There's No Place Like Munchkrennland

The next stop on our "Tour de Midwest" was Munchkrennland to see Susan, Adam, and our goddaughter Claire.  And as an added bonus, we also got to see some extended family along the way.  

Like Dorothy, we merely had to click our heels and, before we knew it, (10 hours later) we were in Kansas.   

Our last visit to Munchkrennland was in September for Claire's baptism, which I shared in this post.  And we were also able to spend some quality time with Claire & co. during our Christmas in Columbus.  But this time around, we were twice as lucky since we got to visit not one, but TWO times during our trip - once on the way in, and once on the way out.  

Susan posted some pictures of our stay (in a much more timely fashion) that I recommend checking out on her blog here.  

On the first day, we got to spend some fun-in-the-sun with our family from Patrick's mom's side.  A lot of them reside in Kansas City, so we were fortunate to meet up with everyone for a little Memorial Day cook-out.

That afternoon, there was some quality pool time...



...some quality dog petting...



... and some quality card games.



And, of course, some quality eating also ensued.

Throughout the week, Claire took us on many leisurely strolls on all of her favorite walking paths.

And after she retired for the evening, the rest of us bonded over some superior programming, like the History Channel's Hatfields and McCoys (starring both of Patrick's heroes - Bill Paxton and Kevin Costner), The Muppets, and American Ninja Warrior.

Source

During our few days in Munchkrennland, it was fun to see and experience first-hand the many different sides of Claire.  Like scholarly Claire,

matronly Claire,



"attack-mode" Claire,

angelic Claire,

beauty-queen Claire (or maybe that's more of a politician's wave?),

and ballerina Claire.

Best of all, we got to see her "scrunch face."  According to Susan, it's her version of smiling.  I'm going to have to practice my own scrunch face... I think it will go over well when I start the job interview process this fall.

Along with "scrunch face," we were able to pick up some other great tips from Claire that I will have to remember for future social engagements, like how to ride this car.  Look at her go with that posture and those straight legs!

  

Or like what to do with this spoon, which I always thought was for stirring.  Silly me.  

And most importantly we learned the proper way to swing, with your arm clenched and your hair flowing freely through the breeze.

Uncle Patrick got some good practice time in, too.

What a great coach!

But the best lessons were the dancing lessons we received during mealtime.  No music required.  Click below for a sample.

Thanks for showing us so many things!

Later in the week, we also got the chance to see my cousin Linsey, her children Lily and Graeme, and my Aunt Tracy who happened to be visiting them for the week.

Graeme was such a cute baby and extremely happy-go-lucky.

Lily was also a cutie and even let me hold her dog for awhile (in between taking her outside to use the bathroom).

It was great visiting with them, especially since this was my first opportunity to meet Linsey's little ones!  It had been way too long and we hope to see you all again soon!



We concluded our stay in KC (the first time around) with an essential stop at Jack Stack BBQ.

I mentioned Kansas City BBQ in my "Best Bites of 2011" post.  This time we ordered the ribs, pulled pork, the hickory pit beans, cheesy corn bake, and cheesy potato bake.

Susan was also kind enough to cook for us on a number of occasions.  We had plenty of delicious eats, like this quinoa.  Yum!

Thanks for being such excellent hosts!  Luckily we get to see Claire & co. again in a couple months :)

oo,