Power & Light District Shenanigans- Kansas City

Continuing on with our weekend recap (you can find the first family recap here) takes us to the Power and Light District in Kansas City, MO.

 

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We started off by pre-gaming in the hotel room with a few beers and then headed to the Hotel Martini bar.   The boys had beers and Niki and I ordered martinis, of course.   It was a martini bar, after-all.    She had the Bikini Martini – which was very coconut inspired.  I had the pineapple upside down cake which was Cake vodka and pineapple with a splash of grenadine.  So delicious.

 

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Cheers!

 

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My brother and sis-in-law have been married for 17 years.  They are cute as ever, ya?

 

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Next up – Maker’s Mark Bourbon House for appetizers and dinner.  Thanks to our Martini Bar bartender, we received free appetizers.    Our food was delicious and the service was great.  Our waitress was a trooper putting up with Clint’s haggling and Niki and I’s indecision with what to order to eat.   We may or may not have placed our order to only change it a few minutes later.  Oops!

 

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After dinner is when the drinks began to hit the brain and the camera came out to play.

 

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I can only tell this is an early night photo from my hair.  The bangs are still straight and not a sweaty mess.   Just wait, my friends.  Just wait.

 

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PBR bar was a riot!  We started there for a little bullriding and Where’s Waldo action.

 

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I failed at my photo ninja skills of Waldo.  He legit had on khakis, white tennis shoes and that shirt.

Oh buddy.

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Next up- The Piano Bar.   We were behind a couple of dudes who chose to wore suspenders….

In public.

With a bunch of folks who are drinking.

 

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It’s an open invitation.

 

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And he was NOT happy about it.

Wah Wah

:/

 

Come to find out later – another couple we stood next to inside the bar did the same thing and apparently there were some choice words.   COME ON, buddy.  Loosen up and have some fun.

You wore suspenders to a bar for goodness sake.

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Anyway, the piano bar was PACKED, but man did they SUCK.  And it was like bachelorette party central.   I lost count at the number of veil wearing, white dress sporting girls.

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So, we headed back to the PBR bar.

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And things got a little cray cray.

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This pretty lady was our bathroom attendant.  Isn’t she so sweet to take a photo with us?

LOL

More shenanigans:

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Somewhere outside the PBR bar and Piano bar is a set-up of couches and chairs.   I guess it was decided we needed to sit down for a while.  And take even more photos.

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Nope – not done yet!   Back downstairs for more ridiculousness

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Her balancing skills were top notch at this hour.  Impressive.

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And then the walk home:

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Which included posters:

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Wall Climbing:

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Mannequin love:

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And suspended bicycle riding:

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And clearly – blurry photos to accompany our blurry heads.

Back at the hotel we ordered pizza, played the piano, took my phone swimming in the toilet (FAIL) and made our way to our beds by 3AM.

A successful adults night out.

Cheers till next time!

Family Time in Topeka

Friday the 25th Clint and I took off for Topeka, KS to stay with my brother Chris, wife Niki and family.   We had a little bit of a rough start as we had originally planned to take the Harley’s down, but had to switch at the last minute.  After I had packed the appropriate amount of clothing to fit into saddlebags and dressed in my gear, Clint broke the news that something wasn’t right with his motor and fearing a breakdown- we opted to take the cage.   Super bummed, but not letting it ruin the start of our trip, I made a quick change of the clothes and a bag re-pack (since I could now take more items) we hit the road only 45 minutes late.

 

Topeka is a quick easy drive for us, but Clint is such a kid when it comes to traveling.

1.  He complains about my music.  To this, I just turn it up even louder.  He is such an old soul and listens to OLD country.  Like really OLD.  I can’t stand his music – so thank god I always drive and therefore control the tunes.

Even though he makes up names for my favorite artists, ie: Jason Al and Dean (you know, the trio, he says), Dierks Bentree,    Grantley Giffert,  Duke Bryan (the duo of course), I think he secretly loves their music.  I just know it.  😉

2. He can’t sit still.

 

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This is the chair as far forward as it could possibly go.   Seriously.   Such a child.  Thankfully, entertaining.

