Kansas City, MO

Hey, y'all!  Greetings from hot and muggy Kansas City. Check out that weather forecast.  Doesn't it look fabulous?  Well, maybe if you like living in sauna.

Ay yay yay!

 

 

 

 

Mike and Bax dropped me off at the Inn in Gig Harbor in the morning so I could take the airporter to Sea-Tac.  It was the first time I've ever traveled alone, and also the first time I've ever left Baxter or Mike since our happy family started.  While I was excited to start on a new adventure with business travel for work, I was also sad (and worried) about leaving my two boys.  Will they survive without me?  Will the house?  Will they eat?  Luckily for me, my mom is retired and enjoys watching Bax, so he's been staying with her since I left.  He even spent the night.  I skyped with them last night after we got back from dinner and was happy to see Bax so well-adjusted without me there (meaning: he didn't really care to Skype and was wiggling all over the place, running around the house and fighting sleep.)  I skyped with Mike afterwards and he was talking about he felt like a bachelor as he went to the grocery store to pick up frozen pizza, energy drinks, and chips for his dinner.

My flight to KC was uneventful, save for the fact that we were packed like sardines in the plane, and probably 90% of the people on the plane had some kind of respiratory gunk going on.  People were hacking and sneezing all over the place, and it sounded like they didn't even try to cover their projectiles.  I kept seeing visions of the snot monsters from the Mucinex commercials whenever I heard someone coughing.  I'm pretty sure that my first souvenir from Kansas City will be TB, the flu, or pertussis.

The humidity here wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but it's still pretty gross feeling after a while of standing outside in "business casual" attire.  The hotel we're staying at is older with modern decor and the smallest elevators I've ever seen.  Also, I'm on the 13th floor.  Are you kidding me?  I get visions of the Tower of Terror every time I step in the elevator.  I didn't think hotels labeled the 13th floor as such anymore.  One of my co-workers is staying in murder central, so named as it is the room farthest away from the elevators and closest to the stairs, which is often where the most murders occur because the perpetrator can get away easily.  (Thanks, CSI!)

One bed for me, one bed for my luggage.

This little guy was waiting for me in my room when I arrived.

The view from my room

CHI has been kind enough to provide us with a shuttle to and from everywhere we need to go, and also arranged for three-course group dinners at swanky places each night.  Yesterday we had dinner at Drunken Fish, a trendy sushi bar a few blocks away from our hotel in the Power and Lights District.  The whole upper floor was reserved for us.  

 

 

 

 

Glowing red tables at Drunken Fish

Today was the first big work day at Cerner.  We're working out of their Riverport Campus, which has an old casino inside of it.  It's pretty neat to walk around in.  I felt like I was in New York, New York Casino in Las Vegas.  Cerner caters our lunches, and we got to eat on a wraparound deck facing the Missouri River.  Apparently the water level is pretty high -- near flood level due to the thunderstorms they've been having these days.  I watched a whole tree float down the fast-moving river into a bog underneath the bridge while I ate my turkey wrap.  I've also discovered that coffee reeeeally perks me up.

Panoramic shot of Missouri River

I'm resting in my room after a long day's work.  It's been fun meeting new people and seeing new places, but I know I'll be even happier on Friday when I get to come back home to Mike and Bax.  I miss my guys!

Hooray for summer!

Sorry for the lack of updates (and lack of pictures) lately.  The sun actually decided to shine over Washington and end the extended winter we were having in May-vember and June-uary.  We've made the most of the sunshine by going out on family bike trips, visiting the zoo, going on a steam train ride in Elbe, and hanging out at local parks.  Baxter loves being outside and is always knocking on the door to be let out.

Riding the Cushman Trail in Gig Harbor.  There were waaaaay more hills than we expected. 

Bax enjoys being in the bike trailer.  He actually climbs in it himself when he wants us to pull him around the neighborhood.

Bax's new favorite thing to do each day is play outside with the hose.  He has a water table that my mom bought him in the backyard, but apparently that isn't messy or projectile enough.  He much prefers the hose with the wand attachment on it so he can drench the grass, our plants, the inside of our house when the sliding glass door is open, and most importantly, himself.  I've been having to pick up a happy, soggy boy out of the yard each day and pull him out of sopping wet clothes.

We visited Portland early in June to visit Baxter's new cousins, Nash and Vonzaa.  Matt and Angie have a full household these days!  The twins were only a few days old when we came to visit and were sooo sweet to hold.  They were so small!  I can't believe Bax was that tiny once upon a time.  They were super cuddly and soft, and still in that sleepy stage.  I think Nash is Matt's mini-me and Vonzaa is Angie's.  Baxter kept saying "baby!" when he saw them and would give them kisses on their heads.  So sweet.

Nash Matthews

Vonzaa Angelina

Max and Chance have also been spending a lot of time in Poulsbo with Grandma and Grandpa Choo-Choo, and Bax has been over a couple of times to get some fun cousin time in.  Max has been a great older cousin and takes his time with Baxter, showing him how to play with things and helping him get around steps.  We spent the 4th of July over there and it was so sweet to see Max and Baxter walking around the backyard, hand in hand.  As far as Chance goes, we'll just say that he and Bax tolerated each other.  There may or may not have been dramatic fits of crying and pinching involved.

Max taught Bax how to play with bulldozers and steamrollers in the dirt.

Dirt + Boys = Smiles

We also have been lucky enough to have some days off to hang out with Mike's friend Dave, his wife Rachel, and their sons, Owen and Gavin.  Owen is a month older than Baxter.  We all rode the Tour de Pierce together, which was a 12-mile bike ride around Puyallup and Sumner, which was really fun and something I'd like to do annually.  The little boys did pretty well in their trailers for the most part, except Owen got antsy during the last couple miles.

Here are Bax and Owen at the Woodland Park Zoo playing on an old trailer in their Family Farm area.  Bax hopped on the trailer and then appeared to peer out over his crop, like an old farmer overlooking his acreage.  We all got to feed bamboo to Bamboo, one of the elephants at the zoo.  (The pictures of that are on the camera which aren't downloaded to the computer yet.)

We also got a chance to go on the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad in Elbe, WA.  Baxter has inherited his Grandpa Bob's love for trains.  He fell asleep during the ride down to Elbe and woke up when we pulled into the parking lot for the train ride.  As soon as he realized he was in the presence of a real "choo choo", he was literally shaking with excitement.  He couldn't stop signing "train" and saying "choo choo!  choo choo!" over and over again.  The train ride went to Mineral Lake, where we stopped for 15 minutes and examined the different cars of the old train.  It was a really fun family outing.

In the Clopen car, which doesn't have windows.  On the plus side, we got a lot of airflow through the cart.  On the downside, our allergies went crazy.

In other news, I have a new job at work.  It's more of a lateral move since no increase in pay is involved, but it is a big switch from bedside nursing.  I'm part of a nationwide team to design and build the electronic medical record (EMR) for Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI), which Franciscan Health System (FHS) is a part of.  I'm working as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) and on a team focused on inpatient charting and medication administration.  It does involve monthly week-long business trips to exciting and exotic locales, such as Kansas City, MO and Denver, CO.  I'm excited to see another part of nursing that doesn't involve FlexiSeals or someone complaining about me not getting them their dilaudid/phenergan/ativan/sandwich combo fast enough.  If I like it enough, I might decide to get a degree in Nurse Informatics.  Or I could just win the lotto. 

Hope you are all having a fabulous summer!  Have fun, stay cool, and drink lots of chocolate milk like Baxter has been.  :)