Travel (Local-Kansas City)

Walking In a Winter Wonderland at Bass Pro Shops

- Mama 3 Comments

Lately, in Kansas, it’s been very un-winter-like. We’re talking 70 degree weather kind of “not winter weather.” It’s been very hard to find a good way to get the winter feel lately amidst all of the sunshine and warmth.

Luckily, on our trip to see Santa, a friend suggested we check out the Winter Wonderland at Bass Pro Shops, complete with Santa. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, since I had been in the Springfield Bass Pro Shops location many times, but never the one in Kansas, and never during their winter festivities.

When we first arrived, we were directed to the back of the store, where the ceilings were all aglow with hazy winter blue lights, to a small ticket booth.

Luckily, since it was early on a weekday, there was not much of a wait at all. However, we had this pass to make sure we could shop and explore until it was our turn with Santa. It helped calm down the line waiting, so you would line up at that time and have a shorter in-line wait.

During the wait, there were several cool stations to explore, including tables with crafts, coloring pages, and letters to Santa (plus mail boxes to deposit those letters into), slot car racing, and more.

Bass Pro has a couple of Wii games that they’ve set up for people to try out, including their hunting and fishing games. The boys had fun trying those out.

There was also a fun duck gallery set up for fun.

You could take aim with a toy bow (complete with suction cup, of course!) to hit the ducks and knock them down.

There was also a laser gallery set up with some guns that with laser beams that turn targets from green to red. Hit three, and you got a temporary tattoo! I passed off the camera and got a little gun action myself (and yes, I’m fully aware that I would NOT be able to shoot someone, the way I hold a gun…)

An arena was set up with an RC car, demonstrating how all-terrain it was.

All of the boys, young and old, had fun playing with the truck!

One of the older boys’ favorite activities was the indoor snowball fight, complete with little fuzzy snow bean bags.

I got directly into the line of fire in order to snap some photos of the boys in action.

The lovely Wonderland also had free carousel rides!

At first, Zach was not impressed with his moose, but he enjoyed it more later.

Jeffrey was a ham for the camera, as always.

After doing many of the activities, we decided it would be fun to cheese with the snowman for awhile…

Nicolas decided to hug “Frosty,” as he named them.

Jeffrey picked a fight with Frosty.

The tables turned.

But, in the end, they became bros…

Zach was not so impressed with my funny faces.

My favorite photo is this one, that captures the awe he had when he first approached the snowman.

And with that, it was time to approach Santa… the path to find him was lined with these great little animatronic elves.

By the time we got to Santa, though, Zach was not impressed. It’s that whole stranger anxiety thing… no matter how much we talked about Santa in advance of us going, or looked at pictures and videos of Mr. Claus, he still was not ready to see Santa in person this year.

This was the hilarious, but heart-wrenching, result:

Luckily, a candy cane solved the tears pretty quickly.

Would you like to experience Bass Pro Shops Winter Wonderland yourself? This awesome free event includes a free, studio-quality 4×6 print of your photo with Santa (you can, of course, order additional copies), plenty of free games to enjoy, and even crafts (as available, may vary) for the kids. Head to the Santa’s Wonderland section of the Bass Pro website in order to find a location near you!

A Summer Tradition

- Mama 9 Comments

So I’m not sure how it happened exactly… but somehow this post that I wrote the day after Labor Day got caught in some sort of blog filter. My thoughts and feelings still resonate with me, so I really wanted to go ahead and continue to post this as planned. I hope that it resonates with you, as well, and I hope that, despite it’s long after Labor Day, it will still make sense in the grand scheme of things.

Labor Day is pretty much the official end of summer. It’s the last real sign that summer has just about thrown in the towel, and it’s time to get ready for fall. But Labor Day weekend also marks one other very important sign of the end of the summer, and that is the very last night of the Drive-In for the season.

I have been very lucky to grow up less than half an hour from one of the greatest summer family fun activities in history, and that is heading over to a drive-in movie. You simply can’t beat paying a few bucks per person to see a double-feature in the comfort of your car (or your lawn chairs).

