One Last Horrah

This past weekend was my final trip to Kansas City before Christmas and it was a great weekend.  I landed in KC late on Thursday night and spent Friday morning at my friend Beth's house.  I got to spend some time with her and her son Brady before heading for a late lunch with my Grandma and Dad. We headed to downtown Excelsior Springs to see the Christmas trees provided by the local businesses in the area at the Hall of Waters.  Next on our list was a lite lunch at Applebee's before heading back home to Liberty. 

The Hall of Waters Christmas Tree Display

John flew in Friday night after work and after losing his driving license at the Denver International Airport he finally arrived in Kansas City.  We woke up early on Saturday, grabbed Grandma and Grandad, and headed to Baker for Mack's final football game.  It was senior day so the parents and siblings were walked onto the field for pictures and celebration before the game.  Local newsman Johnny Rowlands, a Baker graduate, delivered the game ball by dropping it just a little over the 50 yard line from his helicopter. Our friends Amy Buckler and Lori and Dave Cover along with Lori's mom Rhonda made it to the game so Mack had a big cheering section. 

Johnny Rowland Channel 9 News

The Wildcats won the game and Mack finished with over 8,000 yards for his career.  That game he went 25 for 38, had 200 yards passing and 3 touchdowns.  All in all Mack had a great college career first starting at Colorado University and then finishing strong at Baker University.  It's been a lot of fun to watch Mack through the years and I'm not sure what the Brown household will do now that we have Saturday's free again. 

 Grandma, Mack, and Grandad

 

The Brown Family

 

Our Baker Family (Dan and Peggy Harris)

Wildcat Seniors 2009

On Sunday Mack and Dad got up early and drove to St. Louis to see the Saints beat the Rams, making their undefeated record 9-0.  Mom decided we (John, my mom, and me) should take this opporutnity to explore some of Kansas City so our first stop was the Negro Baseball Museum in downtown Kansas City.  It was such a cool place to explore and we read a ton of history.  The pictures and stories that were on the walls were really interesting to read and some of them were quite entertaining.  After the museum we went a few blocks south to the original Arthur Bryant's BBQ.  It's a small little joint sitting by itself on the street but when you walk in the walls are lined with president photos and celebrity photos of people who all love Arthur Bryant's.  And boy was it delicious.  They gave us generous helpings of each dish and we ate until we were stuffed.  After a quick stop to a Sports Memorabilia store for John of course we were on our way to the airport.  We were worried about John getting through security without his driver licenses so we showed up 2 hours early as recommended.  John showed them his old beat up Sam's Club card and his expired college id.  They took one quick look at it and let him go through no questions asked.  It was unbelievably easy.

Negro Baseball Museum

(you can kind of see John in the door waving)

Arthur Bryant's Mmmmm, Mmmmmm, Good!

All in all it was a great weekend but very bittersweet.  We will definitely miss Mack's playing days but I am excited to see where this next part of his life takes him.