Au Revoir Kansas city!

After almost a year
and not without some sadness in our hearts
we've said our good bye's to the great friends
who made all the difference, throughout the year,
as we explored and settled
into a new city...

Today our car is packed
with all of our belongings

(this feat was NOT easy!).


We are basically 

becoming gypsies for the next few months.

Moving first to Atlanta, Georgia, 

followed by South Carolina, and Shreveport, Louisiana.

Although we are excited about our upcoming adventures

Kansas city has exceeded our expectations.

Throughout this year I have tried to share many of our Mid-west adventures

 but there are several highlights I have yet to share, 

so without further ado:

The Boulevard Brewery:

Since coming to KC, 

we have enjoyed the local Kansas city beer from the Boulevard Brewery.

One of our favourite things we did this fall 

was take advantage of the free Boulevard Brewery Tour.

Boulevard Brewing Co.

Is a super eco-friendly company.

They impressively pride themselves in recycling absolutely everything!

~*~

The Kauffman Centre & Kansas city Ballet

I love, love, love the ballet

 and the preforming arts centre that hosts the ballet is absolutely beautiful!

We were fortunate enough to attend two shows while in KC:

Carmina Burana & The Nutcracker

Inside the Kauffman centre

Nathan at the Nutcracker!

Angela at the Nutcracker!

The balcony, stage, & orchestra 

~*~

Lawrence & KU Basketball game

The people of Kansas & Missouri are huge basketball fans.

We were fortunate to be given tickets to the 

always sold out Kansas University Basketball game.

The game was in Lawrence, Kansas 

(an hour outside kansas city).

Lawrence is a quaint, midwest, collage town 

with a rich basketball history.

At the game!

This is where James A. Naismith the inventor of basketball 

established the University of Kansas basketball program.

The Cheerleaders were impressive!

There was an incredible amount of spirit at this game!

As a Canadian who can't remember going to a single university sports game

It really was an experience to attend an american collage game!

~*~

Better together

Most of all

we've enjoyed the small, yet, for us,
 it seems big victory of being together

and having a place to call our own

Our cozy, simple,  little apartment!

Cheers to a great Mid-West Adventure!

Home for Christmas!

We made it home for Christmas!

I arrived late, late tuesday before christmas and 

Nathan followed friday night (turned saturday morning)

It was a wonderful, whirlwind, trip

filled with fun & festivities 

with some of our dearest family & friends!

I throughly enjoyed the Snow!

We squeezed everything we could into this short trip.

Even (for me) a little trip to the Ski Hill!

(Thanks Craig!)

Angela & Craig at Martock Dec 2012

Santa Found Us!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time with both our families & friends...

There is no place like home for the holidays!

Christmas Morning with the Family!

and I can't forget to include Riley-Dog!

Thank-you to everyone 

who made our Christmas trip possible & memorable!

Branson, Missouri

In a quest to reorganize my life
I've slaked, a little, on sharing our week-end adventures...
Two week-ends ago we explored Branson, Missouri

I heard about Branson, Missouri from several people,
but when they joked about it on my favourite T.V show {Modern Family}
I knew we had to check it out!

Cameron from Modern Family calls it 

"a place with a vibrant theatre scene, top notch restaurants, 

the jewel of Missouri's white river"

Anyways...
Branson is ~3.5 hours south of Kansas city

Branson is an unique place...
it is known as the Las Vegas of Missouri
(without the gambling)

I don't know about being a jewel...
However
Branson certainly does have
lots and lots of cheesy shows, elderly people, and neon signs!

Here are some pictures of the town of Branson:

Although, Branson 

may not have been our style,

we did have a great week-end...

This bizarre town is situated within beautiful hills

which made for a scenic drive and a beautiful little bike ride

We even road our bikes all the way to Arkansas!

That's a wrap!

Another Mid-West Week-end

Once again 

we embraced our surroundings

and filled our week-end with all things 

Kansas city and Mid-west.

Friday we attended the Kansas city ballet 

in the very impressive Kauffman Performing Arts Centre

Photo Credit Architecture Linked

I was in heaven!

I have been anxiously waiting my opportunity

 to go into this unique building and see the ballet.

It was worth the wait

The performance was Carmina Burana.

Simply put, 

it is a very powerful story about struggles with 

drinking, gambling, gluttony, and lust.

Start-to finish, 

the dancers, symphony, and choir were all amazing!

Sunday:

Changing gears

to what feels like the opposite end of the spectrum 

we also went to a legitimate NASCAR race!

The boys

Nathan and I at a NASCAR race... Who would have thought?!

The guys were in love with #10 (a female driver Danika Patrick)

It was a fun, loud (earplugs a must), and eyeopening experience!

vroom, vroom!

Zoom, zoom!

My two favourite things were:

a) they actually say "Start your engines"

b) the pit stops, they are crazy fast.

Everyone else 

seemed to like the crashes best...

annnd

that's a wrap 

for our very dynamic weekend!

18th & Vine

After we dropped Mom & Dad off at the airport

we felt like we should keep the good times rolling...

18th & Vine in Kansas city 

is a famous Jazz district.

At one time this area was thriving:

Effort has been made to restore this area.

Nathan and I 

have been axious to check out some of the 

Kansas city's Jazz.

Since the American Jazz Museum 

was hosting a Rhythm & Ribs festival (Saturday Oct 20th)

we thought this was the perfect opportunity!

Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate,
rain, high winds, tornado warnings.

Therefore many of the festival activities were driven inside
into tiny venues... Not so great for the festival...

The American Jazz Museum

However, 

all we wanted to do was see some 

great, live, jazz...

and we were not disappointed. 

The Blue Room is attached to the American Jazz Museum, 

it is considered the primer jazz joint in Kansas city. 

We learned that the Blue Room is named after a former hotel club from the 1930s.

Inside the Blue Room is really nice.

A large mural showcases the history of Kansas city Jazz.

Inside the Blue Room

Nathan waiting for the Jazz to start!

We had so much fun!

We lucked out with prime seats

and since there was only the two of us we ended up sharing our table 

with very interesting local gentlemen 

who enriched our experience so much, 

by giving us a bit of a history lesson.

Here is a brief clip of one of the Jazz performances:

I am SO happy 

that we got to experience some live Jazz in Kansas city...

That is one more thing checked off our K.C./ Midwest bucket list!