We make an evening of visiting the drive-in. We almost always pack snacks, blankets, and a frisbee and soccer ball. It’s a part of our family’s tradition to get there early, as soon as the gates open, so we can park in the very front. We have ample grass space for Zach to crawl around on his blanket, and we’re right by the playground and grass area so everyone else can play a pickup game of soccer or hang out on the swings until dark.

At dark, the movie begins to play, the snacks come out of our bags, and we curl up under the stars, watching the film and bonding as a family.

Hundreds of thousands of families have visited a drive-in since the first drive-in opened in New Jersey in 1933. It’s truly been an American past-time. It’s always fun to take people who have never been to a drive-in, too… we frequently take friends who have never been, and they absolutely love it.

However, the last night of the season has never been quite as sad to me as last night. The movie, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, was hilarious, of course (we didn’t stay for Paranorman). But it was the sinking realization that, if Hollywood doesn’t change some things, this will be the last season I get to share this tradition with my family. It made me really sad to realize that Zach might not have memories of going to the drive in as a child, because the drive-in might not come back. Ever.

See, Hollywood has been working hard to make the switch to digital for a very long time. Which is fine, for movies in a traditional theatre, but it makes it very hard for a drive-in to survive. Often, they just don’t make the revenue to make the switch, and that switch is an incredibly costly one… to the tune of $150,000-$200,000.

Drive-In owners certainly don’t own a drive-in to get rich. Many times, the cost of running it barely covers their costs enough to make a profit, but it’s such a strong American tradition that they don’t want to see it go. $150,000-$200,000 is a lot of money to get new equipment, especially since the media requirements change every few years, requiring more and more money to keep up-to-date.

A traditional theatre could easily afford this change because there are many screens with many daily showings. Drive-ins typically only show 1-2 films each weekend, charge less than most regular theatres, and only have these two showings to get revenue from concessions from. Additionally, they only show 2-3 days each week.

There are a few things that a drive-in could do to combat the large cost, but only one is a perfect solution for the drive-in itself.

First, a Drive-In theatre could pay the obscene prices to upgrade to the new format for films. The downsides to this, obviously, are the high cost and the fact that media changes so even more money would be going out the door.

The second option is for a drive-in to only air movies that were previously released in the old format, but even then, a film can only be played so many times before it wears out, and not as many people will pay to see previously released films as will new releases.

The last option is for Hollywood to make sure they support not only drive-ins, but also vintage independent theatres, by releasing the films in the old format while still moving ahead with their digital plans for most other theatres. The best of both worlds, though, of course, twice the work for Hollywood.

To me, going to the Drive-In has been a life-long tradition, and I fully want it to be part of my son’s traditions, too, or even preferably part of his children’s traditions. I feel like drive-ins are a dying art already. What used to be over 4,000 drive in theatres around the country is now only 368, and each year, that number gets smaller and smaller…

Someday, I hope my son will continue to know the joy of heading out to the Midway Drive-In on a weekend evening, playing before the show, and munching on snacks as we watch the films, cuddling up under a blanket as a cool chill fills the air… but unless Hollywood can do something to support this American tradition, I’ll have to let that dream of mine fade out, just like the lights after the last showing on Labor Day…

_____________

Have you ever been to a drive-in theatre? Have your kids? What do you think about the Hollywood vs. Drive-Ins debate? Let me know in the comments below!

We Live For It

- Mama 4 Comments
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWmzNKugwHs]

My family takes that video pretty seriously. Whenever a Sporting Kansas City game is on television, we’re glued to the screen. If I were able to be at every single home game, or better, every single game, I would be. That’s why, when my family was given the opportunity to tour Livestrong Sporting Park, home of the team I love the most, we jumped on the opportunity.

Livestrong Sporting Park is the first, and right now, the only, major league stadium in the state of Kansas. All of Kansas City’s other major league stadiums fall on the Missouri side. But that’s not the only thing that makes Livestrong Sporting Park special. When LSP was built, it was made in partnership with Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong foundation, and over the course of the next six years, over $7.5 million dollars will be donated. You see, every time you purchase anything there, from merchandise to food, you’ll be helping support cancer research in association with Livestrong.

