Vacation Day 41: Drive to Kansas City

Maria spent this morning calling around to find a special toy for Aiden’s Christmas present. It was nowhere to be found in the Bella Vista area, so Maria called around the Kansas City area to find it there, because we were driving there today to visit Tim. She finally tracked down one store that had it. She called Tim, and he agreed to go pick it up.

We were off to a late start for the 3 hour drive to Kansas City. We were slow getting out of the house. We went by the Summits to pick up Madison, because she was coming along for the trip, too.

On the way, since we were late, we drove through McDonald’s for lunch. It was the slowest McDonald’s in the history of McDonald’s. It had two lanes, but that didn’t help. Especially when stupid people cut in line ahead of you!

We drove for a couple hours, then got a telephone call. It was Tim. He began, “Maria, I have some bad news. I can’t get that present for you.” Maria says, “um...why?”. He replies, “because my car is in a ditch”. He slid off the side of the road in the snow and ice, at 10mph. He wasn’t hurt, and his car was basically okay, but he had to wait for a tow truck to come get him out. Boo boo.

For us, the snow began about 1 hour outside of Kansas City. It started as rain, then sleet, then full-on snow. We had to drive really slow. We changed our route to stop and get the Christmas present on the way. We followed the directions the GPS gave us. That led us to one problem. We were supposed to turn right on Kenneth Road, but when we got to it, there was a big sign, “Road Closed”. Andrew calls this the point where “Maria freaked out”. She was done. She didn’t like riding in the snow. She thought we were going to drive off the side of the road. She didn’t want to slide out of control. She wanted to get her present. She wanted to be there already.

Step 1: Rain

Step 2: Ice

Step 3: Snow

We turned around and found another path to the store. Maria went inside, and Vavo took Maddie to go to the bathroom. It was snowing, but the snow wasn’t flakes. It was like these little ice shards that fly in your face and feel like broken glass. ICK! It was SOOO cold and wet, too. When Maria got to the spot where the toy was supposed to be, it wasn’t there. Maria was very disappointed. She asked for help. The person said they appeared to out of it, but he’d check. Maria stood there and waited. She was near tears. She had been looking for this present at every store she went in. This was the only store in a 50 mile radius of Kansas City that carried it. Maria felt like she was trapped in one of those Christmas movies where the parent is running around trying to get the toy, but no one has it. Then the guy came back. He had the toy in his hand. Maria started crying. She was like, “thank you – you don’t know how much I’ve been looking for this”. He said that he was going in the back to check for it, and he turned his head, and just saw one sitting there. He also said that she was the second person in the past 2 days to start crying when he brought them the toy they were looking for. So out she went with the toy in hand. Andrew was waiting at the car to take her picture as she returned, but she walked around to the back of the van to put it in the trunk, so he didn’t get his opportunity he had been waiting for. Maria picked up hats and gloves for her and Drew while she was in there, because only the kids had them. Those sure came in handy later!

On a Mission

As we pulled up to Tim’s house, was saw a sign on it that said “The Pascoals, Established 2007”. That was cute. :-) We went inside to tour the house and say hello. Heather had just returned home from work. We had to leave to go pick up Peter and Nai at the airport, they were just arriving from Texas. And there was a wonderful surprise waiting there for us when we came into the dining room! Walking down the stairs was Auntie Angie! YAY! It was so nice to see her. And such an unexpected delight! Steph and Tim got together and flew her in for Christmas. It’s nice to have more family here to spend time with us – the boys were so excited to see her! So were we – and Vavo and Vavu, too!

Arriving at Uncle Tim's

Yay! Auntie Angie!

We all got ready to take off for dinner and picking up Peter and Nai. Heather and Tim dropped off Vavo, Vavu, and Auntie Angie at the restaurant to secure a table while they went to the airport to pick up Peter and Nai. Maria and Andrew took Madison, Aiden and Jeremy with them to the hotel to check in. We all met up back at the restaurant, Montana Joe’s, for dinner.

On our way to dinner

Montana Joe’s is in a shopping area known as Zona Rosa. It’s a really nice area, with upscale shopping and dining. Montana Joe’s serves bison, and they have this little Mascot Bison hanging on the wall named Mo. It’s funny, cuz he was wearing a Santa hat for Christmas. The food was really good. Maria had a bison burger. That was a first for her. And Drew had a bison strip steak. We had a good time, spending time together. It was the largest Pascoal gathering in recent history!

The dinner group

Even though the snow had given us a lot of trouble earlier in the day, it was really beautiful to look at when we were all sitting nice and cozy inside the restaurant. The scene outside the window looked like it came straight out of a Christmas movie (the good kind, not the kind with the frantic parent looking for a toy, but the kind with a happy family on Christmas). Looking outside the window, you could see all the nice shops lined up down the street, with all the Christmas lights lit, and the large Christmas tree nearby, with large snowflakes floating by, and white piles of snow on the ground. And since it was new snow, it wasn’t all brown and yucky yet. It was nice and powdery and white.

Maria and Drew went outside, and Peter took their picture standing by the large Christmas tree in the snow. It was pretty. But COLD! That’s C-O-L-D, COLD!!!

BRRRRRRR

Aiden checking out the snow

Jeremy picking up the snow and looking at it

Look at all the snow that got on our car while we ate dinner!

It continued to snow during the evening. It was something we’ve never seen before. Cars with snow piled on top of them. Street signs with icicles hanging from them. Snow plows driving down the street! It’s like another world over here. Andrew kept saying, “driving in the snow is fun”, “i’ve never done this before”, and “I like driving in the snow”. Maria kept saying, “I don’t like this”, and “go slower”, and “I think I’m going to have a heart attack”. Aiden kept quoting Spiderman, because he heard Andrew say this quote when we crossed the stateline into Missouri, “Misery, Misery, Misery, that’s what you’ve chosen”. This is what the Green Goblin tells Spiderman in the first movie. And Andrew quoted it when he saw the sign, “Welcome to Missouri”. Aiden’s been quoting it ever since. Especially if someone says, “Missouri”.

Back at Uncle Tim's: Still Snowing!





When we told the boys to pose for a picture, they did their Spiderman poses!

Jeremy fell asleep after dinner - he couldn't really move his arms in that coat!

When we got to the hotel, we went into our room for the first time. We had checked in earlier, but we just picked up the key, cuz we couldn’t find parking. When we went inside, we discovered that there had been a mistake and we were in a room with one King bed, instead of two beds. D’oh! We tried calling the front desk for help. They said they were totally booked, so we couldn’t switch to another room. We asked if they had a roll-away bed or a crib for the kids. They said they would check and get back to us. Of course we all know what that means. They never called back. We waited an hour, then gave up and went to bed anyway. Aiden slept on a large chair with an ottoman, that was long enough for him to stretch out on. Jeremy slept in the bed with us. It worked out okay. The bed was really big. And the kids were so tired, they didn’t care where they were sleeping.

One bed...four of us...hmmm (it worked out)

------------------------------------------
The best part of day 41 was Auntie Angie’s surprise visit! Peter and Nai’s arrival! Visiting Uncle Tim’s house!
The worst part of day 41 was when Maria thought they weren’t going to have the toy she was looking for, Tim sliding off the road in the ice.
What we learned on day 41 was when it’s snowing, you end up driving the same speed on the freeway as you do on the surface streets, Aiden remembers quotes hecka easy.
The weather on day 41 was um...haven’t you been reading?