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Published: February 22nd 2015
Legoland Ninja
Nicky told us after this that he wants to be a Ninjago when he grows up!So this entry is going to be a little bit eclectic, and have very little correlation in time, but we thought it might be worth writing about a few of the experiences we have had in addition to our travels. We think there'll probably be a bit more of this as travelling won't be as easy for us with the schooling commitments the boys have, but hopefully it means we get out and do a bit of crazy stuff in the local area.
AOK Party So the first event worth blogging about is the annual 'AOK', or Australia, Orange (Dutch), and Kiwi party that is hosted on or around Australia Day each year at Fort Leavenworth. It is mostly organised by the international students of said countries who are attending the US Command and General Staff College (Colonel School). My posting is coincidently on the same base (Fort Leavenworth) as Staff College, so we get dragged into such events. But what do Aussies, Kiwis and the Dutch have in common - well, there's a lame ass thread about national days/celebrations/events which I could weave, but in reality they are a bit of 'bs' used to justify having
AOK Crew
This was the before photo - probably a good thing that there was no 'after' photo.... a massive party.
We arrived with planning well and truly squared away for this event - it is actually a pretty big item on the social calendar with all the one, two and three star generals on base invited and quite often attending. This year it was held at the Fort Leavenworth 'Hunt Lodge', a rustic building located in a remote part of the base over a sizeable ridgeline from the main part of the base (important for later). It is a bloody fantastic facility that is maintained by the Family-Morale-Welfare-Recreation (FMWR) organisation supported by the US military. It's a big old sand stone building with huge fireplaces, a bar, kitchen etc etc that would have once housed those engaging in hunting activities, and now is a great place for a piss-up! Unfortunately, the Australian military just would not allocated resources for a similar facility in Australia.
Each of the countries provided traditional food and beverages for the 150 odd guests. Australia did meat pies, sausage rolls, lammingtons, and red wine. The kiwi's did white wine and pretended they invented pavlova, and the Dutch did Heineken, cheese and of course, traditional Indonesian dishes. Good
Norwegian Driving
Had to be pulled out by an Aussie....embarrassing! work the dutch.....although the satay was excellent! The night was an absolute cracker, there was much drinking and merriment, and the attending three star general was convinced to drink some Bundaberg run (which he smartly gave to his wife!). However, with a snow storm closing in, we were kicked out shortly after 11pm by the MP's who were concerned we wouldn't be able to get vehicles up over the ridge line.
Despite my extensive experience driving in snowy conditions, we opted for the Canadians to drive us home. Many others did the same, leaning on the Norwegians to get them home....which was a wise choice as it was the Norwegians who were the only ones to slide their car off the road and get it stuck in a snow drift! Had to be pulled out by an Australian the next day......very humiliating, and full of excuses about poor quality American snow tyres......
Monster Trucks The next totally unrelated event we attended was 'Monster Truck Jam' which was held at Sprint Stadium (a basketball stadium) in downtown Kansas City. Last time we saw the Monster Trucks it was at the Jags Stadium in Jacksonville,
The Zombie!!
New crowd favourite.... so there was heaps of room for the trucks to jump, smash, and most importantly crash....the downside was that we sat a long way from the action. The experience this time was the opposite. The stadium set up was very impressive - no hard floor basketball court, it was completely replaced with dirt mounds for the trucks to get airtime on, and although the stadium floor was small, we were only a few rows back from the action making it a very intimate (and LOUD experience). Fortunately Fiona had planned ahead and bought us all hearing protection which was a life safer.
The event was broken into four stages - air time, the timed race, best circle work and then free play. This gave the drivers plenty of opportunity to show off different skills in handling the vehicles. The trucks were pretty damn impressive too! The kids favourite was Scooby Doo, while I was a big fan of Diablo. The fan favourite was 'The Zombie', complete with reaching arms coming straight out the side of the cabin! The most popular truck, the 'Gravedigger' who has been a favourite for years emerged to the cheers of
Truck'o'saurus!!
The kids favourite! the crowd and lined up for his first jump. The airtime was pretty impressive, but on landing, you could see shards of metal fly out the front of the truck and the fat lady sung. No more Gravedigger for the rest of the show.