One of my favorite places in the stadium is the Member’s Club. After a win, hundreds of fans flood the Member’s Club for an all-out party, cheering, hooping, and hollering about our win, and singing the chants that express our love for the team. It’s in this club where you feel less like fans and more like a family.

One of my favorite features of the Member’s Club is the scarf wall. If you’re not familiar with soccer, you’ll need to know that instead of baseball caps for baseball, or jerseys for hockey, Stadium Scarves are the item to have at a soccer game. After the game, it’s traditional that fans will trade stadium scarves. For example, if we play Chicago, then after the game, I could chat up a Chicago fan, and we could trade scarves. The teams also trade scarves, which is where they got such an extensive display of scarves not only from the MLS teams, but from around the world.

From the Member’s Club, you can enter the Cauldron, which is arguably one of the loudest, rowdiest fan supporters in Major League Soccer. On many occasions, it’s been said that they are the 12th man of the team, intimidating the other team and supporting our own players so much. When the stadium first opened, the Cauldron was the only one who knew the chants and cheers of the stadium, but surely after a few games, the chants spread like wildfire, and now the entire stadium lights up with song at the games, starting with the legendary “I believe that we will win” chant, and not stopping until full time.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Sl4qTSwjh4]

Even the players recognize I Believe That We Will Win as the chant that really exemplifies the fan spirit, but each and every cheer for the team gets the players and the fans even more pumped up.

The Cauldron has a great view of the field, as well, overlooking the entire stadium. They are right there behind our goalkeeper for half of the game.

When the stadium was first built, there were 400 season ticket holders. The stadium was built to accommodate 18,467 seats, with additional space for standing room, and when I first got into soccer, there was a little bit of question as to whether or not it would really ever get filled. Kansas City had a very small, but very loyal fan base. In the second season at Livestrong Sporting Park this year, there are 12,000 season ticketholders, and almost every game ends up being standing room only.

On one wall of the stadium, you can see some of the championships that the team has won. In addition to the team being award-winning, though, the stadium is also an award winner.

Just this year, Sporting Club received four awards for Livestrong Sporting Park. First, the Venue of the Year award, which they beat out many other incredible stadiums to win, including the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in China. The CEO of Sporting KC, Robb Heineman, was awarded the Executive of the Year award. It won the Community Award, beating out Miller Park in Milwaukee. And, most importantly, in my opinion, they won the Product Innovation Award for something called Fan360.

Fan360 is an incredible fan experience, starting with a very technologically advanced park. Because of the multiple wifi routers, they have made it so that every fan in the stadium, all 20,000 of them, can actively be using their cell phones at once, for calling, checking in to the stadium with things like 4square, Tweeting, updating their facebook statuses, or whatever else they would do, and not a single call would be dropped or connection lost. In addition, the stadium is state of the art, allowing fans to easily interact with the stadium and with each other.

While we were at the stadium, we had a chance to sit in the very seats that the players sit in on game day. These seats are the same seats you would find in a Ferrari. I loved that my shirt matched the seats perfectly!

Right after sitting in the seats, we headed through the doors to the Field Club. It is a beautiful room off right off of the field, and it’s open to anyone who is sitting in a specific set of seats in the stadium (the average cost of those seats? $3,000 per game, and they’re sold out for the rest of the season and next season… popular place!)

This is also where the team prepares to head on the field before the game, with their young soccer buddies. Each player from the teams, home and away, walks onto the field with a child, and before the game they give the children words of encouragement, ask them about school and about sports, and really talk to that child one-on-one.

Right off of the field club is the interview room, where the coach and a few players talk to the media after the game. This air conditioned room stays very cold, but then again, if you had just finished playing a soccer game in 115 degree weather, wouldn’t you want a very cold room?

