KCKidsFun

June 26, 2010 marks the date of something that could be a unique, educational activity for your entire family!  There will be events that day in St. Joseph, MO tying in with the National Pony Express Association Re-Ride.  The Re-Ride marks the 150th Anniversary of the Pony Express ride!  Did you know that the route covered 1966 miles and twisted from Sacramento, California through Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas and ended in St. Joseph, Missouri???

Riders will partake in a river crossing, and there will be a parade through downtown St. Joseph.  Don’t forget about the Pony Express Monument and the Patee House Museum/Pony Express Headquarters, either!

In conjunction with the Pony Express anniversary activities, The St Joseph Museums, Inc.  has self-published Bustin’ at the Seams, a children’s view of St Joseph in 1860. It is written and illustrated by Amy Grier.  The book’s main character is Amelia, age 8, the daughter of one of St Joseph’s blacksmiths. Her brother, Andrew, age 14, wants to ride for the Pony Express, and he happens to be a friend of  Johnny Fry. We learn details of the Express through their friendship. The chapter book is written to appeal to both girls and boys in grades second through fifth. It is available for $8 from the St Joseph Museums.

There’s an interesting back-story here.  The Museum has a doll club that formed a couple of years ago. The girls in the club, generally ages 6-12, use the American Girl doll stories as inspiration to learn more about history. Amy Grier is the education coordinator at the musuem and she puts together enriching programs for the club, which meets about once a month. Last summer the girls had a camp where they studied the depression era doll, Kit. In the American Girl books Kit is a huge fan of Amelia Earhart. Wanting to incorporate some local history, they studied Earhart and ended the camp with a field trip to Atchison for the Amelia Earhart festival. Back at the museum that evening, relaxing over milk shakes, a book concept emerged!

The girls wanted to know why the museum couldn’t create a unique doll, based on St Joseph history, and write stories for her. So the girls began writing and drawing ideas for a book. They determined time frame, characters, items that would accesorize the stories, what crafts and recipes were needed, etc.  Knowing the 150th anniversay of the Pony Express was only nine months away, the girls picked that time frame.

There are plans for more books to follow.  The Museum also hopes to have a resource book to go along with the set. The resource book would explain what is happening in St Joseph during the late 1850’s and early ’60’s in more depth than a chapter book can.

You can call Amy at the museum for more info, 816-232-8471.  Currently the museum is hosting a special display, “Riders of the Pony Express”, running through Dec 15, 2010.  Make it a day in St. Joseph and brush up on your Pony Express history!  Sounds like lots of fun.

It sounded like a good idea at the time. Of course, I am slightly crazy. Which may explain why it sounded like a good idea. I took my four kids – ages 7, 6, 2 and 2 – to Omaha for a few days by myself. For fun.

“Trip to Omaha” had been on our List of Fun Things to Do This Summer since school got out. We had worked our way down the list and just a few items remained, including the trip from Kansas City to Omaha. Baseball and softball were finally over. High School Musical dance camp and golf lessons were done. All the out-of-town grandparents had come and gone. And my husband got a new job – meaning lots of long hours at the office.

So, I bit the bullet and announced to the kids that we were going on our Omaha adventure. They were beyond thrilled. And then they asked me if Omaha was in the United States, if we needed to pack silverware and “do they speak English there?” We don’t travel much. Heh. My daughter packed five bags for a two day trip.

I booked two nights at a hotel and we set off. The drive, three hours up I-29, was an easy one. I timed it to coincide with naptime for the toddlers and let the older kids watch a movie. We checked into the hotel and settled into our room. I booked a suite about 10 minutes west of downtown Omaha (Doubletree Suites on 72nd St.). I could have found someplace cheaper and closer to downtown – but I wanted a suite so that I could put my 2-year-olds to bed in the bedroom and then let the older kids watch a movie in the evenings in the living room. Everyone loved it. (There is an Embassy Suites in the Old Market area downtown but they didn’t have anything available by the time I made my reservations.)

After we got settled and checked out the room completely, we headed to Omaha’s Old Market area, parked and walked around a bit before deciding to eat dinner at Zio’s Pizzeria. The kids were each given a ball of dough to play with while we waited for our pizza to cook. They had fun and the pizza was delicious. We walked over to Maggie Moo’s for ice cream afterwards.

The Old Market area is very quaint with its brick streets and old buildings. I enjoyed it and I think the kids did too.

