2009 Top 10 List: Reasons We’re Expecting You to Visit us in Kansas City!

While living in Seattle and Sicily, we were spoiled with lots of visitors in both locations. We just thought that they came to visit us -- not the “cool location.” Since we experienced a noticeable drop in visitors to KC here in 2009, we thought maybe we should entice you with some of the reasons we are learning to love KC…and why you should come check it out too! So here is our “2009 Top 10 Reasons We’re Expecting You to Visit us in Kansas City!”

1. KC is so “family friendly” it makes you want to have more kids! And so our biggest news of 2009 is that we are due with another bundle of joy, who looks quite healthy from the ultrasounds. Julie is scheduled to have a c-section on 2/10/10.

2. KC Barbecue is tasty, one of a kind, and in demand. Mike’s brother Matt came this summer and attended a citywide Barbecue competition with us. Your visit would most certainly include a memorable visit to the BBQ establishment of your choice!

3. KCI Airport Security is the best: each group of 3-4 gates has their own dedicated security lines, which makes it super fast to get to your gate! We utilized the airport this year on a wonderful trip to CA in January. (See here for details.) We had a blast seeing some of the sites and relaxing on the beach (though our hosts and we ended up fighting some nasty flu bugs from LA to San Francisco…which one of our hosts carried with them on a subsequent trip to Indiana!) We traveled again on a trip to Santa Fe, NM in April where we celebrated the life of Mike’s Uncle Tommy, saw a lot of Monahans, and admired the beautiful engagement ring on Rachel (brother David's fiance--May 2010 wedding) !

4. KC Visitors save on gas. Let’s face it, we’re probably closer to the majority of you then we ever were in Seattle or Sicily here (since KC is nearly the geographic center of the continental US)! This year we took to the highways over the Fourth of July. We drove to St. Louis, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, DC, Raleigh, and back again. It included a visit with college friends, about 4 days at the lake house of our sister Jan and her family—joined there by our friends Alex & Kathy & their 3 boys. (Henry fell in love with tubing and fireside stories there!) From Pittsburgh we drove to Idlewild, then DC & Williamsburg for fun visits with Navy friends, and then to Raleigh, NC. We got a nice tour and taste of Raleigh, courtesy of our friend Beth, and even tried Barbecue “East Carolina style.” We were also blessed to have a wonderful state park reunion with three families from our days in Italy. Over Thanksgiving, we trekked down to Midland, TX (just a 12 hr. drive) to spend the weekend with Mike’s family. So if we can do it, so can you! Most of you are just a day’s drive away!

5. Great KC Accommodations are still available, for free! Plus, once you get here, a lot of the best local venues are free: Deanna Rose Children’s Farm (the coolest farm ever), the Arboretum (BEAUTIFUL botanical gardens, somehow even in winter!), Union Station, the Nelson-Atkins Museum (new Native American exhibit)…and they’re all just “right down the road” from us!

6. First-time Triathletes have a smooth one to start with: the WIN for KC Triathlon! Julie completed her first “sprint” Triathlon this year (3 months pregnant), and is looking forward to not being pregnant for the next one in 2010!! If you want to join her, plan your visit to be here on July 31st!

7. Wonderful Family Values. We have really enjoyed our Sunday school class and small groups here. It is a friend in Christ that sharpens, challenges and supports your faith and we are blessed to have those friends here. Julie has had the joy of leading a MOPS (Mother of Preschoolers) table this year and continues to (barely) lead our Neighborhood Social activities. Mike was involved as a Youth Friends mentor and helped out with the company–sponsored high school Robotics team. He also moonlights as a Cardiac Arrest Response Team Leader and backup guitarist at church when he’s not working at Burns & McDonnell. We have also enjoyed a few “family” events with the Purdue Alumni Club here.

8. Don’t have to go far for that Country Music Paradise—Branson here we come! In August, Mike captained a pontoon boat on the nearby Table Rock Lake while the crew of friends & kids tubed off the back. Henry again challenged the speed of the pontoon boat while tubing…and held on better than some of our friends! We also enjoyed Silver Dollar City…and getting to meet Bob & Larry (from Veggie Tales) in person!

9. KC camping is exciting! The tent has done well, which is a good thing because we seem to have a knack for picking rainy weekends! The boys enjoy camping though, and are quite troopers, even in spite of the rain. We even exposed Julie’s parents to a rainy camping experience over Labor Day which included a trip to Elephant Rocks State Park in MO. We did enjoy a dry campout with some friends over Memorial Day, in raised “tree house” cabins!

10. KC Friendly Frogs are happy AND hoppy!! Henry (now 4) loves his preschool class (the Friendly Frogs) and always declares (on Tuesdays & Thursdays) that it’s his “favorite part of the day.” He still amazes us with his creativity, memory, and overall intelligence. Andrew (now 2) enjoys dropping Henry off at preschool and declaring that “it’s Mama Drew-Drew day!!” He has also become an avid pretend sword fighter since Mike ushered them into the Star Wars saga starting with (hold your groans) Episode I.

We will spend Christmas in St. Louis with Julie’s family and then head back to entertain the Woods - our first visitors of 2010! (See, this letter is already working!)

