A Trip to Nowhere...Sort Of (Part 1)

Time for another work road-trip...this time it was to Greensburg, Kansas, for a few days and then onto Wichita, KS, for a couple more before heading home. If Greensburg sounds familiar to some of you, it may be because it is a small town that was, is, and will be in the news. The first time most of us heard of this town was after it was nearly obliterated by a tornado on Friday, May 4, 2007. The tornado that hit Greensburg has been rated as an EF-5 by the National Weather Service - the largest rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale and the first in Kansas since the new scale was implemented. The twister was 1.7 miles wide. A storm of this magnitude was the first in 8 years in the US - the last was May 3rd of 1999 in central Oklahoma. The Greensburg tornado was on the ground for 22 miles non-stop and 30 minutes. Maximum winds were estimated at 205 mph and was the first fatal storm in southwest Kansas since 1967. The National Weather Service's office in Dodge City said it received 32 reports about 25 separate tornadoes in southwest and south-central Kansas from Friday evening through Sunday. Rather than just throw in the towel and give in, this small Kansas prairie town decided to not only rebuild but to move into the 21st century and beyond by building "green". They still have a LONG way to go but it was neat to see some of the things they're working on. A lot of businesses are still working out of temporary trailers (including where I was) but they did have a bit of excitement while I was there - the town's only stoplight was back up & running finally! To find out more about this 'green' town, go to their website: www.greensburgks.org

The day I drove to Greensburg was an absolutely beautiful day and not typical of this time of year...you would have thought it to almost be early spring rather than December! I snapped a few pics of the beautiful scenery and sky as I drove...one of my favorites is the mixture of past & present in the form of the old windmill in the foreground and the field of wind turbines behind it...pretty much describes that area as a whole. Speaking of windmills, I got some neat pictures of those too...I was pulling over on the roads here & there to get them!












As beautiful as my driving day was...well, the next day was the other extreme! Wind, very cold and a mini-blizzard! Gotta love it!




Luckily, it did warm up enough to melt the snow and allow me time to do what sight-seeing there was in the area I was in. Because Greensburg still has no lodging, I had to stay in a town about 30 miles away called Pratt, who has a claim to fame with their "Hot" & "Cold" water towers!



They also have a long tradition at the holidays called The Lemon Park Lights...it's a display of lights in a big park that you drive through to view them. It was really amazing! They've been doing this and adding/changing the displays for years!









As I continued to explore the small town with a storybook downtown and ornately decorated Victorian homes, I saw the most beautiful church so I had to snap a couple of shots of their stained glass windows...breathtaking!

The Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker

In the hopes of starting what might be an annual holiday tradition for Zoie and me, I got tickets for her, Mom and myself to go see The Great Russian Nutcracker ballet. It gave us a chance to get dressed up - Mom & Zoie both looked so pretty!



Mom's blouse had a spray of different sized pearls on it as embellishment and Zoie would touch them and say, "Gwamma, I like your bubbles!"

The ballet itself was very beautiful - it was a first for all 3 of us to be at an event like that. Zoie's eyes would get really big watching the dancers and they also used local young dancers to accompany them onstage, which was just too cute! We weren't able to take photos of the actual ballet, but I found some online...they don't do it justice! I have to say that along with watching Zoie's wonder at the dancing, I, too, was transported to a time in my youth where I was a beautiful ballerina and was dancing all over the stage and spinning around in beautiful costumes...I guess those feelings never really leave you no matter how old you get, which was one reason I wanted to do this with my daughter; having my mom there as well was icing on the cake for sure!


Earlier in the week, I took part in a local radio station contest where they were looking for the funniest company Christmas party story...and I won! (NOTE: I will NOT be relaying my story here...some of you already witnessed it first hand!) The prize was my choice of 2 tickets to this ballet or to see a band I'd never heard of...well, I chose the ballet tickets and gave them to my good friend, Angie, and her daughter, Madalyn. We all weren't able to sit together at the ballet but we did meet up afteward for dinner...the girls had fun being silly together and talking. They're both SO grown up...and are totally where the joys of the holidays (and most days) come from!