 

Once we got to Topeka, Clint wasted no time digging into the Lego’s with all the kiddos.

 

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Such adorable, fun and polite kids.    Truly one of the cutest families I know.  🙂

 

Niki cooked a killer pork loin and potatoes on the grill for dinner – so our Friday night was a relaxed evening full of play time, good food and cold beers.  It was a really great Friday night!

 

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Saturday morning had us up around 8 with some seriously delicious homemade breakfast pizza – the secret was cream cheese, garlic and oregano – and then the boys dove into building a bike ramp.

 

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Jack was a big help.  🙂

 

Ben practiced quite a bit on a smaller ramp first before committing to the gigantic ramp the boys made.

 

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Watch out ladies and gents – we’ve got the next Pro BMXer.

 

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Clint thought he was one too.

 

Until…

 

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Yep.  Mr. Show-Off bent the crap outta that wheel.  I am so sad I didn’t get all of this on camera.  It was quite hysterical.   Sorry Sam – I don’t think you’ll be riding that bike anytime soon. :/

 

I hung out with this lil cutie while the big boys played.   🙂  He was on his second container of yogurt at this point.  Growing boy!

 

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The Big Boys finished the ramp and then the show really got started!

 

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Clint

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Chris

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Ben

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The cheerleaders:

 

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The boys

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Break time.  That ramp jumping is hard work!

The morning went by quickly and it was soon time for lunch.  Clint and Jack were buddies and spent the entire lunch time chatting.   Making plans to save the world, I am sure.  One Ninja Turtle at a time.

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After lunch, Sam took the two boys on a road trip to their grandma’s, Bri went to her best friends birthday party and the adults headed to Kansas City to the Power & Light District for some adult time.

That crazy recap to come soon!

Brace yourselves….

 

 

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Harleys, Cheesecake, Vodka, Yoga – The Weekend Review

The Weekend in Snapshots

Immediately after work on Friday I hit up Barley’s in Council Bluffs to celebrate a co-worker and friends last day.   Cheers to you, Lindsey.  You will be missed!

 

After a few beers I made my way back into Omaha to meet my mom, step dad, sister and nieces for dinner and CHEESECAKE at the Cheesecake Factory.   My sister lives in Texas so it is a rare occasion I get to see her. 2011 was the last time, to be exact.    It was so great to chat and have dinner.  Aren’t these two not the cutest little girls ever?

 

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Check out that Oreo Cheesecake.  Um, yes please!

 

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Saturday morning I taught TurboKick at the Council Bluffs YMCA and then Clint and I worked the remaining part of the day in the basement.  This remodel is darn near finished.  We scrubbed the tiles one by one you guys.  I scrubbed, he followed behind me with the shop-vac.  It was the only way we could get all the residue from the dry wall off.   Talk about team work! 🙂

 

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This photo is still before we scrubbed the tile.  Not sure why I haven’t posted an after yet.  Eh… next time.

 

After slaving away in the basement, Clint cooked us steaks over our backyard fire pit and then we decided to get on the bikes and go for a ride.   A perfectly good Saturday and we were inside working.  WHAT is WRONG with us!?

We rode about 50ish miles before deciding to stop at Heron Bay in Springfield.  I just love that bar.

 

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Had a few beers, listened to the live music and bullshitted with my Aunt Marla who came up and had a few beers with us too.  Unfortunately we found ourselves facing a storm rolling through, so we had to cut the night short and high tail it back to Omaha.  We beat the rain, but the lightening show was absolutely fantastic to see on a bike.  I wish I was able to video what we were seeing.  Straight ass cool.

 

Sunday:  Lazy morning while I finished reading a book.  Maybe lazy is a negative way to say it.  I was relaxing!  That’s better.   Around noon I looked up my girl Tyree  to see if she wanted to attend Yoga at the Cove with me.