Many blessings to you in 2010! Much love, Mike, Julie, Henry, Andrew, & “Quilly” #3

Thanksgiving 2009 - Midland, TX

Thanksgiving 2009 was wonderful. It was what most families could dream of...lots of family (I think they "housed" 21), tons of food (I think they fed 28 for 4 days--with half of them being 20-30 yr. old growing boys! :), one house on a ranch with horses, dogs, hay, & dirt, one baptism, two birthdays, one wedding shower, and fun. Also, throw in a fun stop for us at a hotel with a pool on the way there, a visit with my college roomie & her new (10 day old) baby, and then an "easy" 13 hr. car ride home with Andrew pointing out all the "pumpjacks" (oil rigs) all the way home. :) "There's another one!" he'd say...we probably passed 300!! :) Here are the pics: My boys in a cattle stall--Uncle Karl is a calf roper. And the boys close up & personal with one of their horses.
My future sister-in-law (in the middle) during one of my many shower games. :) Me & Andrew in the hotel pool...one quick story here. Henry LOVES jumping off the side and swimming to the edge of the pool. Andrew "pretended" to do this NUMEROUS times (following Henry's instructions--all until the last "jump"), but would then go down the ladder. After about 30 min. of this, Andrew actually jumped in, and sank. :) I was right there of course & basically caught him but it was a surprise for us all (he still came up smiling & said "hooray I did it!")
My boys in the hay (before we knew they shouldn't be playing in it). And us & the future Mr. & Mrs. David Monahan after our "home makeover" Christmas presents were "presented." :) Many thanks to Karl & Tracy for being awesome hosts once again & thanks to all the family for such a fun weekend!

Henry's Birthday

So my eldest son turned FOUR last month...and I am just now getting to download pictures. Here are pictures from his playmate pirate party (described below).

Henry was so appreciative of EVERYTHING this birthday. He had such a sweet, grateful, and excited heart...it truly made me overjoyed!! I totally understood the mantra of "parents don't need presents...they just want to make their kids happy!" Things I remember and want to remember about his fourth birthday are:

1. On Friday morning, I put his cake together...in the shape of a pirate ship. He didn't see me put it together until about an hr. after, when he just saw it sitting on the stove. He exclaimed, "MOM! Did you make me a pirate ship cake?!!!" He was smiling ear to ear. I said, "Yep, I tried to make it like the ones we looked at on the computer." He said, "I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT!!!" (And continued saying how cool it was...boy did that make me feel good!)

2. My parents came in for the weekend, starting on Friday. My mom just got her second knee replaced (but was walking great), and even arrived in time for his "playmate" party!

3. His playmate party was with his 4 friends that we've had play dates with since we moved here. They were great sports and put on pirate mustaches & beards & hats & patches. The pictures above show some of the games we played: "The shrinking island," Pirate Pop-Up, and "Walk the Plank." We also did "Captain Says" and a treasure hunt to fill up their goodie bags. I think I had as much fun planning the party as they did doing it! :) Oh yeah, I also put little sails with each kid's initials in their hot dogs for lunch...(all these ideas came off other "party" websites).

4. On his actual birthday, we started the day with Dunkin Donuts! They opened their first store in KC just up the street from us...the DAY before Henry's birthday. Since we had been watching the progress of the "building" Henry was really excited when they finally opened. I guess everybody else in town was also excited because there was a line of about 30 people in front of us (in a slight drizzle) at 6:15am!! They were super fast though, and Henry picked out some yummy choices for all of us.

5. That afternoon we watched my niece play "futsol" (indoor soccer on a basketball court) and then went to Burger King...as we left BK, Henry said, it sure was nice for Aunt Jill (& family) to have lunch with us! It was so cute!! He also thanked my mom & dad for coming in for his birthday.

6. We opened some presents in the a.m. & some that night. Here is a picture of a grateful and excited Henry opening his "Veggie Tales Pirate Ship" which has not been put down for more than an hour since that day (if we're in our house). Definitely a hit.

7. For dinner, my parents were visiting my Aunt & Uncle (who also live in town), so we treated the boys to Chuck E Cheese. We have only ever gone there for birthdays...so they know it's a special treat. Andrew has said that it was the best part of his day every night now since 11/14. Henry loved it too of course.

8. On Sunday we had my sister's family over for some "masta pasta" -- which is Henry's favorite (spaghetti), and had a little family celebration, with more presents, a rerun of the pirate games/treasure hunt for my nephews, and actually cut into the pirate ship at this point! (Up until then we had eaten the "island" and the blue sea.)

9. On Sunday he woke up saying that he didn't want to have any more birthdays. When I asked why, he said that he didn't want to get too big to play pirates anymore. And that his pirate ship & toys would stay little...so he wanted to also. Hmmmm... (Mike did also note that maybe he got that from Mike tucking him in bed the night before telling him that now that he's four, he'll have more responsibility...and four minute timeouts.) :) We continually reassured him on Sunday that it was really fun to get older. :)

All in all, I don't think Henry could have been too much happier with his birthday weekend. Happy 4th Birthday Big Boy!! :)