Farm Life

Apologies for being so out of touch but we are having way too much fun at the beach. We have lots of friends down here at the time so very little free time to get on the computer. I finally uploaded several great videos from our visit to Kansas City, KS. We visited a farm called Deanna Rose Farm in Overland Park. The kids had THE best time. It was very, very hot on the day that we went so it was quiet so we got to try many things in a short period of time. I too enjoyed myself. It was a beautiful, clean farm that was set up with so many fun activities for the kids (even fishing). There was lots for each of them to try. Check out the videos below:

Family Photos in Kansas

Here are 2 photos of the Clements - McGuigan family in Wichita. This was taken while the delicious steaks were on the bbq.

T coordinated his camera's timer at the zoo for this photo!

Zoo Day

On Tuesday, we decided to tough out the heat in Kansas and head to the 18th largest zoo in the USA: The Sedgwick County Zoo about 20 minutes away from Curt's parents home. There were very few people there as it was a scorcher of a day. When we returned to our car at about 4:30pm the temperature gauge read 109 degrees F!

We still had a great time. I took only a few photos before my camera's battery died. Here they are:

Above: we jumped on the tram that took us around the zoo so we could get a better feel for what areas we wanted to return to on foot.

Below: Mia loved the map and tried playing tour guide.

A few solo shots with some of the amazing sculptures around the park.

It was a great day!

New Kids' Scooters

Here they are testing them out...

Having Fun in Kansas City

We only arrived on the 10th of July... actually the 11th of July at 1:30am. This is the time we arrived at Curt's Uncle Mike and Aunt Sally's home in Kansas City. We calculated just under 23 hours of traveling door-to-door. The kids were absolute stars. The toughest part was our connecting flight from JFK to Kansas City. We were all so tired that we boarded (at about 9:30pm local time) and all passed out. However, we were very uncomfortable in the small Delta plane and it was very cold. We still let our heads bob all over while we gave in to the exhaustion.

Since we've been here we've had non-stop fun. We spent one day at a water park, one evening having pizza in with Curt's other aunts and uncles and cousin. Then, a couple of evenings out. Today we went out to get the kids scooters for their US trip. Here they are posing with their new scooters.


This next picture is Uncle Mike and his dog, Blossom, Aunt Sally and our trio standing in front of their home in Overland Park.

More Pool Time

This pool in Wichita, KS is seriously so fantastic. Here are 2 more images and 3 videos (with my waterproof camera) from our swimming day yesterday. Ali has been amazing. She went from clinging on to us and wearing arm bands at my brother's home 1 1/2 weeks ago to wearing NO armbands and really trying hard to swim. She actually is swimming! That's the nutty part. She pushes off the bottom and kicks her legs. She's become quite brave and usually jumps (almost dives) into the pool. She was a bit worried in the video below and wanted to hold my hand. If I didn't have the video camera in my hand she'd probably dive to me. Next time I'll try and get Curt to do the camera thing while she's junping out to me. Her progress has been amazing! The other day she insisted on flipping off the side of the pool. She managed to do it before I realized that she was actually trying it. I think she remembered her 4 year old cousin, Jaxon, trying it so she too had to. She's went from being so timid to so brave! I can't wait to see how she'll be in a month's time after we've been swimming everyday!

Ali swimming video

Mia swimming

And, T swimming

Japanese Steakhouse in Kansas City

Tonight we went for dinner in Kansas City with Curt's 2 aunts and 2 uncles. Actually, during the day we hit the Worlds of Fun amusement park in KC, Missouri which was a blast. Terence and Mia were tall enough to go on most of the rollercoasters so we hit all but 2! There was also tons for Ali to ride on. It was a perfect day as the temperature was in the 80s (versus 100s as it has been) and it wasn't too crowded. There is nothing worse than waiting most of the day in lines!

After the amusement park we went for dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse near Sally and Mike's home. Our kids love these steakhouses as they love the fire and watching the guys cook in front of us. The food was delicious and we all rolled out of there after far too much too eat. As always T started with sushi.