Our next stop on our tour of Livestrong Sporting Park was the locker room. I was so excited to get to take a peek inside the room, because I really feel like this is where players get amped up for the game. Each player has their own chair and locker space. The table in the middle is where they put their laundry (SKC has a kit man who takes care of the laundry, and he has a pretty funny twitter account). Like the chairs outside, these are also very expensive chairs from a sports car, and each chair has it’s own power source so players can plug in their iPod before the game and chill out, getting in the zone for the game. So who has the best and worst taste in music in the locker room? The players talked about that very subject on the Sporting KC Youtube channel.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On7JVQCU8ZY]

While the jersey for the great Jimmy “Puma” Nielsen and many of the other starting players’ jerseys were not there, there was one very special jersey I was excited to see…

Michael Thomas is one of my favorite players at the moment, and one of several hometown heroes on our team. There are five players from the Kansas City area on the team, and I love each and every one of them. He’s also one of the newest players on the team, and he went to school literally 15 minutes away from me. Too cool!

Before the game the players are only allowed to drink water or Gatorade. At half time, they have access to a smoothie station where they can get a smoothie tailored to their specific needs. If they feel a cramp coming on, they can have a smoothie with extra potassium. Are they needing to re-hydrate? There’s a specific recipe they can get for that, too!

The training room is another place that is crucial to the team, considering it’s where the players go when they need healing or relief. There are massage tables lined up so after a game the guys can get a massage and relieve the tense muscles. Ice baths and whirlpools are available to the team, and there’s even an on-site pharmacy in case anything happens. Players have to be kept at peak physical performance, and the training room is the best location for them to work on that.

From the Field Club level, we were able to go up to the Signature, Executive, and Shield club areas. Each of them has it’s own specific type of accommodations. In the signature level, there are suites available to rent out. Each suite in the Signature Level is controlled by it’s own iPad, and each has it’s own refrigerator. On nice evenings, the entire suite walls can be opened so you can enjoy the fresh air as you watch the game. The refrigerators are fully stocked with adult beverages, sodas, and water, and if you start to run low, all you have to do is order more via the iPad; it will be restocked, on average, within three minutes. If you have a Signature Level suite, not only can you use that on game day (they’re rented by the season rather than by the game), but you also have access to it any time for business meetings and more… you just have to give a little bit of advanced notice and you can head right into your own suite.

The Executive Level is very similar to the Signature Level, but there is one very important, special difference on that level.

Lance Armstrong, the founder of Livestrong, has a special reserved seat that he is welcome to use whenever he’d like. It’s the same sort of chair that the players sit in, but this time, his own seat is in Livestrong’s signature yellow color. The seat is the seventh seat from the end in it’s row, one seat over for each Tour de France Lance Armstrong has won. While Lance has not made it out to the park yet this season, there is talk that he will be coming in the fall. When the seat isn’t in use by Lance Armstrong himself, a special person is honored at each game with a chance to watch the game from Lance Armstrong’s seat.

Also on this level is the owners’ personal wine collection, including a very special gift. The bottle with the red leather around it was a gift from the German Bundesliga as a congratulations gift on the opening of the new stadium.

As the tour continued, we left the Executive Level and went to the Shield Club.

 

I feel like the ceiling is one of the coolest features of this part of the stadium. I seriously just love it.

Also in the Shield Club, there is a very unique painting. Last year, the MLS Super Draft was held in Kansas City. Each new player who was drafted was asked to go to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art to collaborate on this piece. Each of them dipped their toes into paint and touched them on the canvas. It is a very interesting piece of art, and you’d never know that it was done with their toes until you’re told.

The stadium is simply incredible. It’s beautiful, and fully-equipped. There are 370 televisions in the stadium, and the Members’ Club has 30 of them. Need to use the restroom? If you’re in the Executive or Signature areas, even the restrooms have televisions!

Every television, light, camera, wifi connection, or anything else is controlled entirely from an iPad. Essentially, if you were sitting over in the Cauldron cheering, if you were using that iPad, you could be turning the lights on and off in the Executive Level bathroom. You could literally be anywhere in that stadium and controlling everything.

Another unique thing about Sporting Kansas City? All of the owners, the builders of the stadium, and the designers who designed it are all from Kansas City. It’s the only entirely locally-owned team in Kansas City.

And, each of the five areas I told you about today (Member’s Club, Field Club, Executive Club, Signature Club, and Shield Club) can be rented out for wedding receptions and private parties.