We were at Cracker Barrel - where you can't leave without looking around in their store - and Zoie found a cute little rocking horse!

* Star City Parade Fun *

This is an annual event here in Lincoln and, this year, the downtown theater was doing FREE showings of the most recent take on Charlotte's Web and the now-classic Tom Hanks' movie, The Polar Express. We met Connor, Vonda, Jeff & Lindsay at the early movie, which was Charlotte's Web. Connor and Zoie sat next to each other and had fun hanging out and sippin on apple juice...

.........after the movie, we headed out to watch a little of the parade. We didn't stay too long because it was cold but we got to see a couple of awesome floats!














After the parade, we grabbed a bite to eat with Lindsay, who we hadn't seen for a while so it was GREAT to catch up with her, and then we actually took on the 2nd movie of the day! Zoie did great and it was breathtaking getting to see The Polar Express on the big screen with the surround sound! A great way to get in the holiday mood all around!

* Thanksgiving 2008 *

First of all - this is a L-O-N-G posting! Secondly, here is a pic of Zoie with some 'turkeys' she made at preschool...my kinda turkeys - very funky!

Zoie's preschool put on a Grandparent's Day the Wednesday before Thanksgiving so Grandma went to that (I have no photos...sorry!) and then she, pop-pop Jim and Zoie headed west to Gary's. I had to work until 3 that day so I stopped at the house, chilled out for a while, then got my things ready to go. Indie & I piled in the car and we were off! It's been almost 3 years since it was just Indie & I on a road trip and he stretched out the entire length of the backseat and was loving it! Uncle Gary's had a room all set up for us and Thursday morning, Grandma had a bread making/baking lesson with her 3 grandsons to pass on her knowledge of the tradition...


The rest of us just chilled...even sleeping in a bit!

Chris made a yummy breakfast casserole for us to have, but Zoie wanted a bowl of cereal - I think mostly so she could drink the milk from the bowl!

Dinner was prepared through-out the day as usual. After I'd gotten ready, I took the opportunity to snap pics of me with my girl, with the nephews and of Zoie with her cousins.








When dinner was ready, I used it as an opportunity to snap some group photos of Gary's family and of Mom with her grandkids to commemorate the holiday!



Then we said our prayers of thanks and dug in!




We all just chilled out afterwards - Aaron & I played the game SORRY and we all king of watched The Polar Express (what a classic!) on TV then hit the hay. Gary had to go to work this night still so he got rested up too.




Friday morning, Chris, Brandon, Aaron & I actually got up at 4 and braved the crowds to get some good shopping in on Black Friday. We got some great deals and came home dog tired - even after refueling at Starbucks! Riding in the car gets ya everytime!


After some napping, we settled in to watch the NU vs CU game - and what a game it was! Awesome football and even better as Nebraska came out victorious! Gator bowl, here we come!! Not to mention CO-Big 12 North Champions with Missouri! Woohoo! And speaking of Missouri, they had a big game on Saturday against KU...yet another awesome football game. We all figured that Mizzou would have an easy game but the J-birds really came to play and down to the last few minutes or seconds of the game, they scored a final touchdown and that was all she wrote! I felt bad for Aaron as he was the only one rooting for Mizzou...hard pill to swallow, but that's the way it goes! I wanted to get Zoie outside for some fresh air and exercise this day so we did some running around outside Uncle Gary's house...she looked so cute and was having such fun!!



We headed home late that afternoon and just vegged out Sunday...again, I'm SO thankful to the Lord for all the blessings He has bestowed upon me and continues to do so and I pray for those who weren't fortunate to be with their family or to even have a family. I can't imagine being in a place where you don't know if you'll live through the day due to hunger or rebels, like the orphans in the Congo or those just going about their daily business in Mumbai, India, when they were gunned down by terrorists. Makes me thankful for where I live, even with all the problems we have in this country. A phrase my mom often says comes to mind: "There but for the Grace of God, go I." God bless you all!