Drive to Kansas City

Our drive to Kansas City was one of our better drives.  I had never been to Nebraska and found it prettier than I had expected.  Western Nebraska into Kansas City was rolling hills with plenty of trees.  This leg of our trip was broken into two parts with a stop at the National Homestead Monument in Beatrice, Nebraska, and the children did very well.

We arrived in St. Joe, Missouri around dinner time and my Aunt Sharon spoiled the girls with a dinner of their favorites: meatballs, macaroni and cheese, applesauce and melon.  My cousin Rick drove up from Kansas City and our family friend Barb was also there to welcome us.

The highlight of the evening was when the fireflies came out.  In all of my life, I had never seen a firefly before and neither had my children.  Aunt Sharon provided them with jars and they ran around the yard catching them.  What a delightful time!

The whole gang including Rick, Barb (both back left) and Sharon (front left)

Lillian enjoying watermelon

Capturing fireflies

Lillian shows Virginia that she has one

Look closely, you can see Michaela's firefly.

One kind of humorous story to share:  Ron decided that he wanted to capture the fireflies lighting up on camera.  Sharon laughed and told him good luck with that.  So Ron headed out into the yard and with the delay on his camera began clicking pictures of fireflies hoping one would light up.  Well, he finally did it.  Only problem? The photo ended up being completely black with a tiny streak of light in one corner.  Not quite what he was looking for but gave us all a chuckle.  :)