Kansas City

We had plans to make a temple trip last weekend.  Mother nature told us no way, no how would we be going to OKC during the tornado outbreak there, so we hit the road for Kansas City...which I prefer to travel to, anyway.  

The sky was not very hopeful, but we looked at the radar map and figured that if we left right at 6, we could sort of play frogger with the storms and make it north to KC in between the red patches moving across the mega doppler weather map. 

We we made it about 2 of the 3 hour drive without a drop of rain as we traveled under this fat wall cloud.  When the rain hit, it REALLY hit, and thanks to my weather app and smart phone, we realized we hadn't quite been fast enough.  The girls were really scared so we decided to make a stop. Before we could even make it off the freeway, the rain was pounding so hard that we had very low visibility of the road.  We made it off the next exit and waited out a tornado warning inside of a Mc Donalds.  Just to give you an idea of how hard the rain was coming down, in the 15 seconds it took Aaron to unlatch Soren's bucket seat and close the van door, a ton of water poured into the van and the carseat base  had an inch of standing water in it when we got back in the car. Everything and everyone got soaked, but we were safe and happy.

It was sort of a shame to have to stop only 20 miles from clear and dry skies, but that's the way these storms are. If you're in the path, take cover.

I took the kids into the bathroom and everyone stood under the hand dryers to dry off.  We thought the graffiti on the dryer was amusing: "Press Button, Receive Bacon." (...but only after C...hahaha!)

After an hour delay we hit the road again and rolled into KC for a long, sleep deprived night. 

The next morning Aaron and I took turns attending the temple and it made the entire trip worth it. It was peaceful and wonderful.

Since it was such a nice day, we hit the KC Zoo per Corbin's request. We usually go someplace to see animals for his birthday so this was a belated celebration for him.

 Notice Quincy's shorts.  Those would be Corbin's because she unpacked her skirt out of the suitcase, assuming I would buy her new clothes in Kansas City.  My sister, HolleeAnn attempted this move on a trip to a family reunion when she was like 14, hoping my parents would purchase a new wardrobe for her.  My parents did the awesome thing and had my sister wear all of my grandmother's polyester pantsuits and scarves for the week, instead.  Quincy got to wear a pair of Corbin's shorts. What's sad is that they fit her better than they fit Corbin! 

Soren was apparently not finished nursing.  He cries every time I cut him off and then tries to lift my shirt. Aaron offered empathy.

 Reese loves polar bears.

It was a nice weekend spent together as a family. We plan to go back to KC soon for more adventures.
On Sunday, Reese stood at the podium in primary and shared her testimony that she felt comforted by the Holy Ghost after we had a family prayer in the car asking for safety during the storm.