Honestly, if you haven’t been out for a Sporting Kansas City game yet, I don’t know what’s stopping you. There are many great chances to check out Livestrong Sporting Park, whether you’re experiencing the roar of the fans at a Sporting Kansas City game, or headed to a concert, it is definitely the new hottest venue in Kansas City.

Want to see for yourself? Check out tickets to the Journey and Pat Benatar Concert here, find out about booking space for your upcoming event here, or, my favorite option, support your Kansas City team by getting tickets, single game or season, here.

And, there’s one very, VERY important event coming up for Sporting Kansas City.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frFYUyDFKXc]

This video from earlier in the season talks about how Sporting KC was on their path to the US Open Cup Final Game… and it’s here. We’ve made it, and there’s only two teams left vying for the cup.

August 8, the Cup comes to Kansas City for a final game. I only have one thing to say about it…

I believe that we will win.

Keeping Cool with Watersports

- Mama 4 Comments

It has been a very wet month around here. In general, of course, we’re in a pretty bad drought, but that doesn’t stop my younger brother and our sister from Germany from participating in some very fun water sports!

Sometimes, I get so caught up in traveling other places that I forget that some of the coolest things are right here in our backyard. The Kansas City area has some really great ways to participate in water sports, from the comfort of your own metropolitan area.

While my sister, Carolin, was here visiting from Germany, Jeffrey insisted he show her one of his favorite places… KC Watersports! KC Watersports is a cable lake near Paola that allows you to learn some of their watersports from the very beginning if you’ve never tried them out before, or to compete at much higher levels! Wakeboarding, wakeskating, waterskiing, and kneeboarding are all options you can try out at KC Watersports.

Jeffrey is a natural when it comes to the kneeboarding and other watersports there. As soon as he gets suited up, he’s ready to hit the water!

Sometimes, though, he hits it a little too hard. The first few runs, the cable can move a little unexpectedly, but soon after that, it’s easier to get the hang of it and make it around the lake.

Carolin was able to take one of the beginner classes, called the LTR or Learn to Ride program. It’s perfect because she could learn step-by-step how to hop on the board and go! Of course, in the beginning, it takes a few attempts to learn how to stay on the board.

By the end of their time there, though, both Carolin and Jeffrey had an easier time staying on the board!

My brother could stay at KC Watersports forever, and in the summer, it’s a fun way to cool off that shakes things up from the usual “let’s go swimming” sort of thing.

You do need fair warning, though… you will be sore the next day. From head to toe, you get a workout on these boards.

Honestly, KC Watersports is a pretty affordable place to spend the afternoon. An hourly pass is $19, or you can go all day for $39, plus there are several packages in between. You can even rent gear there, so if you’re just wanting to try it out, you don’t have to commit to purchasing equipment. If you do decide you’re a total addict, you can purchase gear and season passes there, to save a little money on your frequent visits.

You can keep up to date on their events, including Trifecta Tuesdays, day camps, ladies nights, and more on their website at www.kcwatersports.com. You can also like their facebook page here or find them as @kcwatersports on Twitter.

In addition to hitting the wakeboard a few times during Carolin’s trip, they were able to try another new and exciting experience… Kayaking!

When Jeffrey and Carolin first decided they wanted to do some kayaking, we worked hard to find a place that they could actually try it out, but we kept finding places that were far away, or not really an option for kayaking in general. Enter Clifton Bencke, who teaches sailing classes at Olathe Lake, and also offers affordable kayak and canoe rentals at the lake!

When we first encountered Clifton at the lake, he was joined by a feathery friend, named after a character in Treasure Isle.

Jeffrey and Carolin were able to grab the kayaks and head to the water. They were ready!

I couldn’t resist snapping a pretty picture of a lone canoe on the shore.

Clifton ran through some basic lessons for them, and taught them exactly how to paddle and get going in the kayak. He even told them the best places to see in the lake (like a bridge they could cross under to see a waterfall and some wildlife!)

The lessons weren’t even necessary—both of them were naturals! They both knew exactly how to cut the paddles through the water.

They had a blast on their two hours on the lake!

