Trip to Kansas

So, I didn't post while we were in Kansas, because my overactive imagination is convinced that there is a band of burglars just waiting for the slightest hint that we are out of town to come in and steal all our stuff.
Anyway. The trip went well. We left Houston Sunday the 3rd about two hours after I'd wanted to, as I had to finish packing, stop the paper, tidy the house, etc. I was so tired that at one point we stopped at the Sonic in Calvert and I got a Diet Dr. Pepper AND an iced coffee.
We stayed at the Omni Mandaylay in Irving. I always go to Hotwire.com to make our hotel reservations because you can stay at nice hotels for cheap. They have a whirlpool (aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh), and free stuff for the kids. We ordered room service that night, and I had this vegetable ratatouille en croute that was fabulous.
(I have morphed into an almost total vegetarian, for a lot of reasons: the phytochemicals that fight cancer, the lack of fat in vegetables, and the unwillingness to cause another being to die so I could eat.)
Anyway, Monday the 4th we met Emily and her grils at the mall, and walked around, and ate at RainForest Cafe. After lunch, we hit the road.
During our trip, we went to the zoo and Cowtown. I'd post pix of cowtown, but i forgot my camera at my mom's house. At the zoo, there was the peacock that was stalking my niece Laura, and another blue crested bird in the rain forest house that freaked her out. So, being the supportive aunt that I am, I bought her a glass figurine of the blue-crested bird in the gift shop...