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Yoga at the Cove was put on by Stir Cove-Harrah’s Casino and was the first event of its kind.  Unfortunately due to the rain, it had to be moved indoors to the MidAmerica Center.  They still had a great turnout and I had a lot of fun.  Good work to Katie who was the mastermind behind this gig!

 

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I won’t lie and say I didn’t laugh at myself and some of the stuff we had to do.  Honestly, the whole “center yourself… reach for the sun” talk just annoys me.  I like Yoga for the movement and stretching.

Definitely NOT for the whole “ooommmmmmm” experience.

 

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And after Yoga is when it all goes down hill. 

                                       ⇓⇓⇓

 

Well, actually.  I would say it went up hill because it was hands down the best Sunday Funday I have had in a long time.

 

Let’s just say appetizers and a cocktail at Rock Bottom

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turned into 6 Red Bull Vodka’s at The Stadium

 

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turned into 4 Vodka Redbulls at Barrett’s Barley Corn , puppy love and 1:1 drunk sand volleyball.

 

It was simply fantastic.

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Monday morning I woke up to cotton mouth, a smile on my face and a ton of sand in the bed.

 

Sorry, honey!

 

 

Cheers!

C-Town, Girlfriends, Wedding, Garage Parties and Harley Time- The Full Weekend Recap

Monday is tough in and of itself.

A Monday after a full weekend of excitement is just cruel and unusual punishment.

 I want to go back!  

Take Me Back!

Friday

Kicked off my Friday afternoon right with this darling little chick.

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I allowed myself only one though as I had to be in Burlington Junction, Missouri for an evening wedding rehearsal for a former student of mine.

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I have to say that it is a really cool experience to see these kids grow up, become adults, marry and start families.

After rehearsal I met up with my two besties in my hometown.  Love getting to spend time with these two chicks.  We thoroughly enjoyed each others company, as you can see.

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Just kidding.  This was a SnapChat 101 Lesson.

We hung out until around the 11:30pm hour and then went our separate ways.   No worries, I stayed at my mom’s house.  No driving back to the city for this chick!

Saturday

Thanks to my super awesome internal alarm clock, I was up and moving around 6am.  Apparently my mind doesn’t care that my body was now going on only 17 hours total since Wednesday night.  Rude.

I laced up the ol sneakers and took off for a little under 4 miler.  It was good to see the streets of Clarinda again in the early morning hours.

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After the run, I took over moms kitchen and made some Clif Bars.   If you haven’t tried the Clif recipe yet, you are missing out.  Find it here.

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Isn’t her kitchen so cute?   Very “This Old Home”.

She works magic outdoors too:

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Mikos wanted to say hi:

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Next up?  Wedding!

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Such a beautiful, loving, down to earth couple they are.   Thanks for letting me be a part of it, Jess and Alan!

Saturday night I met up with my hubby for some yummy J Bruner’s action.   And then closed out the night in our friends’ garage.   Some of the best nights are the low-key easy ones.   Jade and Kayla are definitely two of the best friends we could ask for.

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I mean, just LOOK at the way Clint is gazing at Jade.  It’s true love, folks.

And, a group selfie to close out the night.   Two of our other friends were having their 40th birthday party over in Iowa City that weekend, and since we were all stuck in Clarinda for various reasons, we wanted to send our love and support.

We are just that thoughtful.

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Sunday

Thanks again to a killer internal alarm clock and the inability to fall back asleep for no more than 10 minute increments, I hit the road back to Homaha.

But first, a pit stop at my girl Sara’s.  I just love these two.

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Once back in Omaha, my chrome baby and I set out on a solo 150 mile ride through the Nebraska terrain.

And it was the best kind of date to close out the weekend.

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PS- Have you entered the Scooter’s Giveaway yet?   Odds of winning are incredibly in your favor.  You’ve got a little over 24 hours left to enter.  Go!

CHEERS!