Summer Adventures Part I: Kansas City Here We Come

Stop #1 on our epic cross-country summer road trip was the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City. After 12 hours in the car, the kids would have been happy to arrive at any hotel, but they were ecstatic when they saw that the room included a kiddie cabin with its very own TV! The only confusing thing was that they could not pause, rewind or save the cartoons they were watching for later. Some tears were shed over the thought that they might never know how this episode of Tom and Jerry ends. Does Tom catch Jerry, or not?!? However, all sadness was forgotten when they saw the awesome indoor water park. The best part? There was only one slide that they were too short to ride. I think they could have stayed there all day long but we finally pried them away with the promise of finding somewhere awesome to eat for dinner.

Gabe is showing off his swim trunks and his muscles.

I'm pretty sure that warning sign says that the top bunk bed is not intended for children under the age of 8. Too bad Tobias can climb ladders.

Benjamin loved sleeping in the cabin.

And we did indeed find somewhere awesome to eat for dinner. If you are ever in Kansas City we recommend the T-Rex Cafe. It's every little boy's dream to eat amidst herds of animatronic dinosaurs with the periodic rumblings of erupting volcanoes and meteor showers. We lucked out and all the kids meals that night were on sale. Score! Even with the big crowd, we felt the service was great and the food was actually delicious!

Our table was right next to Elijah's favorite dinosaur- parasaurolophus!

Bad triceratops! Put Gabriel down this instant!

I'm not sure if David John is excited or scared by the t-rex right  behind him.

I got a kick out of the restroom signs. If Tobias can have T-Ricks or T-Rex as a nickname then, as the only girl in the family, I am totally going to start going by She-Ricks or She-Rex.

This is the outside of the cafe. I think that's an Apatosaurus skeleton. Whatever it is, it's huge!

Although our stay was short, we really had a good time. And, hey, any trip during which security personnel have to bring a child back to us only twice should be counted a success.

I love the varied faces of our boys in this Great Wolf Lodge picture. It was the only one where they are all looking at the camera. Tobias managed to get his wolf ears off before the picture took. Stinker.

Big Bad Baby Wolf