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Published: February 15th 2015
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The House - all four stories
Just after a decent snowfall with the ANF and Boxing Kanga out front. Our flight from Australia arrived into Kansas City quite late in the evening but were fortunately met but some of the other Aussies working at Fort Leavenworth. We pick up the hire car and made our way to our temporary accommodation which would be home for the next two weeks. We had a great two-bedroom apartment in Zona Rosa which is a great shopping district in the North East of Kansas City. We spent the next few days unwinding and preparing for Christmas. We did the obligatory Walmart run – Fiona was in heaven, I wanted to neck myself.
The boys were very excited and anxious to make sure that Santa would find them in our new house, so we decided to take them into the shops for our annual Christmas photo….big mistake. Everyone living within 75 miles of Zona Rosa and had a child under the age of 10 had the same plans…..it was a bit of a wait. But, talk about a top quality Santa – this bloke was all genuine, beard, mo, eyebrows, nose and ear hair was all his own. The kids were very quick to tell him where they were living, and despite
Christmas Day
Boys were spoiled! being slightly confused and not understanding their accents Santa played along.
Christmas Day was terrific. We had a very relaxing day where we stayed inside (to avoid the cold – more on that later) and let the kids play with their new toys. Most popular by far were the Star Wars light sabres (savers as they call them)….fortunately Dad had managed to find them after driving to three stores on Christmas Eve. Those cheesy American movies where Dad forgets to do Christmas shopping until Christmas Eve…..I was that guy!
After Christmas we needed to get out and about so decided to go explore Kansas City. Unfortunately this adventure was cut short after a nasty car accident and an intersection in downtown Kansas City. Our rental car was a complete right off and we were very lucky to escape with nothing more than bruised ribs. Although Fiona has been pretty uncomfortable since, it could have been a lot worse. The boys thought it was terribly exciting though as they got to sit in the back of a police officer’s car (because it was so cold) while we waited for the tow trucks to arrive. Patrick
Christmas Day
Very happy with his light sabre even told the police officer that he needed to clean up the back of his car because it was dirty. Fortunately the embassy provided the highest level of insurance, so the car was towed away and that was all we had to worry about. We also had our first taste of American hospitality when the tow truck driver refused to let us get a taxi and crammed us into the twin cab of his truck and drove us back to the accommodation. Not the start we wanted!!
The accident had shaken us up a little, but we decided that getting back on the horse was probably the order of the day, so we caught a taxi into Fort Leavenworth to pick up the car we’d purchased from our predecessors. Our run of luck continued….the battery was dead flat!! I managed to track down one of our soon to be neighbours and he was only more than happy to help jump-start us. Although we’d had two unfortunate experiences in 24 hours, it had also shown us the friendliness of the American people and how willing they we to lend a hand to complete strangers…..it helped turn a couple
of negative experiences into something very positive.
The car is terrific – a 2002 Acura MDX…..Honda’s equivalent to Lexus. She’s done a few miles, but Acura are a high-end vehicle, so it’s got all the bells and whistles that were around at the time. Leather seats (great for the kids), rear mirror defrosters (great for the ice), 7 seats (great for visitors) and Fiona and I are both fans of the seat heaters!
We moved into the house on New Year’s Eve and managed to have both our rented furniture and personal effects delivered at the same time. The removalists were certainly earning their money, as it was a chilly -12 degrees Celsius….I felt slightly sorry for them as I sat on my backside in our climate controlled house. The house itself is amazing….it’s an old officer’s quarters which was built some time around the 1880’s. It’s four stories (basement, two floors and attic) and has heaps of character. Fireplaces, chandeliers, squeaky floorboards (we always know where the kids are), and a big old porch out the front. The kids absolutely love it as they have the attic as a dedicated play space, and
there are two sets of stairs which they can run up and down. The house dates back to the days when the officers had servants so there’s a set of stairs for the family of the house, and another for the servants. Despite being centrally heated it has a few rooms which are a little chilly and the bathrooms are straight out of the 1970’s, but it adds to the character of the place. It’s actually a town house and we share a common wall with a British family who are also on exchange. They have two boys around the same age as Paddy and Nick and we all get along like a house on fire, so it’s fantastic for the family.
The base is much the same as the house – it’s very historic and beautiful. My work is a short 8 minutes walk past historic homes, general’s quarters dating from the 1860’s and the original barracks buildings dating back as early as 1827 when the fort was established. The facilities are fantastic, there’s a Commissary (supermarket), Exchange (department store) about 1.5 km down the road. Patrick goes to an amazing school on the base –
The Entrance Hall
Front door entrance is on left - pretty grand entry! he even gets to ride a yellow bus! Although we did manage to miss the bus on his first day of school and have to drive him in! Paddy has taken to school like a fish to water and absolutely loves it. Although he is a little confused by having to sing the US national anthem and state the pledge of allegiance every morning. Although he does enjoy the morning ‘dance exercise’ they use to get the blood pumping before starting class.
Nicky goes to a day-care facility which is equally impressive only a short distance from our place. He enjoyed his first day which was a short one from between 9 and 11 in the morning. He got home and with a big sigh declared that ‘’it had been such a long day’…..he was ready for dinner and bed! We also have numerous playgrounds, an outdoor swimming pool, the base cinema, and gymnasium all within about a three-minute walk from our place, so it certainly makes life quite simple (especially compared to the hours I was clocking up sitting in traffic in Sydney). We are really looking forward to the weather warming up so we can
The Lounge Room
Complete with 60" TV get outside and start enjoying it!!
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