In Need of Sleep

I feel like that's the theme of the week. Tired. Tired. Tired.

I want a nap.

Alison was up sick in the night last night; seeing as she's perfectly fine now and ate Anne's Chicken with us for dinner, I'm chalking it up to dehydration and not a bug. I REALLY need to figure a way to engrain in that girl's brain that she MUST drink water if she is going to play outside. Sometimes it's worse than others. Last night was one of those worse times.

Wednesday, Megan came home. She was pretty exhausted. But, she made it home in one piece. Her sisters accosted her for their presents, and then were too wired to go to bed, so we ALL stayed up really really late.

Then, we had to figure out room arrangements. For now, because it's best for everyone if Alison has her own room, Megan and Kristen are bunking together. It seems to be a decent arrangement; Kristen's pretty low-key, and Megan (hopefully)will get a job and not be home much. We think. And it doesn't involve moving (much) furniture. Though I did go on a 2 hour quest yesterday for a small bookshelf, and came up completely empty.

We are slowly hearing tales about India, but more like little facts and tidbits. (i think she's downstairs explaining how a Bollywood movie is similar/different real life.) It's too bad you all can't be here and sit and chat with her. I should take pictures of the presents she brought back;  the fabric is pretty amazing.

The rest of the week is kind of a blur. Russell and I had a bookish event on Monday; a friend of his -- Rod Dreher -- came into town to do a book event (which Russell helped arrange) and I sold books at it. And I did PAD on Wednesday and the Women's meeting last night was nice.

I think that's it. I'm going to go sleep now.

Megan Comes Home!

We picked up our world traveler at the airport on Wednesday night. There were two things we had waiting for her. A balloon (Kristen REALLY wanted to get a balloon) and Freddy's Frozen Custard (Megan REALLY wanted a hamburger).

It was hard to wait. But we did it.

And were very happy to see that she managed to survive not only India but getting back home in one piece.

Alison and Kristen made a sign. They were very proud of it.

And Megan had a religious experience with her hamburger.

She also was happy about toilet paper, and is still amazed about the "squishiness" of American mattresses. She doesn't like getting up early, and she complains it's cold here. (It's been in the low 60s.) That said, she's very happy to be back. And we're happy to have her home.

The Sing Off (in Concert)!

So, the reason we headed to Kansas City this weekend was to see The Sing Off concert. Sure, it was kind of cheezy, but we enjoyed watching the season, and the tickets weren't that expensive, and hey, why not take the girls to an a cappella concert? (Especially since Russell and I have been fans of a cappella music for a long time anyway.) We were, however, unprepared for the awesomeness that is the Midland Theater in Kansas City. I haven't been in a building this gorgeous in years. And the pictures Caitlyn took don't do it justice.

Waiting for the show.

We had a lot of fun. The music was good, the groups were fun, and we all screamed until we were hoarse. Our favorite number, however, was Vocal Play doing their road trip vocal theater. They pretended they were on a road trip and "fought" over listening to the radio. It was not only hilarious, it was brilliantly done.

My other personal favorite was the beatbox/percussion drum off. I've always been amazed at people who can imitate drums with their mouth, and these three were fantastic.

Our favorite group on the show was Home Free, and they didn't disappoint. The girls thought their "guilty pleasure" segment was hilarious. ("Two things, Austin.")

But, perhaps the BEST song of the night was their encore when they actually sang truly a cappella: no mics, just their voices. And even though we were on the first row of the second balcony, the acoustics of the building carried their voices all the way to us. It gave me goosebumps.

We've decided that what we really want to see is a Pentatonix/Voice Play/Home Free show. That would be brilliant.  But this was totally worth the drive and the money.

At the (Kansas City) Zoo

We needed something to fill the afternoon before the Sing Off Concert, so we picked (almost at random; we'd already been to the Science Center, and nothing else sounded fun) the zoo. It was a bit chilly, but that didn't stop us from having a good time.

Misc Kansas City

There was a Mini Cooper dealership across from our hotel. It made me happy.

And lunch at Arthur Bryant's Barbecue. Some good food.

In Which We Go to Our State Capital

We actually have a lousy track record of visiting the capital cities of states we've lived in. We never got to Richmond or Jackson; our brief visits to Springfield and Little Rock didn't include the actual capital building. Perhaps this is because we had little kids and visiting capital buildings is something better left for older ones? Either way, this is the first actual capital building I've set foot in since leaving Utah nearly 20 years ago.

There was lots of interesting things inside, like a county map on the floor

And a neat picture/saying on the wall.

But what we really went to do was take the dome tour. Here they are on the 5th floor, waiting.

(The 5th floor looking down)

This is an exercise in controlled terror. Only one of us is happy to be there. And that staircase in the background?? I had a panic attack about a third of the way up, and had to come back down. Kristen came with, because she didn't much like it, either.

I'm not sorry, even if the view was incredible.

Ah, my fearless daughter.

If only because I would have had to climb on this staircase. And that would have not happened.

After the tour, we poked around to see what else we could see. Like the House chamber

and the Senate chamber

and John Brown. (In which we do a re-enactment.)

(And the first floor, looking up)

It was a good little stop.

Game Night! (Aka St. Patrick's Day)

For St. Patrick's Day, we got together with some friends for corned beef and cabbage, beef stew and soda bread, beignets (yeah, I know, they're not Irish. I just wanted some) and brownie sundaes and a game night. It was TONS of fun.

One of our new favorite games is Tenzi, which is just basically rolling dice. You wouldn't think it'd be fun, but it is.

And we also played a rousing game of Quelf in which much laughter was had, sonnets were made up

and all sorts of antics were done.

It was a great way to celebrate.

