Today finds me in the afterglow of another amazing weekend. For awhile now, Steven and I had been trying to come up with something great to do for Memorial Day weekend. We had considered coming up with a low-key babymoon or something. Well, the time came and we had yet to make any decisions about where to go. Friday, Steven called me because he found a great deal on a room at the Plaza, KC if we wanted to stay there a night or two so we were at least doing something. I had a mental debate with myself, and just couldn’t quite find a way to justify the cost of staying in the same city where I live. So we passed on the opportunity and didn’t really make any specific plans.
I was determined to have a holiday weekend no matter where we might be and I was happy to realize Steven felt the exact same way. We had a united vision of adventure and relaxation that led to one of the best weekends I’ve ever had.
Saturday morning we woke and dressed for a day of unknown adventures. Or mostly unknown. Friday night I had asked Steven if we could visit a couple Farmers’ Markets, so that was first on our list of things to do and the rest was undecided. The markets were bustling and overflowing with exciting things. At the first market (Overland Park Farmers’ Market) I bought a pint of blueberries, a single tomato, 2 honey sticks and a lemon ginger scone. At the second market (Brookside Farmers’ Market) I rescued a little loaf of banana bread that was calling to me.
After the markets we returned to our home turf for some lunch at Jose Peppers, then home for a movie. After our movie we sat contemplating the remainder of the day. Steven said he still wanted us to make a journey to the Plaza for dinner, so we dressed all cutely and found ourselves out adventuring once more. We sat waiting for a table at the Cheesecake Factory for a little more than an hour and ate our yummies outside as the sun was setting.
While in the area we drove past The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, which Steven had been to, but I had not. I was blown away by the awesome grounds and since I had never been, we made a mental note to include a visit to the museum at some point during the remainder of our weekend.
Once back at our apartment we lounged on the bed, contemplating our options for continued adventure. From somewhere in the recesses of my brain came the suggestion that we do something silly and crazy, like build a blanket fort. We discussed the logistics of it a bit and decided, what the heck, we’re on vacation and nothing is stopping us. Moments later we were rushing through all the rooms, grabbing blankets and pillows and sofa cushions. From the pile of linens we crafted a super comfy, awesome fort. It featured a main chamber with a queen sized mattress and our TV, as well as a “lobby” leading from the entrance. We had to get creative in the construction of it, using thumb tacks and twine and clips. At first we wondered if that was cheating, but we soon decided that as kids, if we had used any of those things to build a fort, it wouldn’t have been considered cheating. On the contrary, our parents would have probably been impressed with our brilliance. Once finished, we crawled into our awesome fort, watched some TV and fell into a blissful sleep.
Sunday we were out for most of the day. We first went to church at Saltmine KC, then decided to try lunch at Coach’s on 135th and Antioch. While driving by, we had been intrigued on several occasions by their rooftop area. It was the perfect choice. The weather was ideal and the food was delicious. We were brought back to some of our relaxing lunches on Key West during our honeymoon when we would just sit at the little local restaurants, listening to the music, enjoying the breeze and watching the chickens wander around. No chickens at Coach’s, though.
After lunch we made our way to Nelson-Atkins. I was excited for it. I’d been wanting to go for a very long time and the timing was just right. I loved it. Except for when one of the museum people stalking the halls yelled at me for pointing too close to a painting. Apparently my finger was not at least six inches away from it, although I swear it was. So that was a little awkward, but except for that I greatly enjoyed the whole experience.
For dinner we tried a new place using a Groupon I had bought. The food wasn’t too bad, but I wasn’t a fan overall. So this paragraph will end here.
After dinner (and a long day of adventuring) we were anxious to return to our fort and relax. We decided it was necessary to have a movie night since the fort made our TV look like a theater and we intended to take full advantage. By renting six movies. Lol. It worked out just great because Steven was able to sign up for a new account, giving us a 50% discount. At home we watched three of them in a row, munching on popcorn and candy, falling asleep well after midnight.
Monday morning found us in a haze of happiness that our weekend was really turning out to be better than anything we could have planned or spent a zillion dollars for. It had already been so much fun and we still had another full day of it ahead of us. I made some amazing blueberry muffins from scratch while Steven caught up on some work things, then we went out to meet Steven’s parents for lunch. It was nice to spend some time with them and talk about exciting wedding things and baby things. After lunch we came back home to finish our movies and I made some super delicious and easy tortilla soup for dinner. As the evening wore on, we couldn’t help but repeat to each other over and over how much fun we had had this weekend. We agreed that we would not have wanted to have our weekend go any other way. It was totally perfect and relaxing. It felt like a true vacation. Our fort was so much better than a pricey hotel on the Plaza. It was so fun to be spontaneous and silly and let ourselves have fun without concerning ourselves with adult things.
Neither of us could stand the thought of taking down the fort just yet, so we slept there another night and that is where I woke up this morning. I’m sad to see the weekend end, to be alone now for the first time in 4 days, but I will never forget the incredible weekend we had together and the awesome blanket fort we made. Of course I will never forget it, since I don’t plan on ever taking it down..
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