May I?

 I saw a cardinal on our beehive! I tried to get a picture before it flew away. They are definitely more active in our neighborhood right now. It always gives me a thrill to see them.

    The Truman Library was having a free day and had the 250 Celebration: The Story of US, a visiting exhibit with several original pieces of note from our history. Including the Brown v. the Board of Education, the original design for the Great Seal, the Bill of Rights revisions, among other historical documents. It was incredible to read the words and mark the signatures. To have the importance of valiant people seep into your bones. 

    Typically, the kids ran through and really just wanted to get to the gift shop, but Henry and I took our time. President Truman's term was fraught with so many worldwide complications. He really did well despite everyone discounting him. His life is fascinating, and the library is well worth a visit.

 

   Later, Daniel and I went to see The Mandalorian in the theater. It was fun.

    The following night, we had Ron over for dinner. It was fun catching up. Daniel showed him the summer project he and Charles are working on. 

The city is redoing the roads in our neighborhood. It is quite the experience watching them work.

    Look how pretty my flowers are! It took them the better part of the week to get the roads finished. We skipped town while they worked. On to better things!

Times to Celebrate

     With my parents here, we had Teddy's birthday party early. He wanted a strawberry heart cake. It's so funny, he doesn't care for real strawberries, but loves strawberry flavoring. This kid! I got some freeze-dried strawberries to make the buttercream frosting and threw a bit into the cake batter as well. I love that you can just pick that up at the grocery store now. What a world we live in! 

We celebrated Daniel's birthday too.

    Teddy loves this book! We discovered it at the library and have checked it out nearly nonstop. When it isn't available, he is so sad. Now he has his very own copy thanks to his Grandparents. I frequently find it tucked into bed with him.

    I think it is fair to say he is excited to be 5. Lizzy found a University that she is interested in, so the day my parents left, we went down to tour Avila University. It is a small campus, but very nice. She will be able to wrestle there as well as pursue her art. A rare unicorn for her. She went in trying to get a sports scholarship, but they gave her an academic scholarship on top of that! I didn't get any pictures there, but we went to JackStack for lunch and got a few choice pics there. 

    

 Caught Lizzy as a chipmunk!

    The food was ok, nothing to write home about, but this carrot cake was amazing! They serve it warm from the oven with the glaze melting down the sides. 

    On the 20th, we celebrated Teddy again, and this time he wanted cookies. So we had cookies, and they had fun frosting them.

 

    I also finally gave Teddy his Super Kitties plushies. We found them in the clearance section of Walmart several months ago, and they have been sitting in the garage ever since. Henry was very concerned that I had not given them to Teddy yet. As it was his actual birthday, I conceded. Teddy and Henry were mollified at last.

    

    For Daniel's birthday, I made his favorite cookies and tacos for dinner and kept it lowkey just as he prefers. Teddy made Daniel his own Pokémon; it's very powerful! Happy birthday, Teddy and Daniel!

  

   Emily graduated from elementary school that day, too. I got to go watch her class walk the halls for the last time. It was fun. So many kids and parents were crying. Emily didn't understand, as this is her 3rd elementary. She is used to changing schools. 

Playing with the Grandparents.

     With my parents here, I sort of ran them ragged. On Saturday, we went to ride the trains at the Kansas City Northern Railroad. They were having a special event where the trains were free, and there were all sorts of vehicles you could tour. They opened up the miniature trains as well. That's only open twice a year! 

     Henry and I ended up riding the train 3 times. It was fun riding the new track. They had just finished the extended rail a few months ago. 

    The first vehicle we toured was a joint Coast Guard and the KC Metro Sheriff's Department mobile command unit, and it was very plush! 2 bathrooms, air conditioning, and even a microwave. Dad recalled that in his time on the force, they were lucky to get a candy bar!

   There were several steam engines and even a boat to see. While we were touring, Ecto 1 showed up!

    There was a Terror Dog in the back and Slimer on the side; they both moved and lit up. It was super cool!

While Henry and I went on our last train ride, a helicopper landed. 

    Afterwards, I had a JASNA tour at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. I took Mom, Dad, Lizzy, Emily, and Charles with me. They explored the museum while I took the regency tour. Our docent was amazing. She had worked at the Art Institute for years and had been a docent here for a few years. She really merged Austen's world with the pieces on display. 

    This piece is an interesting Regency jacket. From the museum: "This rare buffalo skin coat reflects a complex blending of Woodlands and Plains Indian artistic traditions—Northwestern Ojibwa, Manitoba Cree, Northeastern Plains and Metis—as well as European fashion. It also embodies the dynamic cultural exchange that characterized the beaver trade during the North American Colonial period. Patterned after an English officer’s coat of the period of George III, garments of this type signified rank, wealth, and prestige. This one is richly ornamented with loom-woven, embroidered, and wrapped porcupine quillwork in geometric designs, and elaborately painted with abstract, geometric imagery. Like all others with recorded histories, it was presented to a prominent White official or visitor, reportedly in 1789, and probably represented a complex social exchange rather than a simple gift or collector’s acquisition."

    It was quite beautiful and a fun reminder of how fashion travels. This painting is of brothers; they are in the height of regency fashion.

    I rejoined our familial group, and we headed to the car. Dad was able to flash his handicap placard, and we were off! We headed home to drop off Lizzy for her work shift and gather the other kids and Daniel to drive down to Clinton, MO, to witness a life-sized Tabernacle called Messiah Mansion. It is a touring tabernacle, and since the kids were asking what the tabernacle really looked like, as we have been studying the Old Testament, I felt this was an opportunity too good to miss. 

    I was hoping to get dinner in Clinton before our appointment time, but the drive was longer than I had thought. We headed straight to the tabernacle, and they let us go early. I have never seen one like this before. My parents had seen one in Utah, but it was smaller.

    Our young guide was very informative and was patient with my inquisitive children. Emily was called up to show how the lamb was slaughtered. I wish I had gotten a picture of that; it was funny. She held the knife upside down and kept making a face.

    It was interesting to see the various tent coverings; the beaver skin was not real, of course, but neat to see them all represented.

    The priest's robes and linen breeches.

Afterwards, we went to dinner at Joe’s Italian Restaurant. It was very nice.

  We drove home in the dark, but it was a good day.