Thursday, July 30

This is a big day! We've been waiting for this, because this is the day we go on a train ride!

It's kind of complicated: First Patsy picked up Lily, Graham and Poppy. Then she drove to our house. Next we followed Patsy downtown to Crown Center, where we parked our car.

Then, we got in the car with Patsy and the kids and we drove out to Lee's Summit, which is a suburb east of Kansas City. That's where we waited for the train, which was coming from St. Louis. We walked around the downtown area with it's little shops while we waited for the train. The kids all got a piece of candy there -- Beth chose chocolate with peanuts!

We went back to the benches to wait for the train, and it wasn't very long before it pulled into the station with lots of noise!

It was a big train, and full of people. The train attendants were really nice and asked if this was our first ride. Oh yes!

We got settled in our seats and then after a little while, we walked back to the Dining Car. It was kind of funny walking on the train as it was swaying along. In the Dining Car, we got some cookies and sat at two tables all together. It was really nice, with big windows so we could see everything outside rushing by.

Then, before we knew it, we were in Kansas City! We got off outside and walked up the stairs near the Freighthouse, and walked into Union Station. It was great!

Then it was time for lunch, so we went to the Harvey House where we all had a great meal. It was lots of fun, and we were playing Arm Wrestling and Thumb Wars while we waited for our food.

After we ate, we walked on the overhead Link from Union Station to Crown Center. We went to the waterfall and then walked through the shopping center a little bit. Erin and Margo came to meet us and take Patsy back to her car out in Lee's Summit. For us, it was time to go home.



Later, we had Quesadillas at home, with two kinds of hot sauce. It was just right -- a light dinner snack.

After dinner, Beth wrote an email to Scott and then it was time for bed! What a fun day we had, with lots and lots of laughs!