The waitress was amazed that he loved sashimi (the raw fish with NO rice) and how quickly he ate it. He only shared a very little with his sisters. In the photo above right is Aunt Karen, Uncle Mike and Uncle Jim. Uncle Mike's seeing eye-dog, Blossom, is under his legs. She liked it there as there was lots of shrimp that had been dropped (ie see below videos).

Our chef was fab! He asked if the kids liked SpongeBob and when they all shouted, 'Yes!', he created a SpongeBob out of the fried rice!

At the end, he challenged all of us to catch some shrimp in our mouths. T actually managed to catch 3 in a row - our tables top record. My favorite is Aunt Sally whose shrimp ended up... well, watch the video... ;-)

YMCA Fun

There's a new YMCA that has opened this May 2009 in Wichita, KS. It is FANTASTIC! Huge waterslides, a lazy river (the one that goes round and round while you float on your innertube), basketball hoops, lots of kiddie stuff, etc. It was amazing. We went for the day today and got in for only $10 for the entire day. This was the family rate!

The kids loved this giant bucket that filled up with water and dumped every 5 minutes or so... This video was taken on my new Flip camera while Curt and the kids waited and then got dumped on.

Wichita Visit

On our first night (Saturday) in Wichita, we went over to Curt's Uncle Tim and Aunt Katrina's beautiful new home for a bbq. They live on this lake that is filled with ducks so the kids immediately gravitated over. Katrina already had bags of bread for the kids to feed the ducks. It was a perfect evening with great food and company. The party consisted of our five, Curt's parents, his sisters Paula and Sheila, Aunt Katrina and Uncle Tim (hosts), cousin JJ, Uncle Jerry and Aunt Romayne and Katrina's brother, Ray, who was visiting from Texas.

the view of the lake from one of their back terraces.

Mia and Ali feeding the ducks with Aunt Paula

Katrina and JJ handing down more bread for the ducks (above left) and Tim cooking up some delicious kebabs (above right).

Curt, Tim, Jerry and JJ (above left) hanging by the bbq. Pat, Paula, Harry (Curt's parents and sister) inside waiting on the dinner.

Some Fav Photos from Indy

We are now in Kansas with Curt's family having a fantastic time. On Thursday, July 9th we drove from my brother's home in Indianapolis to Cincinnati to catch our flight to Kansas City (MCI) airport. We spent our first 2 nights there with Curt's Uncle Mike and Aunt Sally. We all had an enjoyable time catching up with them as well as Curt's Uncle Jim and Aunt Karen and cousin Julie. Kansas City is really growing on me and I particularly love their area in Overland Park. There are great restaurants, shops and culture. If you want to learn more about Kansas City you can read about it at Elle Decor's site which I just came across recently. Also, little fact: Kate Spade is from Kansas City and I believes still maintains a residence. I'm sure there are other amazing talents from Kansas City but since I'm a Kate Spade fan, I liked this one...

As of Saturday, July 11th, we've been enjoying ourselves in Wichita at Curt's parent's home. The temp is hot, however, reaching 100 degrees F daily! Very hot and humid. Yesterday we enjoyed a movie in the cool A/C, indoor go-carting then the YMCA's outdoor pool. Actually, it's more like a waterpark with huge waterslides, a wave pool, kiddie area and lap lanes. It was packed yesterday (Sunday) but we hope it'll be less busy today upon our return.

Below are some of our favorite photos from our fantastic Indy trip and fun time with my brother, Attila, and his family.

These first photos were taken at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. We went with my sister-in-law, Shirley, and 3 of their boys: Logan (12), Brennan (11) and Jaxon (4). It was a fun-filled afternoon. The dinosaur exhibit was great! I have some pretty cool videos that I took on my new Flip camera! I'll be posting them soon.

Digging for dinosaur fossils

There was a section on how glass is blown. The entire ceiling was made of colorful blown glass as you can see from the first photo above. It was beautiful. My 3 nephews laid on this revolving chair to just stare up at it. They had plastic samples of the glass in the making as you can see in T's hand. Jaxon adored his cousin. I love how he's just holding on to him in the above left photo.