The kids' favourite part was actually during intermission - Truck'o'saurus, the fire breathing and car eating dinosaur made an appearance. The kids were mesmerised as Truckosaurus chomped his was through an old wreck of a car, roaring and breathing fire the whole time.
Legoland When the weekends have been cold and snowy (which has just about been all of them), we've looked to try to get the kids out of the house in some manner to let them burn off a bit of energy. One of the activities we'd been looking forward to was taking the kids to Legoland in Downtown Kansas City. This was undoubtedly going to be popular with our slightly Lego obsessed boys who just couldn't wait to get there. Unfortunately, the entry process was a little underwhelming. Despite booking tickets for a dedicated entry time, we were made to wait outside in -8 degree weather
Paddy's Shuttle
How the space shuttle is supposed to look until the lines inside had cleared a little...it was just bloody busy. We were then forced to wait inside in another line and finally got in about an hour after our ticketed time. As you can imagine, I was not the least bit impressed, however things did improve from there.
The starting point for Legoland was an interactive ride in which we sat in a 'car' with laser guns and had to drive through a car shooting Lego trolls and skeletons to save the Lego Princess. The boys thought it was just awesome, but unfortunately it was a once only ride. Despite being small, Legoland had some really great activities. There was a car building station complete with race tracks so you could race your car against others. The kids loved the 4D theatre, and the giant lego pools which the kids could jump in, just like a ball pit in an indoor playground. One of the favourites was the lego 'masterclass' where the boys learned how to build a lego space shuttle. Nicky's turned out a little different to that of the instructor, but Paddy was meticulous in following the instructions and built it spot on.
Nicky's Space Shuttle
How Nicky's space shuttle looked... After Legoland we headed out to Country Club Plaza which was the first shopping centre in the world designed to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile. It was built in 1922 and fashioned on the Architecture of Serville in Spain, it now houses many of the high end shops and restaurants in Kansas City. Complete with replica sculptures of many renown renaissance works, and numerous water fountains, it is a beautiful place to wander, people watch, and get ripped off. It should be a lovely place in Summer.
Dinosaur Restaurant
The last noteworthy event was our visit out to 'Legends' shopping centre, Kansas City's outlet malls. This is heaven for Fiona! Not only is it a huge complex of outlet malls, it also consists of her favourite department stores, JC Penney, Target (which is quite high-end over here), and of course Walmart. In addition to that, there is a multitude of restaurants and Kansas City Speedway (our local NASCAR track) all in one. What more could you want! A brewery I hear you say.....of course there is.......daycare for men all taken care of!
So Fiona managed to convince me we should
Country Club Plaza
What a beautiful Spanish Bell Tower. No wait, it's a Cheesecake Factory Restaurant.... head to Legends, and knowing what is good for me, I yielded. After hitting a few shops and buying heaps of stuff that we really 'needed', we headed for dinner at the 'T-Rex Cafe'. This is the reward we'd used to convince the kids to behave for us while we dragged them through the shops, but it was pretty cool. Not unlike the Rainforest Cafe (see our blog on San Francisco), the restaurant was full of animatronic dinosaurs of all varieties who went a bit crazy every 30 minutes during an electronic 'meteor shower'. We walked into the cafe and were greeted by a giant animatronic T-Rex which sniffed and roared at us while we waited for a table. We were given a table right next to a adolescent T-Rex would periodically roared and sniffed around, sending the kids into fits of giggles every time.
What is great about these places is that Fiona and I are actually given the opportunity to enjoy our meal. As usual, the kids meals are bought out in about 2 minutes flat, and they proceed to shove it in their heads at the speed of light, quite often finishing before our
Trex Cafe
The impressive Facade of the T-Rex Cafe meals have even arrived. Their ensuing boredom, followed by whining, followed by fighting means that we also have to eat at an amazing pace to ensure we don't lose our minds. Well, at this place, the dinosaurs, aquariums and waterfalls keep the kids well entertained while Fiona and I can enjoy an 'adult' meal and discussion. I never thought a romantic meal would be spent under the snout of an animatronic T-Rex - how times have changed!!
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