A lost Frenchman in Kansas City, Missouri!

How did a Frenchman ever make it to Kansas City? You might be asking. And it’s a good question too, because you really don’t find too many French people in Kansas City!! 

How did this particular man choose Kansas City to be his first United States city ever? Why not New York? Why not Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles, or Washington DC?

Well, isn’t it obvious?! Because the great city of Kansas City has so many things to offer! A traditional American Christmas with a wonderful American family, a Negro League Baseball Museum, art Museums, the beautiful Plaza Christmas lights, giant houses covered in snow, batting cages and miniature golf, great BBQ, great ice cream, back yards to play catch in, a loving family to take him in as one of their own, and well, Me. 

Perhaps it was my great persuasive abilities to convince him to come to Kansas City, or maybe he just really likes the KC Royals…. haha.

Waiting at Madrid airport to go to KCMO!

No matter the reason, we made it through all 16 checkpoints and on the only non-cancelled flight to KC through Philadelphia the Thursday before Christmas. 

There was snow on the ground, a layer of thin ice on the road, warm pot roast waiting for us to be eaten, and a wonderful family waiting to great us, and finally meet Guillaume. 

He made it!

We spent most of our time chatting the nights away and shooting pool, but we did make sure he experienced the best parts of KC for the short six day visit. 

Activities:

1^st - Family time!! There were many days we just spent hanging out with my family and everyone was so nice to Guillaume. They treated him just like a member of the family! My dad even indulged him in a game of catch outback!

They even made him play COD! haha

My Dad and Guillaume playing catch in the biggest yard he'd ever seen.

2^nd - BBQ. My mom got our family’s favorite BBQ and my best friend and her husband came over to spend a lovely evening of catching up, present wrapping, and shooting pool. He loved the lbs of beef, ham and turkey covered in a delicious BBQ sauce, baked beans, and coleslaw. It was quite entertaining, because he would wait patiently to see how everyone else organized their food, and how you were supposed to eat. Quickly discovering that you just “dig in.” 

We had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa one night, and Guillaume "doodled" them!

We taught him again how to play pinochle and he was dealt a double run!

Johnny wasn't thrilled, but he had his fair share of great hands too!

3^rd - The Negro League Baseball Museum. As a pitcher for the Rivas Baseball team here in Madrid, this was by far one of his favorite parts of the trip! We spent hours in the Museum, reading all about the KC Monarchs, Buck O’Neil, and the Detroit Stars (many of the national negro league teams are in this Museum, and as he is a HUGE Detroit Tigers fan, Thanks to David, this part of the Museum was of equal interest).  We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but you know me and my secret photo taking abilities!!

So excited, he had no idea where we were going!

 

Home of the Monarchs!

He was amazed at all of the drawings and memorabilia!

Detroit Stars!! He was blown away by what we found in the NLBM!

He even "pitched"

But I still stole second base!

4^th - Ice cream on the Plaza. My cousin Audrey works at Glace’ on the Plaza and we stopped in to try some yummy ice cream! It was fun, we were the only ones there for a while, so we got to catch up and he finally got to meet her in person, and not just through our Spanish Skype dates. AND we got a HUGE SURPRISE because my Auntie Jo and cousin Samantha walked in the door!!! So we got to see them too!

Audrey hard at work! (she's gonna love me for this photo)

YUMMY!

Guillaume loved his ice cream!

We got to see Samantha and Aunt Joanna by accident too!

5^th - Jazz Museum and a live Jazz show! We went to the Jazz Museum after the Negro League Baseball Museum, it was really cool and they had lots of booths to listen to great music! Then we went and saw my Grandpa Gregg play some music in his band Nobodys Bidnis at a bar in Liberty!

Listening to Jazz music at one of the booths

You could even go in the Blue Room!

Oh jeez, what a great welcome to KC Jazz Museum... (the crazy part is we find it normal)

Grandpa Gregg and his band!

6^th- A giant steak on the plaza and a full size pool hall! We met up with Gorgeous Georges and shot some pool at my favorite pool hall, Sharks!!! It was great; Guillaume had never seen a pool hall so gigantic with so many pool tables!  (I don't have any pictures of the night with Gorgeous Georges :( so here are some from pool nights in my Dad's "man cave")

Guillaume, enjoying a night of pool - completely jetlagged!

Me!

My Brother!

Guillaume!

My Dad!

My Sister!

