Next Stop...KANSAS!

Day 1:
JoLee took us to the Deanna Rose Farm our first full day in town. I had been there before on my last trip to Kansas, but it has grown since my last trip and so have the animals. This buffalo and cow were babies on my last trip.

The best thing about the farm is feeding the goats. As you can see, they’re eager to be fed. The big one with black on his face was particularly pushy.

The best story from the farm came while we were looking at the chickens. A little boy, probably about four years old, came running up saying that he found more animals (the chickens). His grandma asked what he had found. He replied, “I found…eagles!” He said it with such awe. It was great!

After the farm we Red Boxed some movies and relaxed in the apartment. This is Zephyr, JoLee and Nate’s awesome cat, snubbing Peter. Don’t worry, she can’t resist that toy for long and was soon playing along.
That night I went to JoLee’s humanities class. She teaches at the Johnson County Community College and I had fun going with her. I even did the homework. Of course, I’d read the play Trifles before and really liked it, so I didn’t need much convincing.

Day 2:
We spent this day in Kansas City. We started the day at the National World War One Museum. I was particularly excited about this because I am teaching WWI this fall to my sixth graders. We started by looking out over Kansas City.

The exhibits contained two videos that talk about the causes and when the United States got involved in the War. They had model trenches set up so you could see what the soldiers lived in. There were also interactive stations where you could learn about the planes and weapons and even create your own war memorial. This is my memorial, and Peter’s is underneath.

The museum has a tower that stands as a memorial to the war. We didn’t go inside but we did take this picture in front of it.

Next we went to the Kauffman Gardens. We got a little artsy in our pictures here. JoLee liked the cat and the orchids and the gate and I loved the fountain.

We picked up Nate from work and went to dinner and then to the art museum. Before going inside, we walked through the sculpture gardens. They had an amazing collection of Henry Moore sculptures. This is JoLee inside one.

This sculpture is made of wood. It looks like stone. We were all very surprised.

This museum has four sculptures of shuttlecocks. This is Peter and I in front of one before JoLee and I played a smashing game of badminton.

The next day, we took off for St. Louis.