rocky mountain tot

Magical Holiday Fun in Kansas City

We love outdoor adventures, but we’ve had a few windy, cold days and needed to get some energy out. Our first stop was Santa’s Gingerbread Station at Crown Center. The interactive exhibit is free but there is a charge for a picture taken with Santa. Covered garage parking is also free if you get your ticket validated by one of the shops or restaurants at Crown Center.

Next we took advantage of The Link which is a weather protected walkway connecting Crown Center to Union Station.

Union Station is my favorite building in Kansas City. I think my one-year -old shared my amazement at how magical the historic train station looks decorated for the holiday season. Entering the Sprint Festival Plaza I had a sudden urge to twirl around in circles like a Disney princess, which I resisted and instead walked around enchanted by the décor and holiday model train display. The display is free and quite impressive with over 800 feet of track and 18 trains.

There is so much more to do throughout the season at both Crown Center and Union Station! I can’t wait to take Cecy back next year.

Largest Indoor Tree in Kansas City at Union Station

December Festive Family To-do List

Today is the last day of November which for us was a month packed with travel and celebration. I think I basically checked off all my festive to-do items for the month:

We loved traveling to New York! We walked and walked around the city and of course never ran out of things to see.
We celebrated Cecy’s birthday in New York and with more family when we got back home to Kansas City. We wanted to keep it simple, but we sure spread out the fun and she loved opening presents, looking at her cards and decorations, and eating cake.

We went to Springfield, MO which is my husband’s home town and where we both went to college. The day before Thanksgiving (Wild Turkey Wednesday) we went out with friends to Missouri Spirits which is a ‘spirit house’ with handcrafted drinks using fresh local ingredients.
I made a cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. I found the recipe from William Sonoma, but changed it a little bit:

Ingredients:

half an orange

granny smith apple

3 cups fresh cranberries

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

In sauce pan add the apples after you peel and dice them. Next add juice from your orange and zest from the orange peel. Add cranberries, sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Bring to boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low and cover the pan partially. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, the apple is tender and the cranberries have burst, 10 to 15 minutes. This will make your kitchen smell amazing!

#OptOutside Black Friday – we had to postpone our outside fun for a day because we are dealing with icy rain, but on Saturday evening we bundled up and went to the Overland Park Arboretum’s Holiday Luminary Walk. We enjoyed walking through candlelit paths, listening to Christmas carols, and drinking Louisburg Cider. This event is also taking place on December 4-5!

In December my festive family to-do list includes:

Baking holiday cookies
Making a homemade gingerbread house
Enjoying Christmas lights
Snuggling by the fireplace
Focusing on giving

Walking in a Windy Winter Wonderland

This weekend we headed to Estes Park, Colorado for a quick getaway before the holiday season officially begins.

We bundled up and went on a walk around Lily Lake (one of our favorite kid friendly spots).

The temperature wasn’t too cold, but we were immediately blasted by strong, frigid winds. For the first five minutes I wanted to quit, but I’m glad we toughed it out! Soon we were shielded from the wind by trees and Cecy took a nap on her Daddy’s back. We added (less than half a mile) by hiking the Lily Ridge trail for views of the frozen lake with Estes Cone and Longs Peak as the stunning backdrop.

We also took Cecy on her first sledding adventure with a trip to Hidden Valley in Rocky Mountain National Park.

The valley used to be a winter ski destination, but now families use the slopes for sledding. It’s pretty steep for a 1 year old, so we took turns sledding with her down the hill. We also took a couple of turns for ourselves. I forgot how much fun sledding is!

We bought our sled at the Warming House, an outdoor adventure store in Estes Park.

New York “City Hiking”

This weekend we went to New York to visit my sister-in-law. We were kind of nervous to bring Cecy to such a big city, but she did great!

Her favorite part was playing in Sheep Meadow in Central Park.

I think she also liked helping her Dad eat a gigantic slice of pizza!

And somehow she fell asleep right in the middle of Times Square, which is probably the loudest and most crowded place I’ve ever been to.

We kept walking and walking while she napped. We passed the biggest Macy’s ever, Madison Square Garden, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, West Village and more. Cecy woke up and we all enjoyed a nice break at a pub called Walkers in Tribeca (fitting name for our day of walking!) We continued our walking tour by the bull on Wall Street and the One World Trade Center all the way to our inexpensive ferry ride which took us to Liberty State Park with views of the evening New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty.

What a great first visit to New York!