There is so much to see on that lake, from natural features like the waterfall to the wildlife that makes the lake it’s home.

Kayaking is another great, affordable water sport that you can do to keep cool in the hot Kansas City summers, and honestly, they had a blast with it. You can rent the kayak or canoe for $15 per hour ($10/hour for Olathe residents!) If you’re not renting during a sailing class, there is a two hour minimum, but that’s really not bad—there’s a good amount of lake to explore. In fact, you can even fish from the canoe (I don’t know about fishing permits at that lake, but I am sure you can find out more about it).

As I mentioned, Clifton also teaches sailing classes in the evenings, for ages nine and up. It would make a fun parent-child bonding activity, or sibling activity, or just fun to go solo. You can find more information about canoe and kayak rentals, as well as sailing classes, on the Olathe Parks and Rec website, here or find them on facebook.

The summer is filled with great opportunities to try water activities out, and both of these were a hit with my brother (age 11) and sister (age 24), which makes them great fun for all ages. I promise you, you will not be disappointed if you decide to head out to KC Watersports or check out Clifton’s kayaking on Olathe Lake.

What are you doing to stay cool this summer?

A Gooey Trip to Chip’s Chocolate Factory

- Mama 4 Comments

As most people following my blog know by now, Jeffrey is in the middle of a homeschooling unit all about chocolate. We’ve been working it into his math, science, writing, reading, and social studies, and trust me, it’s a sweet topic! When we first started gearing up to do this study, it was important for us to schedule a few field trips to really reinforce what we’ve been learning. One of those great field trips was a chance to head to Chip’s Chocolate Factory and watch the demonstration.

When we first emailed Chip’s about setting up an appointment, the owner, Mike, was very accommodating. He helped us plan our visit, and gave us an idea of what to expect. We decided that to get a nice-sized group, we would open the field trip up to other homeschooled students in our area. We found 12 other students that were interested in attending our sweet day!

Some people may be aware of Chip’s if they live in the Kansas City area. After all, it’s the home of Kansas City Fudge, and has been a part of crown center’s second level since 1983.

   

If you aren’t from the area, or don’t spend a lot of time up at Crown Center, you may also know Chip’s Chocolate Factory from an episode of Food Network’s “Kid in a Candy Store.”

I couldn’t find a clip from the episode, but I did find this great Crown Center video from youtube, all about Chip’s!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJKsrOQhT4I]

Chip’s is committed to making all of their fudge by hand, and it isn’t introduced to machine processing at all, start-to-finish. On the tour, we started out learning some facts about chocolate. For Jeffrey, a lot of it reinforced what he had learned over the first half of his unit, but some of it was new information to us, like the cost of certain items using chocolate!

During the demonstration, our host, Cliff, showed us examples of a cacao pod, as well as the seeds, nibs, chocolate liquor (which has no alcohol- it’s just puuuuuure chocolate), cocoa butter (used not only in chocolate, but also in suntan lotion and hand cream!), cocoa cake (which is not actually a cake, but really just the word for chocolate that has had all of the cocoa butter pressed out, so it becomes a thick cake- kind of like a large hockey puck, and gets dropped so it turns to powder), and semi-sweet chocolate.

 

 

While he was introducing these parts to us, molten chocolate was cooling on marble slabs. Why marble? Because it’s naturally cool, which helps cool the chocolate during fudge production!

Before our presentation started, they poured the chocolate onto the marble table out of a big copper kettle.

Finally, after the presentation, it was time to see if the chocolate cooled enough. Cliff pulled a small hand paddle through the fudge and checked the doneness by seeing how long it took for those holes to close in.

And, it’s finally ready! So he cut the bars off of the chocolate…

Time to paddle! Cliff was a great paddler, tossing the chocolate high into the air. Using this method whips all sorts of air into the chocolate, to make it creamy and fluffy, the perfect fudge!

The chocolate soared higher and higher, and he nearly missed the lights hanging from the ceiling. He quipped “Sometimes the chocolate hits the light. That’s how we make light chocolate…” It quickly preceded another joke, “We have fat free fudge here… you buy the fudge, and you get the fat FREE!” The humor was very engaging, and the kids were really interested in the fudge process.

