The Carousel Museum

Cassandra has been having a great time this week.  With family from Maryland in town, we have been hitting more "touristy" places than usual.  It is interesting how people who have lived here their entire life can say "I didn't know about that place" so many times.

Riding a 100 year old carousel, Cassandra had a ball.  To be fair, I don’t think she really cared how old it was.

More of the family riding the carousel.  Aunt Kristi, Uncle John, Aunt Diane, Uncle Bill, even Grandma and Papa rode the carousel.  None of those pictures turned out well but if you need proof, I've got some bad pictures.  (And by bad, I mean blurry from the motion of the carousel, the backs of peoples heads, even what looks like a good one of Papa except for the pillar covering his face.)

Cassandra monkeying around.  (Thank you and I'm here all week.)  I don't think she understood the monkey picture but was having fun just sticking her head through the hole in the wall.  They also had a fun house mirror that Cassandra didn’t want to leave.

Cassandra And Lego Discovery Center

Cassandra was able to fulfill a lifelong dream today.  She got to visit the Legoland Discovery Center.  What is really amazing about it is how insistent she was even though it has only been open for two months.  We finally caved in when we found out all three of her cousins would be going.  It was a horrible sacrifice taking time off of work, but Mommy and Daddy managed to do it anyway.



Downtown Kansas City



Live Strong Park



Kansas Speedway

 

Union Station



Arrowhead Stadium



Legoland's Front Door

 

The Nelson-Atkins Museum



The Country Club Plaza

 

Starlight Theatre

 

I like slides.



It's more fun to take apart.



Donate To The Cause

Cassandra was recently surprised with a slide.  As you can see, she really likes it.  Daddy thinks that slides are her favorite type of playground equipment.

The slide was brought all the way from Maryland by her cousins, Carol and Sharon.  They both used the slide when they were younger.  Cassandra is immensely grateful that they are now too tall to make use of the slide anymore.

Buckethead

All children go through phases.  Cassandra went through a phase where she didn't want hats.  Now she is going through a phase where anything can be a hat.

 It is a bit like playing Marco Polo.  She walks to where she thinks you should be and if she doesn't run into anything (or anyone), she lifts her hat off, finds her target, puts her hat back on and does it again.

Stealing Mommy's Chair

And here we catch Cassandra in the act again.  Stealing chairs is just so much fun and funny too!

Of course, pull out the camera and she wants to come see you.  She really likes seeing the images on the camera's display screen.  If only we could convince her to keep at least a few feet away while the pictures are being taken, we'd have less distortion.

Time To Go Cruising

Cassandra has become very active, not just playing with toys but dragging them all over.  She regularly rides or pushes her car around the family room and when she wants a change of pace, plays with the on-board buttons, lights and sounds.  You can tell when it is time for a nap or bed because that is around the time she starts pushing it into the kitchen...with a grin on her face and she runs as if she thinks we can't catch her.  She is already on the second set of batteries and she has only had it for six months!

Mimicking Daddy

Cassandra has taken to stealing our chairs but this time she really out did herself.  She not only took Daddy's chair, but she took his reading material.  And yes, it is the Lego store calendar so of course she is fascinated. 

  

We've started going to the mall to walk around without melting this summer and to see Uncle John.  As we are leaving, she now says "Bye, bye, walk the mall.  Bye, bye Uncle John.  Bye, bye Lego." 

She was a little puzzled when she couldn't find the Lego store one time when we were upstairs.  She knew it should be around there somewhere but couldn't find it.  It was "hiding" under the bridge she was standing on.  Still, I'm really impressed with her memory.  She can identify some things before I can.  Of course, since I'm near sighted, the image I see is smaller than what a normal person would see.  Still, children are normally not that observant.  I think she takes after Mommy.

Tough Decisions

Do I want to play with Daisy or Thomas?

Perhaps Emily?

Decisions, decisions, decisions.  Oh, I suppose I should build a track first. 

Little Red Riding Bandana

Cassandra is very interested in what we are doing, particularly when she can't see what we are doing.  While Daddy was doing dishes, Mommy attempted to entertain the Empress and keep her from getting under foot.  Apparently, it really is the simple things in life that are important...or at least, entertaining.

Notice how her tummy is sticking out.  That is how you can be sure she just ate.  First thing in the morning, it looks like a washboard.  Her ribs really make it look like that.  Then, she starts to eat.  Her tummy just goes straight out.

This Isn't Going To Work

As mentioned previously, Cassandra is learning about things fitting inside of other things.  In an effort to clean up, she has tried to put everything away...into one drawer. 

Obviously, this is not going to work. 

She seems disappointed, don't you think?

Rose Show

This weekend is the Kansas City Rose Society's 2012 Rose Show.  This is a big event at Loose Park. Take a look at all the roses.  They cover tables on three sides and the center of the room.

This also was a good year in terms of the number of people of people who hadn't entered before and overall number of people submitting entries.  Three members of our family submitted entries, a few of which are pictured below.

Cousin Samantha brought these two blooms.

One of our miniatures, Vista

Grandpa Hodges brought this one.

Another one of our roses, About Face.