After our memory walk we decided to check out Crown Center and Union Station to see what the kids might enjoy down there.

First we stopped by my work, I recently moved buildings to 2020 Baltimore in the Crossroads district. It is nice, kind of an older building with newer additions. I like it because, unlike at the downtown airport, I actually have a cube with a real desk. Believe me it is an upgrade.

After that quick stop we were off to Crown Center where we stopped to eat. My choice was the New York style pizza place D'Bronx but the kids had other ideas. D'Bronx is pretty good, probably as good a NY style pizza as you will find in KC. We ended up at the Crayola Cafe which is quite kid friendly (as you might imagine). The kids each got a balloon and a souvenir Crayon cup. The food was surprisingly pretty good.

Lunch wrapped up and we headed over to Union Station. Jenn bought our memberships while the kids and I check out the toy train track set up that will be displayed over the holidays. It is going to be pretty cool when it is all set up, they have all sorts of little towns that the trains go through.

From there we caught the Mars show in the planetarium. We made it about 15 minutes before I started falling asleep and also realized that the show was 45 minutes long. So we hit Science City which we all thought was very cool. We took a tour through the human body, played some music, played some mini golf and I rode the high rope bike(pretty freaky when you are pushing the weight limit and really question whether you won't tip over. Anyway, we tried to catch the Dinosaur movie but the projector was broken...oh well. Overall, we were pretty pleased with the trip but a little disappointed that we didn't get to see the movie.

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A while ago Jenn and I decided that we would participate in some type of charity fundraiser at least one time a year. We had a number of different ideas of charities that we wanted to support based on various friends and family members experiences with various diseases. A few walks that we looked up conflicted with other things we were doing so we settled on the Memory Walk. As many of you know Jenn's stepmother, Jeanne, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease back in 1998. Though I didn't know her very well before this diagnoses, I did get to watch some of the things that a disease like this can do to a person and their family. Jeanne passed away two years ago and we felt it was a good charity to support in her honor.

We plan on giving it another go next year in hopes of raising more money for the cause. With that said, we enjoyed taking the kids on the walk with us and listening to different people talk about their Alzheimer's experiences.

Check out the pics

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About a week and a half ago, Jenn and I took the kids to the Yankees-Royals game. We got to see the Yanks pull off the sweep and A-Rod's 52nd homer.

The deal was pretty awesome. The family fun at the park tickets were $10 each, including the ticket(left field bleachers), a hot dog, a drink and a tub of popcorn. Not bad for $40 total. After the game we all got to run the bases down on the field which was way more fun than I anticipated. With our ticket stubs, we got four sundaes from our favorite ice cream(frozen custard) spot Sheridan's.

We had a blast! Of course, it helped that the Yankees won!!

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The first day of Kindergarten is here!! I can't freaking believe it...And yes, I was the dorky parent with the camera the whole way.

To start, Austin woke up first and decided he wanted to join Taylor for a few extra minutes of shut eye:

Packing up:

The first stop was Austin's preschool, he and Taylor are now both going to school in town but different schools. He actually started yesterday, oh well. The class was outside on the little playground because it is supposed to get up to over 100 degrees later today, pre 8 am playground time sounds good to me!!

Now on to Taylor's school:

I think she looks ready to go!! No tears from this child.

Within 5 minutes, she was at her desk coloring:

And that was it!! I will post the poem that they gave us later on (it came with kleenex!):

To me...And to my beautiful wife!! Time sure has flown by and I feel blessed to still have her by my side. It seems like yesterday, or at least last week, that we were married at St Elizabeth Seton in Naperville and looking forward to the honeymoon in the Bahamas! With the weather in KC at 47 degrees and raining, I sure wish we were on our way back. We celebrated on Friday with a nice dinner at Johnny Carino's, a movie - Shooter with Mark Wahlberg (3 out of 5 if you want a review, maybe 2.5 but we enjoyed it) and a little bed n breakfast overnight stay w/o the chillins for an evening. A great, relaxing evening for us - much needed (Thanks Mimi!).

Jenn - I love you more today than I did yesterday but less than I will tomorrow!

Born was a little man by the name of Austin Michael Dauernheim. My have the times changed since that day. Austin is now THREE!! Taylor is FIVE, and heading to Kindergarten next year!! AND We all now live in Kansas!! Who'd a thunk??

So quick-ish recap of the birthday boy's weekend:

Friday:

• Party at school with all the other chillens. (Cupcakes outside were a nightmare with the 50 mph winds blowing the bowls all over the playground and with the black icing leaving its mark)
• Dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise - Austin had the mini Cheeseburgers
• Fun begins at the Great Wolf Lodge
• Ice Cream/Frozen Custard from Sheridan's
• Movie Night in the hotel (Lodge) room. The movie was How to Eat Fried Worms(Dumb)
• Bed Time
• Breakfast at McD's
• Gymnastics/Tumbling class(Taylor tried to crack open her head during Austin's class so she skipped out on her class)
• Trip to Toys R Us for toys and clothes
• Lunch at home
• Nap time
• Dinner at home
• More fun at Great Wolf Lodge
• Fun at the Great Wolf Lodge Arcade
• More Ice Cream/Frozen Custard
• Bed Time
• Birthday Breakfast - Eggs, Bacon and Toast YUM!
• Went to the 'Playplace' (So mom and dad could workout!!)
• Lunch at home
• Movie DAY - no nap! Movie was Ant Bully (ehhh)
• Birthday Dinner - Philly Cheesesteaks and Tator Tots
• Cake(Spiderman) and presents(yay!)

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Last week Austin was named the Computer Tots' "Student of the week". He is the youngest student enrolled in Computer Tots at the La Petite in Shawnee. He got his picture posted on the wall with a flattering description of why he was chosen as the student of the week. For a kid yet to turn 3, he navigates through games using the mouse pretty well.

So for Austin "Way to go bud!".

Also, Austin and Taylor have been making great strides(or strokes) in their swim classes. Taylor was able to retrieve a diving ring for the first time yesterday during her class. If you had been there for her first class a year and a half ago you would realize what a milestone that is. She has a pretty strong backstroke and always improving front stroke(working on the breathing).
Austin is still a psycho in the water and loves splashing around all class long. He is fearless, which can be scary for us at times, but he is becoming a pretty good little swimmer.

They gotta wear shades:

We were having some fun with sunglasses the other day and the kids went diva-macho man on us...Pretty funny. It was obviously a very bright and sunny day BUT COOOOLD!! What is the deal?? We basically skipped fall this year and went straight to winter. Since then we have had basically regular winter alternating with damn cold winter. Sup wit dat?--Update-- check out the Olathe, KS webcam at the 127th street overpass, it is freezing today!

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Taylor recently participated in a dance clinic that was put on by the Blazerettes, members of the Gardner-Edgerton High School Dance Team. The team is coached by our friends Alli(Shane's wife) and Ashley Arnold. Taylor had a blast at the clinic but got a pretty severe case of stage fright when it came time to do the dance in front of the parents and again at halftime of the GEHS Girls Basketball game.

Luckily a local photographer was there to snap photos of the practice session. He put one in the "Hometown Journal" for all of Gardner to see. Thanks to Mimi for pointing it out otherwise I may have never seen it!!

Rather than wait until Christmas to post pictures of Christmas I thought I would post a picture right away.

I set the self timer on this one and was swooping in at the last second...Pretty swift I know.