Skip to main content

Thanksgiving in Lenexa Kansas

We had tons of fun for Thanksgiving! We drove to Lenexa, Kansas (about 5 hours away) to visit Rick's Uncle Troy and Aunt Cheryle.

The kids were thrilled that "Grandma" and "Grandpa" (Ricky and Makayla kept calling them that) had 2 dogs. We nearly talked Rick into letting us adopt Jimbo. We got him to agree that we'll see how we are doing in the spring. Rick likes "outside dogs." If we can get a nice house built for him outside that will keep him warm in the winter, that is an option. We'll see. Ricky and Makayla have been asking for a pet for years.


Thanksgiving dinner was tasty. Aunt Cheryle is a great cook and a very accomodating hostess. We were well taken care of for the entire visit with delicious food and fun activities. Many of you know how much Rick and I like games. I loved playing games every night when the kids went to bed. We were introduced to "Speed Scrabble." It's a game I can't get enough of.


After dinner on Thanksgiving we went to a nearby park. This picture is taken from the top of a the lookout tower.



On Friday, we went to a lot of fun places in downtown Kansas City (about 15 minutes from Lenexa). The kids loved a place called Kaleidoscope. It is next to the Hallmark museum. They have all kinds of crafts and activities for kids and it is all free. Everything you make you can take home.


We also went to the Hallmark museum, Union Station, and an art museum (the name is escaping me). Union station had a huge model train set up along with tons of decorated Christmas trees.
For dinner we went to a dinosaur restaurant. Ricky thought this was a really cool place.



We enjoyed our visit so much, the kids weren't quite ready to go home. We are so blessed to have family near us. We really love Uncle Troy and Aunt Cheryle and hope to see them again soon!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

That Sinking Feeling - Real Talk From Your Mother

Also found at Letters from the Nest:   https://open.substack.com/pub/lettersfromthenest/p/that-sinking-feeling?r=48qui&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Dear Nestlings, I hope you don’t mind a little stream-of-consciousness letter today. I don’t know if I have anything specific to share, so let’s see what floats to the surface. It’s a bright fall Friday morning. These last few weeks in central Pennsylvania have been lovely, sunny, and warm. I know winter is coming, so I try to be outside as much as possible to take advantage of the sun before it hibernates. I just completed the forty-minute round trip to drive one of you to the high school. You know who you are, but maybe in a few years, when you read this, you won’t know because every one of you has missed the bus sometimes and has endured lectures about planning better and showing your respect for my work by not requiring forty minutes of my life for your convenience. Anyway, everybody is at school and work except...

Gavin in a Million Words or Less

 Way back when Emily was in 6th grade, her teacher, Ms. Grey, asked parents to write about thier children in a million words or less. I posted what I wrote about Emily on our blog. I wish I were more organized and tech-savvy to find the link to that post and put it here, but I'm not. It's a nice idea that maybe I'll do later. Anyway, you get to read what I wrote to Gavin's fifth grade teacher who made the same requests of parents: Gavin is the youngest of seven children. His three oldest siblings have flown the nest, so he talks to them on the phone and looks forward to holiday visits. This summer, his oldest sister had a baby, so he’s an Uncle! He has three older brothers, who sometimes make life tricky for him, but are also sources of wisdom, rides to the store to get candy, and annoying TikTok phrases. He sometimes wants to be more grown up than he actually is. This little guy is academically oriented. He loves to read BIG books. He rarely reads a standalone nove...

Back To School Meanies

 Letter From the Nest August 15, 2025 https://open.substack.com/pub/lettersfromthenest/p/back-to-school?r=48qui&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web One August, more than twenty years ago, at an evening book club discussion, my “older” friends (now I look back and know those women were the age I am now), were discussing the woes and triumphs of back-to-school season. One woman was anticipating her youngest child’s senior year of high school. She said, “For more than two decades, our lives have revolved around the school district’s academic calendar. I don’t know how I will plan my life without knowing about school breaks or holidays.” I remember her bittersweet tone as she anticipated freedom from school schedule constraints but also mourned how those constraints guided her choices. What would she do? Other women joined the discussion, wondering if their kids would have good teachers, if they’d be able to balance volunteering in the classroom, how to streamline school supply pu...