Runny noses & lots of wind

Alli had a 9 a.m. appointment on Saturday to get her 1.5 year photos taken. She had came down with a cold on Thursday and her nose had been running like crazy. She was crabby and disagreeable and I had already decided that if she did not awake Saturday morning looking fresh and healthier, we were going to reschedule the photo shoot. Well, Saturday morning, she woke up early (5am) and crabby and after an hour of dealing with crying and wining I put her back in bed. She then woke up at 9 a.m. in a much better mood, but I had already called and cancelled her photos.

After breakfast, James headed off to a boat race with his super tippy canoe and Grandma, Alli and I went to do some shopping. I had a few items that I could not find in Columbia that I wanted to check for in Kansas City. Well, let me tell you, every store we went in was bigger, nicer and so much better stocked than our rinky dink versions here in Columbia. For example, the Kansas City Babies-R-Us is 10 times bigger than ours. The Dicks, was twice as big and there are two Dick’s stores within 15 minutes of their house. The Target store was huge, incredible; twice as big and nice as ours and the toddler clothing section was 10 times bigger than what our Target has to offer. I think I may wait and do all my shopping when we go to Kansas City from now on!

After lunch, Alli took a nap and Grandpa Gene and I went for a bike ride. We went to the Indian Creek bike and hike trail system in Overland Park. We were trying to find some relief from the strong winds that were blowing like crazy. We had a nice leisurely ride out and back that took a few hours. I really enjoyed the trail and I wish Columbia would do something similar. They had black topped the trail and followed along the creek.
[photo from the internet]

It was a bit patched together in places, but it was way better than nothing. I think Columbia tries too hard to find the perfect solution; make the perfect trail and then get’s so caught up in planning that nothing gets done or it takes forever to do it. For God’s sake people, slap something in and let us play on it.

James returned from his paddle fun just in time for dinner. Here he is in his canoe coming in second place in the first race of the day.

Here he hooked up with another guy and they actually won the second race. It was all just informal fun.........not a REAL race.

After dinner, we played outside for a while. The wind had calmed down and it was really nice and warm. Alli had the best time climbing up and down the front porch steps.

She would have Grandma or Grandpa hold her hand so she could walk the steps more like a grown up; really a pretty good trick considering how short she is.

Also, Daddy tried to get her to jog with him a little bit.
The photo is not so great, but at the time it was SOOOO cute.

At dusk, we loaded up the car and headed back to Columbia. On the drive back, we encountered some thunderstorms and gusty wind. This was scary since we had a 20 pound canoe and bike on the top of the car. James drove through the storm with a death grip on the steering wheel. We were sure glad to drive out of the storm and have dry roads for the last half of the trip.