Trip to Kansas City - Day Five

I am actually writing this on Day Eight but so much has gone on that I am way behind.  I probably have 500 photos so get ready for a lot of text to read and photos to view.

Day Five started with early morning coffee from Starbucks at the Marriott Courtyard where most were staying.  Sean and Julie were staying at Grand Court but he joined me for the Starbucks run and then our gathering of Pickett males.  It was a real treat for me to have coffee and conversation with all four sons in one spot.

After that interlude, I returned to Anola's where we stayed Friday night and got to visit with Peter and Anola.  Gerry and Kara were there getting thing ready for a gathering of their friends for later that evening.  We had a bite to eat and then hustled out to get balloons for the party in the park the next day.  That's when I learned that there is a shortage of helium!  Why a shortage?  My question exactly.  It turns out that helium is a made from natural gas and due to the unusually warm winter, there was less natural gas pumped this year resulting in less helium.  Who knew?  Eventually we found a party store with helium and made our purchases.  Then it was on to Grand Court, where Mom lives, for the party there.

Erin, Amy and Brynne came in that morning and so all the kids were there except Meg who came in Sunday morning.  Old friends and some family were there.  A real treat was Bo Claxton, son in law of Mom's good friend Hilda, who sadly passed on a couple of years ago.  He comes to Grand Court to entertain and is a favorite of Mom's.  Her favorite song is "I am my own grandpa" which, I guess, has special significance when your father was your grandfather's son.  It's a long story!

Watch a video of the song.

After the party, Marilyn and I hosted the kids and grandkids at Sweet Tomatoes.  It was sweet time.  We were especially pleased at the interaction of the cousins who rarely get to see each.  Braden quickly became the leader of the pack and it was great to see her play Abby Wambach to her adoring fans.  After dinner, Eileen got one of the staff to take a photo of the whole gang.  If you can't make it out, that is Justin Bieber on Marin's t-shirt.

Eventually we all make it back to the Courtyard and visited late into the night.  The kids were swimming and playing ball and the rest of us just sat around visiting, telling stories, and laughing.  My brother Tom and his family joined in.

You can view the photo album of the Grand Court party and the after events, by clicking here.