For Thanksgiving this year, we had originally planned a stay in the Tennessee mountains, but the remnants of Hurricane Helene caused extensive flooding and road damage in the area. We decided to go to Kansas City for the holiday instead and got prepared for the chilly Midwest weather.
Our flights to KC went well and Amanda and her entire family picked us up from the airport in their new van. We met everyone at McAlister’s deli for lunch and then went over to Grandma Genie’s house. The weather on Sunday was the most pleasant in the forecast, so we went out in Genie’s yard to throw around footballs and frisbees. Andrea and I went on a walk while everyone else played wiffleball. In the evening, Paige went to spend the night with the Gobles and Connor stayed in Alli’s old room at the Rudolph’s house.
Monday through Wednesday I set up a laptop to work in Genie’s basement. We ate at McAlister's Deli a few times throughout the week and Andrea baked sugar cookies with Amanda and her mom.
In the evening on Monday we went to watch Graydon perform with his middle school choir and then to Minsky’s for pizza.
Throughout the week, the kids went out with Drew for bowling and arcade games, went to the Plaza for shopping with Abby, and watched the new Wicked movie. Andrea hung out with her mom and sisters, and we played games like ‘Sleeping Queens’, Snorta, and did puzzles with Grandma Genie.
Wednesday evening, everyone got together at Grandma Genie’s house for a BBQ dinner from Zarda’s and to celebrate Christmas a little early since we were all together. We set up Grandma’s tripod and snapped a few nice group pictures after we opened up presents.
Thursday, the day of Thanksgiving, we went to lunch with the Gobles at Buca De Beppo. When we arrived at the Plaza, KCTV5 had a camera set up to interview people and hear what everyone was thankful for. I stepped up to the mic and said that I was thankful for our family’s health, that we were able to come from Florida to visit family for the holiday, and for the Chiefs since we’re going to watch them play on Friday. The family thought I did a nice job, but when we checked the news in the evening, I didn’t make it on the broadcast. Their story was about how local Kansas Citians were celebrating the holiday, and I think since I mentioned we were from Florida, that ruined our chances of making it on TV. I missed my one and only opportunity at fame and fortune.
For lunch, the restaurant had a turkey dinner option, but we all decided to order pasta dishes and tomato caprese instead. We all said what we were thankful for, and it was an enjoyable meal.
After lunch, we went back to grandma Genie’s for the evening and watched some of the NFL games that were on.
In the evening we played more games and Shawn helped Grandma Genie get her new laptop set up. Her girls all pitched in for the new laptop, which was desperately needed as her old one was very slow and was cracked apart from being stepped on. Genie was very excited for the new laptop and was thrilled to have someone help her get everything in place just the way she likes it.
Black Friday this year featured one NFL game, the Chiefs vs Raiders. Ryan has some connections he’s established to get tickets and he secured six for us on Friday. The kids all went to the Rudolph's house in the morning for Uncle Nate's famous pancakes and then we got ready for the game.
Connor, Paige, Graydon, Drew, Ryan, and I all bundled up and headed to the stadium in the Goble van. Our parking spot was pretty far from the stadium and we took in all the sights and sounds to the tailgating as we made our way to the entrance. We had to wait a few minutes for the gates to open, then we went through security and found our seats.
It was a cold day, in the low 30's, but we dressed well for it and were comfortable throughout the game.
The game started out fairly well and the Chief's scored a touchdown early and had a comfortable lead. However, they kept letting Mahomes get sacked, and their defense underperformed. Late in the game the Chiefs fell behind and then after yet another field goal, they managed to squeak ahead with a two point lead.
The Chiefs punted the ball to the Raiders with just a couple minutes left in the game, and the Raiders drove quickly down the field in to easy field goal range. We thought all was lost, until the crowd screamed their loudest, causing the Raiders to accidentally snap the ball before they were ready. The Chiefs defense recovered the ball and thanks directly to our efforts, the Chiefs managed to pull out a victory.
Overall, the game was a lot of fun and an awesome experience for the kids. I'm glad they had an interesting game, and they got to see a win. Paige shared nachos with me and had some chicken bites. Connor ate a hotdog and we had a few sodas. It was crazy expensive, so we didn't buy much, and no merchandise since the kids got a chance to go shopping for Chiefs gear at the Rally House with Grandma Genie earlier in the week.
It was a nightmare trying to leave the stadium and then the parking lot. Many of the parking spots required you to squeeze through a narrow tunnel to cross over a busy road, and everyone moved so slowly that it took an hour just to get to the van. We made it though and I'm thankful that Ryan got us there and back safely.
In the evening, before we left the Goble house, we kissed Sophie goodbye, probably for the last time. She's been doing poorly and the cold Kansas City weather's been hard on her. She's an old dog and we love her and will miss her when she's gone.
Our last evening with Grandma we packed up and Paige enjoyed scrolling through the blog with Grandma on her new computer. Amanda stopped by Andy's frozen custard and Paige had an apple pie concrete.
