Home Sweet Home

We went on a mini vacation last weekend. It was... Well... It was okay.

I should add here that in fact it was pretty nice, but I really, strongly dislike Kansas City. Don't get me wrong. It has nice features. I like that it has several museums and tons of shopping and that their citywide landscaping and parks makes Wichita look like a complete wasteland.

But the navigation. Oh, Lord.

We had GPS this time, and we still managed to get lost every. time. we. went. anywhere.

I'm going to try not to write a novel here, but this is what we managed to get done in just three days:

• First stop was Cabela's. It was... well, I'm not so sure what the draw is, really. But I'm not a hunter, and I don't really fish. We looked at camping gear and checked out their aquarium, and I bought a couple of Christmas presents, because that will help me a lot when December rolls around. And then I was ready to leave.

• Then we went to a Guitar Center. Yes, we have one in Wichita. But BoyWonder wanted to restring his banjo before we took it to the wedding on Saturday. Sadly enough, the Overland Park store wasn't as nice as ours.

• And then we checked into our hotel. I will probably vent more about this later, but we stayed at the Sheraton in Overland Park. BoyWonder decided that, as my birthday gift, we'd stay in a 5-star hotel. It was really, really pretty. The sheets were nice, and I liked the pillows, but other than that it was definitely NOT worth it. No mini-fridge, no microwave, no free breakfast. In fact, the room-service menu was the only hotel information that was left in the room. Let me say it this way. The cheapest thing on that menu was a breakfast... for $8 I could have a cup of yogurt, some juice, and a small pot of coffee. ugh. NOT worth it. NOT a good birthday gift. (Sorry, BoyWonder. I know you tried. I just hope you're still going to do something nice for me later in the week.)

• And then... I think it was Gates Barbecue. It was delicious. The people who worked there were speaking English, but neither BoyWonder nor I could understand anything they were saying. (In one of the reviews we found, this particular location had won a "Hoodie" award. I'm assuming that's because it was kind of in the ghetto.)

• And then was the museum. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. It was really pretty cool, but not great for those of us with compromised attention spans.

• And then the casino. We went to the Argosy. Now, I was NOT looking forward to the casino. It seems silly to me, and most of the people in there make me feel sad. But this casino was AWESOME. The entrance was very Greek/Roman--huge, tall stone pillars that hold up this gigantic stained-glass dome. And then as you walk further in, like to the coffee shop and the actual casino area, the ceiling is like a sky. Complete with moving clouds and twinkly stars and a moon that moves around. It reminded me a lot of the ceiling of Hogwarts. Anywho... we both took $20 in with us. We started on the dollar slots. And we were losing all our money really, really fast, so we moved to the penny machines. Then we got bored and were kind of ready to leave. I still had about $12 left. We played on the quarter machines for a minute, and then BoyWonder was about to lose all his money. So we moved back to the dollar machines. His money was gone almost instantly. My machine kept hitting, though. Four dollars here, twelve dollars there... I'd get up to $40 total, and BoyWonder would try to talk me into cashing out. I'd go back down to $20, and he'd say, "You can cash out now and still have all your money." And I did. But then he said, "You should try to play again. That machine has been hitting a lot." So I put my ticket back into the machine. I kept winning and losing small amounts. Finally I decided that when I got down to $15 I'd cash out and go. So I'm at $17. I spin. And I'm not even sure what I spun, but it didn't tell me right off what I won. It just kept adding dollars to my bonus. I cashed out with $343. BoyWonder got jealous and blew another $20 but lost it in a matter of minutes.

• So then we went to the hotel for the night.

• This is my favorite part. I finally made it to Happybottomus. You know, the brick-and-mortar cloth diaper store. It wasn't as big as I'd imagined it would be, but it was still really, really cool. I'm a little irritated that I didn't add things up as I was throwing them into my arms... I'd planned on spending $150 there even before I won any money at the casino, but I only spend around $120. But I got a lot. Let's see... a 2-pack of Rumparooz Lil Joeys, a used GoodMama (newborn), one KissaLuv Organic (it says newborn, but it's the biggest one I came home with), a Thirsties Fab Fitted, one BabyKicks Hemp prefold, some Snappis, and a wetbag. If I could do it over, I'd have grabbed at least one more of the 2-packs of Lil Joeys. They're honestly the most adorable things I've ever seen. I wanted some covers, since most newborn diapers need them, but there wasn't much there in the way of covers. Oh well. It was still awesome.

• Then we rounded up BoyWonder's parents and headed back to the hotels. BoyWonder went to swim at his parents' hotel's pool, which gave me some much-needed alone time to get ready for the wedding.

• So by now, it's time to leave for the wedding. I would love to post a picture of myself, but unfortunately, my husband didn't take any. Anywho... I looked good for a change. It started storming right as we were leaving. Strong winds, heavy, driving rain. Thunder and lightning. ugh. I rode with MIL, and FIL rode with BoyWonder--this way everyone had a navigation system. We managed to only miss one turn. And honestly, I don't know if we would have found the wedding at all, had there not been a car wreck. We saw the police car, missed our turn, turned around, and just as MIL is saying "What do you want to bet they put a McGrew at the end of the road instead of balloons?" There is my friend Joe. Barefoot. In the rain. At the end of the road. Directing traffic. I wish I'd had the camera with me.

• The wedding was beautiful, despite the rain. It was even more laid back than mine was, and I was really, really happy to see everyone. I'd missed all the McGrews. More than I realized. After all, before BoyWonder, they were my second family. I didn't take a ton of pictures, but I'll try to get them up on FaceBook in the next day or so.

I think that wraps up vacation... Oh, we went to the Bass Pro Shop on our way home. It was similar to Cabelas. I got more Christmas gifts, and bought myself a pair of flip flops.

But now we're home, and I'm glad. I'm off until Friday. Which is nice. I mean, I enjoy going on vacation, but not nearly as much as I enjoy vacations where I'm close to home and free to do what I want. Tomorrow's my birthday. Pretty sure I'm expecting a period tomorrow. Apparently I used all my good luck at the casino... But there's always next month. ugh.