And a carousel

One night for dinner we hit the Mayberry Cafe in a town about 20 miles away from my brother's home. It was good all-American food like burgers, steaks, meatloaf, onion rings and - a new one to all of us: fried mac-n-cheese! I could feel my arteries clogging after the first bite of the fried mac-n-cheese!

Bubble time

The kids all got to pick out a toy at the end of our meal at the Mayberry Cafe. I guess the token (for a toy) came with each kid's meal. Bubbles were a popular choice.

Thanks McGuigans

for making our visit to Kansas City a fantastic one!!

All of us after dinner at Jake and ? (what's the name of the restaurant we ate at again?) The kids loved it as they got little plates of sliced cheddar cheese, saltines and grapes shortly after we sat down.

Aunt Sally with Aunt Kat

Happy Birthday to Nana!
Nana in between her 2 sisters (Mary and Sally), Kat and Curt's cousin Julie

More McGuigan cousins and their spouses and kids.


Uncle Mike with Blossom. Our troop heading to dinner. The 5 of us walked there with Mike and Blossom.


Thanks Jim for showing us around Kansas City. Don't forget Ali and her giant scoop of ice cream! 2 seconds after this photo was taken her entire scoop fell out of her cone and she said, "Oh Shit"

Jetlag Strikes

The night of Curt's mom's birthday (July 5), we were all suffering from jetlag having only arrived the night before to the US. After dinner at a great Italian restaurant we all returned to Mike and Sally's home (Curt's aunt and uncle) for cake and ice cream. Terence was fading fast and had trouble talking let alone walking so he decided to go down to our room and play his Nintendo DS for a while. When I went in to check on him, this is what I found. I love how his fingers are still on the buttons in mid-play.

Cowboy Town

I wrote a few weeks back about our adventure to the Sedgwick county fair about 30 minutes outside of Wichita, KS (where Curt's parents reside). In addition to our still photos, here are a few video clips that bring our experience to life. Keep in mind that I hit a button on my camera to pull only one color (must have been a reddish pink) and keep the rest gray scale. Will have to sort that out.

In the meantime, enjoy the rodeo (clip 1) and the demolition derby (clip 2). Just a couple observations that we made during each event... The rodeo was a much more family oriented form of entertainment. We felt comfortable in the audience as there were many other families consisting of a few generations. The demolition derby, on the otherhand, attracted a more teenage crowd. Many of which I noticed were pregnant (some with their 2nd children). We stuck out of the crowd a bit on evening 2 - the Demolition Derby. On a personal note, I'd attend another rodeo anytime. It was a lot of fun. The commentator definitely made a difference as he was really funny and entertaining.

In Kansas City

After our flight from Gatwick London airport to Kansas City (via Cincinnati), we made it to Uncle Mike and Aunt Sally's comfy home in Overland Park (part of Kansas City).

We arrived local time around 5:30pm. All of us managed to doze for short periods of time on the long journey (first flight was 9 hours and second was about 1 1/2 hours with a 2 hour lay over in between) so we were okay on Friday, July 4th but were fading quickly. Here are the kids in Uncle Mike's tub that they love having big bubble baths in (the jets help grow those bubbles incredibly fast).

We were all fast asleep by about 9pm.

Fire Truck at the County Fair

The girls loved the big red fire truck!

Ali smiling for the camera (this is a new thing that she sometimes does now)

Mia - the natural poser.

Demolition Derby Day

The next night at the fair was a Demolition Derby. Now this was a real cultural experience for us. More so than the rodeo. It seemed the rodeo was more of a family outing whereas the demolition derby was packed with teenagers (many who were pregnant). We were the sore thumbs that stuck out of the crowd, however, we didn't care. Terence thought the demolition derby was very cool. Half broken down, smashed up cars ramming into each other and trying to cause the other cars to permanently break down. The object was to be the last car working. What a sight! Again, videos coming.

Mia had to take a front row look at all this.

The mechanics trying to get their cars ready for the derby.

One of the cars that died.

Mommy gives the derby a thumbs down and T gives it a thumbs up. Not sure what Mia was looking at.