We got veggies

The garden has finally begun producing edible produce. We picked a couple dozen cucumbers and a handful of peas and banana peppers. The tomatoes are getting close and watermelon are not far behind.

The Peas looking very healthy
HUGE tomatoes

Cucumbers galore

Our 16 stalks of corn

The watermelon taking over the yard

If you lived in K.C. we would share the bounty with you!!

Bill and Traci

Need a vacation from my vacation

Last week I took off a couple of days to hang out with some South Dakota friends and show them around Kansas City. Jeremy and Melissa headed South on Wednesday night and arrived at our place about midnight. Along for the ride was Reagan, their daughter, and Chris who is a cousin from Chicago.

Our first adventure took us to Oceans of Fun for a full day of swimming and sliding. We kept as a group for most of the day except for when I had to jump out of line due to weight limitations. Most people would have said "The heck with it" and risked it... I think I am finally at an age where I care if I live or die. :-) And death by way of water park slide is not my way of departing.

We left the park later in the afternoon and headed for one of Kansas City's best BBQ joints, Author Bryants. We went to the original one off of Brooklyn street in downtown K.C. where we were treated to piles of tasty meat, endless BBQ sauce and greasy fries.

Day two found us at the Kansas City Zoo. We saw every single animal in the place and walked almost every inch of the property. I was surprised to find that each of the animal's environment was very natural and looking around the skyline it was near impossible to tell we were only 20 minutes from downtown.

Ready to take on the K.C. Zoo

Traci and Bill

I was thinking about my little sister Brenda when I took this

The feeding of the elephants

The dirty rhino

Baby zebra to the far right

The fries were good!

Thinking about Brenda again ;-)

Traci and Bill

Saturday morning Chris, Jeremy and I went to the WWI museum and spent a few hours learning about the war and venturing 217 ft. to the top of the tower. We met the girls down in River Market and jumped into one car for a trip to see the Royals take on the Tampa Bay Rays.

Liberty Memorial

The artwork is moving

The base of the tower

From the base looking up

A view towards downtown Kansas City, Missouri

Traci and Bill

It was a give away night and we arrived early enough to get our cool statue. As we watched batting practice and begged each player to toss us a ball, Reagan sat quietly and waited for one of the players to notice that a cute little girl didn't have a baseball in her possession. It didn't take long for one of the Players to offer her a ball and as he was about to toss her the baseball he notice that she was wearing the "devils wardrobe"... A Yankees t-shirt. Before tossing the ball, he made her promise to root for Tampa Bay when they played the Yankees. It was a perfect night for a game and the Royals kept up their streak. They gave up their lead and lost the game in the 8th.

Sunday was spent recovering at the Legends where everyone, but Chris and I, popped in and out of every shop looking for a bargain.

We said our goodbyes after the shopping was done and they headed home. We went home, took a nap and went bowling later that night. We had a great time visiting and getting to know our city a bit more.

Hope your vacations are as exhausting as ours!!

Bill and Traci

The 4th in South Dakota

Last year, I promised my liver that I would never never treat it as badly as I did last year. I am happy to report that I kept my promise and my liver has never been happier. :-)

The 4th fell on a Saturday this year so we spent Friday driving North to the place that Traci calls the mother land. Friday was spent at the local watering hole mingling with Traci's high school buddies, listening to 80's music and observing the "interesting" people from Baltic. The night officially ended at 4am after a short drive to the local park and hours of Traci and her buddies getting caught up.

I spent the next morning hanging out with Dave and the kids. We picked up fireworks, dug up some Asparagus, and I spent some time checking out the old buildings on the farm. Later that night we had a handful of people drop by with fireworks, kids and food to share. As the night descended on us, everyone grabbed their chairs and waited for the show to begin. Shane and I spent the next few hours running back and forth setting off every last firework that everyone brought. The best firework that night was a rocket that someone spent $3.71 on. It had the most impressive take off, climb and final explosion at the height of its flight. The best part came after the explosion when the nose cone and tail assembly came tumbling to the ground and sent everyone scrambling.

The local fireworks tent

View of Baltic from a nearby hill
The Baltic Water tower

Asparagus growing wild by the river at the farm
It is as peaceful as it looks!
The farm from the river
The old hog barn and farm house

The barn

it is a leaner

Traci and her daddy

Hunter, Allie and Rich

Bill and Traci

The Dybvigs

Debbie explaining how to properly brush your teeth

Shane lighting a mortar

BOOM!!

We built a fire for some smores and after the kids went to sleep we did whatever every grown man would do. We loaded all the empty tubes and misfires into the fire pit. There is nothing funnier than seeing three grown men running away from a whistling firework that is about to go off.

We like to call it "firework Roulette"

We hope your 4th was as explosive as ours!

Bill and Traci