Spring Break Edition: In Which Loki is There When We Arrive Home

Megan messaged us a little while back, informing us that she's going to prom, and that she needs a life-sized cut-out of Tom Hiddleston. Well, we ordered Loki, and he was waiting for us when we got back from our little weekend trip. He's downstairs watching How To Train Your Dragon with Alison and Kristen (it was, as they informed me, what HE wanted to watch). The trick is, I think, to keep him in relatively one piece until Megan comes home (on Wednesday!)

Where did we go, you ask? Well, back in December, when we were watching the Sing Off, we discovered that they were doing a tour. And since we like things like that -- a cappella concerts -- and the stars aligned, we decided to make a weekend of it. We puttered up through the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve (and discovered that it's better to go the end of May) on Friday and up to Topeka to see the state capital. While there, we decided to be daring, and take a tour of the capital dome. We got up to the lower part of the rotunda, and those of us who aren't all that keen on heights (which include Caitlyn and Kristen and me) were a bit shaky, but not terrible. And then we started to climb up the next set of stairs, and I freaked. out. Literally. Couldn't move another step up. So, Kristen came down with me (I was shaky for a good 20 minutes) and Caitlyn braved her fear. Alison and Russell said it was "Cool"; Caitlyn told me to be glad I didn't go, because it just got worse. Oh, well. I used to be daring. Thankfully, I have a daughter to keep me company.

We got to Kansas City by dinnertime and hung out in the hotel swimming, peeking in at the Wichita State game (I can't watch; if I do, I'll curse them. Yes, I am superstitious) and watching Food TV. We've decided that one of our favorite parts of vacations is having cable. I wonder if that makes us pathetic?

Saturday, Russell and I got up and went to the temple, which was nice. It's been too long since we've gone together. And then we headed out for some Kansas City barbecue at Arthur Bryant's (not nearly as good as Memphis, but I think I've said that before) and to the KC Zoo, which was fun. It was a bit of a chilly day, so we didn't so as much as we could have, but we did enjoy what we saw. Especially the penguins. Kristen said she'd do anything to have a penguin as a pet and was making plans for keeping it in the bathtub. I said no. We went swimming again, had a quick dinner, and then headed downtown for the Sing Off Concert. We were all in awe of the building: it was one of those old, gorgeous opera houses. Caitlyn said she was going to move in there. And the concert was fantastic. Good music, funny, entertaining. The only downside was that one spotlight on the back of the stage hit us directly in the eye when it was shining. But such a minor quibble. And then we discovered they were doing autographs after, so we waited in line to say hi and get our tickets signed. A very cool night.

We did other things: had play dates and sleep overs with friends. Worked both at the bookstore and outside, prepping for spring. (Which will get here, eventually. We hope.) And watching movies and TV and just being lazy. At any rate, it's been a good break.

Now back to real life.

Pinksplosion

This begs the question: why is the horse hanging from the light??

Five Things We Learned This Week.

1. WE LOVE SPRING. Seriously. We all came out of our shells, and turned our faces to the sun, and soaked it in. Enough so, that when it turned a bit cold and windy today, we ALL grumbled. I really couldn't live any farther north, I don't think. Also: we're really grateful for rain.

2. Sometimes getting what you want isn't all it's cracked up to be. So, Caitlyn had her three friends (Meagan, Allie and Kaitlyn -- we observed that she's friends with people who have the same initials/names as her sisters. What does this say about her?) for her birthday on Thursday, and since it wasn't a school night (spring break started on Friday), she wanted to go play Laser Tag. So, we did. And they wanted to play two games. I hadn't budgeted for that, but it was only $20 more so, I acquiesced. The first game was a lot of fun, and they had a grand time. The second game, when it was just them and four other people... not so much. Let me just say that some people don't know how to teach their kids good sportsmanship. Caitlyn and ALL of her friends were highly upset (understatement) afterward. Enough so, that we complained and got free games. Which they're going to turn around and use at Allie's birthday in a couple of months.

3. Marketing is a good thing. So, I was in charge of a kids event on Friday night. It was actually kind of fun -- we built 3D structures out of glow sticks and Styrofoam balls -- but the only people there were my kids. Because I dragged them there. It's the one thing that frustrates me about my job: we really don't have a sense how to market things to the wider public. Or maybe, we do and the town doesn't care. It could be that. But, in this case, it's because no one ever sent out ANYTHING about it. I don't like stepping on toes, but I also don't want to show up to an "event" and not have any one show up. Kind of like my book group every month. SOMETHING needs to be done about that.

4. I went to donate platelets on Friday. Mostly because the Red Cross called and told me I have a hugely high platelet count and I should. So, I'm like: sure, why not? Once there, I got more and more intimidated/scared: it's a serious PROCESS, nothing like popping in and giving whole blood. (I can donate a pint in about 45 minutes, from interview/check in to when I walk out. No biggie.) And I didn't realize how EXHAUSTING it'd be. I donated a triple, which I can physically do, given my height/weight/platelet count, but MAN, I was beat for the rest of the day. Seriously. And my arm still hurts. So, maybe I'll go back, but not for a triple.

5. We are NEVER to give in to our kids begging and pleading and show them a (scary) PG-13 movie at night. We have the Mummy (ah, Brendan Frasier) and wanted to watch it, and Alison BEGGED and Kristen BEGGED and I ended up sleeping in Alison's bed for a while last night because they BOTH came in during the night because they were scared. And we only watched a half hour of the movie before they were freaked out and we had to put on something else! Ah, our sensitive children. We love them.

That's about it for us. We're off this week. Well, they're off, I still have to work. Here's hoping the weather is gorgeous.