7^th - Christmas! - Raelynne’s American Family Style. On Christmas Eve we went to Aunti Jo’s and with the whole gang! It was so wonderful to see everyone and it was really nice that Guillaume, although being French, had more in common with my family than anyone expected! Of course, playing baseball probably helped. haha. We played games, gave our Grandparents our gifts, listened to Grandpa and Audrey play music, attempted to play music, and ate yummy yummy food!  We even got a surprise visit from my friend Alex and his girlfriend!!! On Christmas day we opened stockings and presents, a traditional Christmas Dinner with my family and Uncle Matt and Aunt Liz and more baseball gear and gifts he’d ever seen in one room, all just for him!

My Brother, Grandma and I

The shirt Guillaume designed for my Mom to give to my Grandpa!

Ben, Johnny, Sabrina, Audrey, Jeremy, Grandma, Annalise, Samantha, Guillaume and I!

Samantha and Audrey! So beautifule!

Guillaume and I! I brought Crackers to pull and they came with crowns for all!

Aunt Lisa, Samantha, and Uncle John

Annalise, Aunt Lisa, Samantha and I

Johnny, Sabrina and Jeremy

Auntie Jo and Uncle Ben

The whole gang! (almost!)

Rockband (Annalise on Guitar, Sabrina on Drums, Audrey and Guillaume on Vocals)

Grandpa and Audrey playing Christmas songs!

8^th - A movie in America and a giant casino. The movie was just a regular movie in a theater, but he was excited just because it was in the US! Then, we each played a dollar on some slots and lost, but it was really the atmosphere that got him. The casino had painted on a fake sky so that you never know what time of day it is, and he got carded to go inside!! 

Argosy Casino, inside

His first slot machine EVER!

 9^th- Batting Cages, Mini Golf - This was by far one of Guillaume’s all time favorite days. My entire family took him to the batting cages, and we all took a swing at the machines. Some even dared to bat against Guillaume himself! My aunt Joanna caught a great video of Guillaume HBP my Dad! Then we went down and played galactic mini golf in which we invented new ways of being obstacles and playing the game in the dark with neon lighting. 

Guillaume's first batting cage bat!

Us after an hour of batting!

The gang hanging out!

Group shot!!!

10^th - Driving in the US -I let Guillaume drive my car. In which he did great, but felt as if he was never going fast enough, and had the sensation of running red lights, because in Europe you cannot cross any red light, whether you are turning or it doesn’t apply to you in some way. Even I got confused at one point, forgetting that a red light to your left didn’t mean you couldn’t turn left. HAHA

Him and his new jersey!

That was all we did with Guillaume, but luckily for him, his flight was cancelled so he got an EXTRA day with My family while Annalise and I flew to Madrid. 

 

My family is so great, my aunt and cousins took him to more museums, the plaza and EVEN FED HIM! My parents took him to the WWI museum where he learned that someone from KC had built and funded the field in France he used to play on when he was younger! What a coincidence! We didn’t even know that. 

And to top it off, due to the flight cancelation, they upgraded him to FIRST CLASS! Where he got to watch movies, and recline his seat into practically a bed on his long flight home. 

Guillaume, Audrey and Ben down at the Plaza!

More yummy 'merican food!

The Plaza!

What a trip! I don’t know how we’ll ever be able to top it!

Thanks to my family and friends for really welcoming Guillaume into the family and making his trip to Kansas City, Missouri as wonderful as it could be! 

And also, a huge thanks to Guillaume for coming to Christmas with me, and being so awesome, so that I could spend time with my family too!

Until next time,

Raelynne

Spreading the Thanksgiving Spirit - ALL over the WORLD!

Last year we hosted the first ever Traditional NonTraditional Thanksgiving here in Madrid. Sporting a 22lb/10kilo Turkey, stuffing, salads, casseroles and galore. This year was even more extreme, with a few more guests (included baby hector), more delicious Thanksgiving dishes and an Even BIGGER Bird!!

Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving, and all through the house, all the creatures were stirring, even the .... hosts

Guillaume with the 26.5 lb FRESH bird. 12 kilos!

And that weight was BEFORE the stuffing, and it wasn't frozen, so that's ALL bird!

The pie crust ready for homemade Pumpkin Pie fillings

Turkey is ready to be put in the oven at 5am!

Living room transformed to seat 15 guests!! and a WHOLE LOT of FOOD!

That morning we arose, to hear what was the clatter... OUR first guests were arriving!

