have the best history with the LDS church, but they did have a great visitor's center in Independence. They even had a Book of Mormon in Iymara (Colby will surely harrass me about the spelling of that!)

Three little future missionaries checking out the display of International Books of Mormon.

 

The kids in a replica log cabin which would have, amazingly, housed ten families while the saints were in Independence.

Our family and The Campbell family by a statue of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  Ammon had to add his own personal touch to the only group picture we got on this trip by sticking his finger up his nose.

Liberty Jail, where the Prophet Joseph Smith spent four months and received multiple revelations which are found in the Doctorine and Covenants.  This was a really cool place to visit, the Sister Missionary who was giving our tour had many interesting stories to share and it was a very peaceful, spiritual place.

Our last stop on the way home was at Adam Ondi Ahman, 90 miles North of Independence. We braved the cold to walk on a dirt trail to an overlook of the Valley.

If you have actually looked at all of these pictures and are reading this, I must say that I am impressed.  I know other people's vacation pictures are never very fun to look at, but we had a great trip that was worth documenting. Thanks for enduring this lengthy post.