Trippin'

So I went to see my baby daddy in Kansas City this weekend. Tim's family drove up from Eldo on Friday night and we headed up north Saturday morning. About four hours and six potty stops later, Bill, Vicki, Leah, Cinder, Elle Mae, Murphy, Alex, and I arrived on Timothy's doorstep just in time for lunch. We checked the doggies into their hotel room and headed to Arthur Bryant's BBQ - a KC must-do for anyone who visits.


After consuming approximately six large barnyard animals worth of barbecue, we waddled to the car and headed to Timothy's office, which is just a stone's throw from KC's swanky Country Club Plaza as illustrated by this shot of the view from the lobby.


We got the grand tour, that included the lobby, all ten thousand conference rooms, the fully equipped lunchroom (complete with wall 'o microwaves that requires user to don a radiation suit before operating), and Timothy's office.


Although only a lowly clerk, he is special enough to have his very own nameplate (which he had requested to display the name "Big Sexy", but due to a clerical error, ended up with "Tim Evans" on it instead. He decided not to cause a fuss this early on and will respond to either "Tim" or "Big Sexy" for the duration of his clerkship). Despite the nameplate debacle, we were all quite impressed with Timothy's fancy private office and with Blackwell's facilities in general. It's no wonder they're the best firm in Missouri...



We had several things we still had to pick up from Babies 'R' Us, so we gave Maggie (aka the Magellan Road Mate GPS system) the address tried to find the closest one. However, we ended up at a Furniture Deals that used to be a Babies 'R' Us. Fortunately, Furniture Deals was next door to a Krispy Kreme Donuts that we just knew would have a phonebook or a knowledgeable staff member that could point us in the direction of another Babies 'R' Us. We left with addresses and free donuts, so we decided that our journey was not a total loss.

We finally made it to the BRU and found our travel system (generously purchased by Auntie Leah), baby carrier, and pack 'n' play.

It was about 9 when we realized how hungry we were and so we decided to meet some Eldo friends at California Pizza Kitchen for a late night supper.

Sunday was just as eventful. Timothy, Murphy, and I stayed at Timothy's apartment (which I could kick myself for not taking pictures of) so we met up with the rest of the crew at the hotel for a quick breakfast before heading to the Farmer's Market with the dogs. Unfortunately dogs were not allowed at the Farmer's Market (which is a change in policy since the last time we were there). So we took the dogs to the plaza instead, where we pretended to be hoity-toity celebrity dog owners and bought them things like gourmet doggie-safe carrot cakes and "puppermints" at the Three Dog Bakery.


We took the spoiled pups back home and went to Cabela's, a very popular destination for your hunting and fishing types. In other words, the exact opposite of a place you would ever expect to see me. But I've gotta admit, it was pretty cool. There was an aquarium with catfish bigger than my car and lots of fashion faux pas to giggle and gawk at - Stacey and Clinton would have enough material for the next ten seasons if they ever stopped by. Oh, and they had to-die-for kettlecorn that alone was worth the trip.




We worked up quite the appetite and decided the only thing that could satisfy our hunger was an all-you-can-eat buffet. Fortunately we had gotten some bogo coupons for the buffet at a nearby casino. After gorging ourselves on a veritable feast of, well, every type of food known to man, we decided we could not leave the casino without trying our luck at a game or two. Timothy, Leah and I got our gambling ID cards and headed to the nearest row of video poker machines, where we collectively proceeded to lose $10 of Leah's hard earned money. Despite feeling a little skanky hanging out at a poker machine ten feet from the bar in a smoky casino while nine months pregnant, we had tons of fun.

After a busy and productive day, we retreated to the hotel to get some much needed R&R before starting phase 2 of our evening. There was a big fireworks show at Union Station, so we decided to head towards downtown to try to catch it. Instead of fighting through the crowds, we stopped in the parking lot of a McDonald's where we got a perfect view of the show. The scent of french fry grease and filet o' fishes whetted our appetites once more, so we ended the evening with yet another late supper at The Cheesecake Factory.

We headed back to Fayetteville Monday morning and discovered that Xzibit had in fact come by to pimp my ride. Check out what was in my driveway when we got back:

Okay, okay, so Xzibit didn't hook me up. But Auntie Leah did - this is her Pathfinder that she is letting me borrow for the next couple of weeks while Timothy has my car. She will be borrowing Vicki's car, Vicki will be borrowing Bill's car, and Bill will be riding his motorcycle to the office everyday - just to make my life easier. Do I have the best in-laws or what? Eat your hearts out, people...