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

Garden update

Last week I took some pictures and wanted to share them. So far we have not had any incidents with the bunny. I think the shiny trap scared it off. :-)

Traci used the extra desk stain to stain the border around the garden

Tomato plants

Asparagus

Snap Peas

Bell Peppers and Habanero Peppers

Watermelon

Cucumbers

Corn

Have a great weekend!!


Bill and Traci

A work of art

Well... It took 2 men 3 days to caulk, repair, primer and put two coats on the house. Below are the results of their efforts.

Some of the additional items we added:

- Shutters for front windows.

- Front door painted black.

- Word art added to the front door "Welcome".

- Glass/screen door so we can open the front door without the cats running away.

- New house numbers that we picked up in Tubac, Arizona.

If you need a good and affordable painter, let us know.

Bill and Traci

Traci and I have been a couple of "busy beavers" the past couple of weeks. Due to the cold winters and hot summers in Kansas, the stain on our deck has taken a beating and was in severe need of a new coat.

Most people we spoke with recommended that we powerwash the desk before apply stain; however, we ended up going a different route after speaking with the paint guy from Lowe's. He recommended some stain remover stuff you sprayed on with the hose and then rinse with water. We went with that option due to not having a powerwasher or the fact that it would only cost $7 for the remover and an hour or so of our time.

The weathered deck

The stairs look horrible

It took us about 6 hours to apply the stain with brushes. Unfortunately, that day ended up being the hottest day of the year and the sun beat down on us the entire time. We went with a darker color and were very happy with the results. We stopped staining so we could go bowling with some friends in our new bowling league (More on that in a future blog) and I resumed staining at 9pm. It was pretty dark out and my only hope was that I didn't miss any big spots. :-)

First the rails

Then the decking

Almost done

In addition to our deck needing attention, our house was hurtin for certain. The paint was hanging off the house in some places and we even had some boards exposed. We had several people come over and give us a bid and ended up hiring a man named Bill who had the best rates, encouraged us to go and look at some of his other paint jobs, and genuinely seemed like he cared and enjoyed doing what he did.

It took him and his crew a day and a half to caulk the house, primer the bare wood and pound all nails in. They then spent another 1/2 day putting on two coats of the base. They have been true to their word and have done an incredible job. Once the house is complete, I will post the finished work.

Caulking and primer

The original color is gray

Now it is sawdust (Trim and door still needs to be painted)

The finished desk and back of the house

Nothing looks better than a fresh coat of paint/stain and we hope you all have some bright colors to brighten your day.

Bill and Traci