Crown Center Day of Fun!

WARNING 1: This posts contains lots of pictures
WARNING 2a: You may be jealous of our super fun day
WARNING 2b: …Especially when you realize that all of our fun didn’t even cost us a single penny!

Belle spent the day with my parents, so I planned a “big kid” day for Jackson and his friend Sean. First stop, Kalediscope. If you don’t know what it is, you can check out it out online… but basically it’s a Hallmark owned kid destination that fosters creativity with the scraps from Hallmark’s operations.

Here’s where they painted their glasses

And the boys enjoyed waiting for their finished masterpieces to come across the drying belt {this contraption is genius!}

Next was some sticker fun

This is Jackson’s completed sticker art

We did several marker activities, including 3D fish…

And the coolest part about Kaleidoscope—making your own puzzle! Here the boys roll their artwork through the puzzle machine.

And wha-la! It’s a puzzle! This is Sean’s puzzle and he said, “This means I love my Mommy!” So sweet!

We stopped  by the dark room right before we left and the boys enjoyed painting neon fish under a black light.

We made a stop by Hallmark Visitors Center right next door, and a trip to Hallmark just isn’t complete without watching the machine make a bow {or five}.
   

We stopped for an {indoor} picnic!

And then we headed to the Dinosaur Exhibit located in Crown Center until September {when another free exhibit will come!}

The boys got to ride a T-rex,

a baby Stegosaurus,

a Troodon,

and climbed around an Edmontosaurus.

{Yes, be proud. I did that all from memory. And I can pronounce and spell them all correctly. I read a lot—A LOT—of dinosaur books with all their ridiculous names and spellings.}

Anyway, the boys played with Troodon eggs.  

And sat still for 2.5 seconds to look through some flash card books. 

Next, they played with dinosaurs

And then the cutest thing—they dug through “dirt” to find some fossils!

And {almost} lastly, we stopped by the Crayola store where the boys did some more coloring and played with

{Jackson said he drew a ladder!} 

Our trek back to van ended up to be an adventure of it’s own as Jackson tumbled down the escalator and scared the bejeebies out of me. I’m so grateful for the kindness of strangers—a lady who stopped Jackson’s fall, the restaurant manager from Crayola Cafe who SPRINTED to our rescue, and the Crown Center security who made sure everyone was alright.

But besides the little “eskimo” incident {as Jackson’s calls it} our day was a total success. And totally free!!! I’d love to visit the new acquarium and Legoland that opened this year, but tickets to both will cost nearly $50 per person! So for now, we’ll stick to these long-standing KC favorites!

Blogger's Swap: KC Pride

I never thought that I'd really be one to have several online friends since I am perfectly capable of making and maintaining friends, ya know, in real life. But, I over the past several months, I've become involved in the community of blogging and I'm addicted! It's just really cool to have friends from all over, all with different backgrounds, all doing different things with their lives. I have come across people drastically different from me, doing things I've never dealt with and I've become fascinated in their lives. I have also found friends very much like me- National guard wives, Psychology grad students, moms with kids Jackson's age and it's way cool to chat with someone who knows where you're coming from.

A few months ago in a particular community, the idea to do a swap came up and in not too long, it was all set up. You put your name in if you want to participate. You'll be given a name to send stuff to and someone else will have your name. The theme: regional swap. The budget: $10-20. I was given the name of Holly- from Michigan, the organizer (no pressure!), so I set out to collect goodies from Kansas City. I had a few ideas in mind, not all of them worked out, but I'm satisfied with how it's turned out.

The goodies (okay, items 1-6 are just brochures I picked up, but I love this city and gotta get the word out about all the fun stuff to do here!)

1. Kansas City Zoo: kind of ironic that this is first because, it's probably the crappiest zoo you've ever been too. But! It does have a cool IMAX and Starlight Theater is right there too, which has outdoor traveling Broadway shows and I love it. 
2. Greater KC Attractions: this is just a compilation of all the big and small things to do in the area. Includes gardens, amusement parks, museums, historical places, etc... A lot of these places are free!
3. Kaleidoscope: This is by far one of the coolest places for kids to visit. It's actually owned by Hallmark (more on that later) and is a place where kids can go in and be super creative with all sorts of left-overs from the Hallmark plant plus other super cool stuff. Like, color a picture and make it into a puzzle. Things glitter, streamers, crayons, markers galore. Even better: it's totally free.
4. Crown Center: Home to lots of shopping, restaurants, hotels. Remember the free movie nights from few weeks back-- that was here. In the winter time, there is an outdoor ice park. It's pretty cool. 
5. Harry S. Truman Museum: Located in the "small town" of Independence where President Truman once called home, this museum focuses on his Presidency- including the end of WWII, beginning of the United Nations, and the beginning of the Cold War. The Buck Stops Here.
6. National World War I Museum: America's official museum dedicated to World War I. I believe it's the only one. Even though the attraction isn't free (unless your active or retired military), the tickets are good for two consecutive days. After soaking up history, check out the great views of the city!
7. Singing Hallmark Card: musical to number 12
8. Gates BBQ: Okay, I personally despise Gates BBQ. I am a loyal fan of KC Masterpiece and Oklahoma Joes. However, KC Masterpiece is a national brand so she'd have access to it up in Michigan, and since Oklahoma Joe's has yet to offer their BBQ at the grocery store, I had to opt for Gates. I am being true to this city as a lot of people looooooove this stuff. But seriously, BBQ is big here. Simply put KC=BBQ, BBQ=KC... either way.
9. Royals MLB cards: I am a big fan of practical gifts. Everyone can use a deck of cards and people will be like, "why do you have Royals cards" because Kansas City-ian knows that no one outside of KC actually sports Royals stuff. It may have to do with their consecutive subpar performances, but we are loyal fans. Perks to a not so great time: great promotions and giveaways at the games-- free t-shirts, hats, Girls Nights, Firework Fridays. Plus the games are still fun. I had hopes of making it to a game to get an extra free t-shirt, but I just couldn't make it happen.
10. Crayola Keychain: I was searching for a Chiefs keychain, but didn't have luck since football season hasn't started. Inside Crown Center (see above) is a really neat Crayola store. Not only does it have lots of cool things to buy, but it's a mini-museum, if I might say, with interesting info about the history of Crayola and crayons. And there are easels and crayons for kiddos to make their own artwork in the store. The keychain is an 'H', it's kind of hard to tell!
11. The Pink Stuff Salad Dressing: I totally love the color pink. But, I was even hesitant to try pink salad dressing because, it's just weird. I am SO glad I did. This stuff is YUMMY!! There are several Pizza Shoppe restaurants around the city and they have a great lunch special. It's actually where Derek and I celebrated Valentine's Day this past year.
12. Hallmark Bow and Postcard: Hallmark headquarters here in Kansas City where the company began. There are a few plants around the city, but the main offices and Visitor's Center are down by Crown Center. It's a very cool place to walk through and the main reason why: you get push a button and watch the machine make the bow and spit it out at ya! I totally made this bow for Holly! My other favorite part is checking out the Presidential holiday cards over the years, ornaments too, and seeing cards from other countries. It's free and you get a free Hallmark card too!

So I know this is a super long post, but I just have to boast my KC Pride. And I just can't deny my advertising and promotions undergrad. Quite honestly, I think someone needs to do a better job at advertising this city anyway. A lot of the brochures were hard to come by and there are tons of things that deserve more attention. Maybe they should just hire me!

Okay, so who's coming to visit!?!