The next morning, we took advantage of the free breakfast buffet at our hotel, then headed out to the Henry Doorly Zoo. Thankfully, I reserved the entire day for the zoo. We spent SEVEN hours there! Admission for me and the older two kids was $27; the little two still got in free (2 and under).

We saw penguins, giraffes, rhinos, elephants, monkeys, lions, tigers, gorillas, polar bears, orangutans and more. I checked out a map of the zoo beforehand and planned to see the outdoor exhibits in the morning and the indoor exhibits in the afternoon when the sun got hot. We loved the gorilla exhibit, the monkeys and koi fish, the big cats and the giraffes.

The Scott Aquarium was not all that large but very engaging. We especially loved the penguins (great exhibit allowing you to see how they swim) and the sharks in the tunnel aquarium tank.

And we also loved the desert dome. A desert environment is perfectly replicated underneath a huge geodesic dome. A great surprise was the extensive exhibit of nocturnal animals beneath the desert display. My son LOVED the bats and snakes and alligators and beavers. My daughter was a little freaked out. My toddlers were asleep in the stroller by that point.

While at the zoo, we also took advantage of the train ride and the carousel. Which were pretty standard but still fun. So, a big thumbs up for the Henry Doorly Zoo. It was worth the trip (and we still didn’t even see all of it!)

That night, we had dinner at the hotel and swam at the indoor pool there. We capped our evening off with a hotel room showing of Monsters vs. Aliens.

The next morning, we did hotel breakfast again and checked out. We headed to the Omaha Children’s Museum, planning to spend about two hours. Three hours later, we staggered out at my insistence – the kids could have stayed all day.

The Omaha Children’s Museum reminded me quite a bit of Wonderscope here in the Kansas City area, just on a larger and newer scale. But most of the activities were very similar in nature to those offered at Wonderscope and at Science City. It was a blast and I dragged them in order to get lunch and get back on the road home.

Between the zoo, the hotel and the children’s museum, my kids were sufficiently impressed and entertained for the entire two-and-a-half day adventure. They were all very good. I was exhausted but pleased.

I recommend Omaha for a fun family getaway from Kansas City without reservation! While I splurged on the hotel room, you could definitely find cheaper digs. You can also pack your own lunch to take to the zoo to avoid the pricey concession stands. If anyone else has tips for fun things to do in Omaha with the family, please share them in the comments!!

Spring Break has come and gone…and we enjoyed our “vacation” in Lawrence, KS!!  My husband and I took our son (7) and his friend to Lawrence and checked into an inexpensive hotel for the night.  I’ve written before how much fun a hotel can be…the electronic key card alone is cause for celebration.

We changed into swimming suits and headed straight for the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Indoor Aquatic Center.  I had called ahead to check on Spring Break Week times and prices; the price was right at $3/kid.  The pool was great!  Part of the amazing Free State High School complex, the pool has spray features, a water slide, zero-depth entry, a swinging rope obstacle course and those anchored-down-toys that the kids climb on!  On the other side of the building is an enormous lap pool and diving boards.

Although the Aquatic Center itself is not any better than what you’d find at Overland Park’s own Matt Ross Community Center, it’s all about LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION–we were on vacation!  After several hours of swimming, we changed and headed over to the famed “Mass Street” for some window shopping and dinner.  If you haven’t been, Lawrence is a great family-friendly town, perfect for a day trip or even an overnight.  We wrote a series of articles “Weekend Getaways from KC” last year and even profiled Lawrence (#3:  Eastern Kansas).  Check those out for some good ideas!

Speaking of Matt Ross Community Center, my son attended a birthday party there last week and had a blast.  They had a great room available for the cake, presents, etc., and the kids enjoyed the pool on a Friday night.  The pool was still open to the community, but nobody seemed to mind a bit!  Summer is coming…but you still will need to take advantage of the city’s indoor swim facilities to get your swim on until at least June 1 when it’s a bit warmer out.  Check out our great listing of indoor pools here.

The last thing that we did over vacation week was visit the indoor batting cages.  We went to Mac N Seitz’s, at 137th Street and Holmes in South Kansas City.  It’s a great place for the kids to hit some balls and knock the rust off as they get ready for spring/summer ball!  Mac N Seitz’s features several speeds of machines…so everyone can find something, from slower-pitching softballs to major-league fast baseballs!