Cliff tossed the chocolate even higher, doing fun tricks like catching it in his mouth. When it neared the ceiling, he said, “Look! Our quality is through the roof!”

He added “Don’t try this at home. Try this at your neighbor’s home. All the fun, none of the mess.”

A lot of people have been to the St. Louis Arch, but not many have seen the Kansas City Chocolate Arch. “They did a taste test between the two… ours won.”

As the fudge began to come together after more tossing, it was time for Cliff to show us all some things we could make at home, that would be far less messy than throwing fudge!

One easy recipe involved taking melted chocolate, and making chocolate “puddles” on a sheet of waxed paper, then sprinkling on some brightly colored sprinkles, or some M&Ms minis!

He also made several delicious recipes using graham crackers (Take a graham cracker, put a little melted chocolate on, then put a marshmallow on it, drizzle it with melted chocolate, and crumble up some more graham cracker on top), and something called “S’moreos.” This was a similar recipe requiring you to take an Oreo, twist it apart (I know, that could be painful for my readers who happen to be dunkers instead of twisters), and laying the half with the cream on the waxed paper (cream up). Drizzle that with chocolate, add half of a large marshmallow, drizzle it with more chocolate, and crumble the other half of the Oreo on top! Yum!

See those marshmallows in the center, with the chocolate and sprinkles? Those also include a very special ingredient, for brave souls only. I’ll be posting the recipe later this week, but here’s a hint as to what’s beneath that yummy chocolate…

Yes. Those are REAL food-grade crickets. Salt and Vinegar flavor. (The candy store in the lower level of Crown Center also sells Bacon and Cheese flavor, as well as Sour Cream and Onion. You know, if you like your crickets like you like your potato chips). One soul was brave enough to try the chocolate cricket goodness…

Mmm… crunchy!

The other kids stuck to less crunchy bug-related samples, by snacking on the other recipes he showed. With the extra melted chocolate, he drizzled it over the audiences tongues- no spoons required! Yum.

We also all got to sample plenty of fudge, at different stages of the fudge process… and I NEVER pass up free fudge!

Zach didn’t pass it up, either!

After that, nuts were added to the fudge, and it was almost ready to be put into a loaf! Cliff comes from a long line of “loafers.” Did you know when the fudge hits your shoe, it’s what’s called “Sole food?” Yeah, me neither… these jokes just keep getting better and better! Haha.

 

The trip to Chips was incredible. I think it really reinforced the principles that we had been learning about in the past month, and it also really helped show us some of the things we had seen photos or videos of, in an actual, physical item (like the pod). Our guide was nice, and incredibly funny, helping drive home the educational points in a fun way.

If you’re in Kansas City, I strongly encourage you to stop by Chip’s Chocolate Factory for a group tour (contact them in advance on their website at www.chipschocolatefactory.com) or visit them to buy some fudge! You can also find them on Facebook by looking for Chip’s Chocolate Factory, or on Twitter, @ChipsChcltFctry.

After our tour at Chip’s, we decided to head to Fritz’s for lunch.

If you’ve never been to Fritz’s, it’s a really unique restaurant that delivers food by train!

After Fritz’s, we enjoyed looking around. If you haven’t heard, Crown Center is expecting some new arrivals this spring… the Sea Life Aquarium and a LegoLand! For LegoLand, they have a statue of Legos in Crown Center’s main entrance, and Jeffrey decided to take a guess of how many Legos might be in the statue. The winner gets a family pack of tickets!

  

Then, the boys had some impromptu learning time, by throwing their Fritz’s hats over the air vents in the front entry of Crown Center. I really enjoyed watching them play and learn themselves. They experimented with placing the hats closer to the vents, and then just tossing them higher into the air stream. They also experimented with putting the hats upside down, right side up, or flattened out, to see if it would cause different flight patterns.

Zach mostly just sat there during the experiments…

  

We finished the day off with some smoothies, but Zach opted for some chocolate custard!

Special thanks to Chip’s Chocolate Factory for letting us bring our group for a visit! Don’t forget to check out their Facebook, Twitter, and Website!