A Great Start

A great start to our vacation!

Amazingly I did the driving from Memphis to St. Louis with a pit stop in Sikeston, MO to enjoy Lambert's for dinner. By the way... I ordered a House Salad at Lambert's and look what I was served:

Oh my goodness!!! Yes. I took a picture of my food. I couldn't help it. Do you see the size of that thing?!

Another waiter walked by our table before I began to "tackle" the salad and his words were: "Good luck with that salad m'am". No kidding! Could you pile anymore salad on this massive bread bowl?? Geez louizzz.

Anywho, I have gotten sidetracked... Once in St. Louis, Kelly took over the driving and I (again amazingly) stayed up with him the rest of the trip. We made it into Kansas City Saturday morning at 1:38am. Upon our arrival to Uncle Frank's and Aunt Terri's, we were showed our room and found it easy to fall into slumber.

We woke up Saturday morning about 10am, rested and ready to enjoy our vacation. U (short for uncle) Frank & A (short for Aunt) Terri had a fabulous day planned out for us, and we quickly accepted the offer. We love their company so it was an easy decision, but when you throw in their good taste on entertainment... we were sure to have a good time.

First we made our way to a local diner in downtown Kansas City. There we dined on diner hamburgers, spaghetti, and I forget what U Frank got. My cheese burger hit the spot. After lunch, we made our way to the Sprint Center for the University of Kansas vs. Massachusetts basketball game. Unfortunately the Jayhawks did not walk away with a victory, but being that my hubby and I are avid basketball/sports fans, we simply enjoyed the game and competition.

Following the game, all four of us made our way to a local restaurant and enjoyed a beer and good conversation for the next hour or two. Next, we went to this excellent Mexican restaurant, which happens to be A Terri's favorite and enjoyed good eats and drinks there too. Wow, we were stuffed by the time we walked out those doors. After dinner, U Frank drove us into the Plaza to show Kelly the lights, as well as make our yearly visit to the area - sort of a tradition. The Plaza is a great upscale shopping area in Kansas City. Every year, on Thanksgiving night they light the plaza up with Christmas lights. The picture on my past blog describing our vacation spots shows a picture of the Plaza. It's really pretty... busy area of town during the holiday shopping, but pretty nonetheless.

The Plaza was our last piece of outside the home entertainment before we headed back to the Bryant homestead. Boy, what a day. It was an absolutely perfect way to start our vacation, and U Frank & A Terri completely spoiled us along the way! We're so thankful to have such good family!

Once we made it home, the long day, the drive earlier that morning, and probably some of the beverages caught up with Kelly made my hubby realize how tired he was... so about 8pm he hit the sack. I waited for my cousin to show up. Lyndy (my cuz) has three kids now, and I had not seen two of them (Madison & Clayton) for about a year and half, and one is a brand new, four week old addition, so I was looking forward to the visit. Below is a shot of me Saturday night with my new cousin (second cousin really), Coleton. What a handsome boy he is!


So far, all I can say about our vacation is that we're having a blast. Today we went to church, then to my hubby's favorite breakfast establishment - Panera Bread. After Panera we visited the Nebraska Furniture Mart - oh my! The way Kelly said it today was "Best Buy on Steroids"... but you have to also add the biggest furniture store you've ever seen in the equation. It's big... It's actually huge! We even walked out... okay, not we... me... I even walked out with a desire to buy a certain chair. We may have more blog time on that later.

Other than that, we hung out with the family, watched football, played a lot with the kids, ate some awesome homemade cooked eats from A Terri and Grandma Hansen... finished the night with a few games of pool against U Frank and A Terri, and listened/watched the Brad Paisley concert DVD on U Frank's massive TV and phenomenal sound system.

I'll post more pictures of our adventure tomorrow. For now, heading to bed.
All I can say is that I'm blessed beyond measure with my family. Extended and Immediate. God really blessed us!