Everyone signed the poster Guillaume designed!

The first half of the guests!!! (Photo courtesy of Caralyn)

               Jayme brought our new friend Katherine!! It was so nice having old friends and making new ones!                         (Photo courtesy of Jayme)

 Everyone is here and ready to eat! This years newbies (first Thanksgivings EVER were Ale and Pedro, Jose, and Baby Hector!

Everyone sitting down to eat!

That's a good looking Thanksgiving table right there!

From left around: Anabela, baby Hector, Jayme, Karen, Katherine, David, Vivian, Ale and Pedro, Cari, Caralyn, Edel, Jose Thomas, Katherine, Guillaume and me taking the photo!

Baby Hector's FIRST THANKSGIVING!

 The FOOD!! Oh how it was DELICIOUS!

Turkey is ready!! (Photo courtesy of Caralyn)

Pumpkin Pie! and creamed Corn!

Guillaume's infamous stuffing!

Candy Corn a MUST! (Photo courtesy of Karen)

Edel's tortilla, Jayme's pickel roll ups, Ale's onion rolls and argentine cakes, Caralyn's corn bread and oh so much more! (Photo courtesy of Caralyn)

Guillaume cutting the Turkey to get the party started!

Caralyn's plate! (Photo courtesy of Caralyn)

And as if Thanksgiving wasn't wonderful enough, Anabela made us all a little gift

One of the cute ornaments from Anabela! (Photo courtesy of Karen)

After all the great food, we needed a "digestive walk" in the park! Ping Pong, Rugby, Frisbee, Fido the puppy, and plenty of laughs!

Karen, Jayme and Katherine at the park.

Spanish Beer Pong- don't spill your beer, it must be in your hand at all times during play...

Best Photo Bomb Ever- this year goes to... DAVID

Are we supposed to smile?

Chatting at the park!

 After burning all of those calories, we were ready for DESSERTS and some fun GAMES!!!

Well, when I said I made the pie for David, I at least thought he'd SHARE it. haha

We played charades!! I was so ecstatic someone guessed my extremely difficult card! (Photo courtesy of Karen)

                          Vivian's Charade... I think here she was Albert Einstein... Just Kidding. I have no idea.                                        (Photo courtesy of Karen)

 We continued until well past everyone's bedtimes...

       The last survivors of Thanksgiving for a little game of Cards Against humanity - in Spanish!                           (Thanks MATT Beason for the best card game Ever!)

And finally a picture of us- the tired and HAPPY hosts!

Thanksgiving is always difficult over the big pond and away from our families. I am so glad that Guillaume and I could bring a little piece of warmth to everyone's hearts and make Thanksgiving in Madrid something to remember, enjoy and share with old and new friends alike.

A HUGE Thank You to everyone who came bearing food, gifts, juices, wines, and smiles! Without you, Thanksgiving would have been just a regular ol' dinner. 

Until next time (hopefully I can catch up a bit on blogging after my Grad School Finals release me from their death grip!)

Raelynne

Road Trip USA part 6 - Baltimore, Banana Beer, and Breaking Science…

Grad School ate my life; it chewed until it sucked all the juicy delicious part out, and spat out the rest for me to keep. That is where I’ve been the past few months, and I must MUST finish these road trip blogs, so that I can start sharing more great adventures on this side of the ATLANTIC! 

Hrm... Should I have given this advice to the newbies too?

Also, on a side note, just to update you quickly, I have been writing micro-fiction and was even given the opportunity to read my micro-fiction at a fundraiser event for the great Penumbra Magazine! (That blog to come). And here we go, instead of participating in the NANO novel November writing experience, I will attempt to catch up on these, I hate that I’ve kept you all waiting for so long!!

So, where were we…. Ah yes, once upon a long long Long time ago... after the great George Watsky Concert and the Artbreak hotel, I began my drive to Baltimore to see Jenni and Greg! I was so excited to see their new apartment and life in Baltimore and to be their first ever guests in their new big city! 

Jenni and Greg at their wedding!

The last time I saw Jenni and Greg was at their wedding in May, and I was excited that due to an unfortunate event of a maniac deer running into my car -as if it were avenging it’s father who too had a vengeance out for little Betcy and died 1.5 years ago- attacked her front passenger side and caused me to have to return to KC early from my road trip to pick up my car from the shop, but in turn granting me a whole extra 36 hours with the awesome Jenni and Greg duo! This unfortunate event, actually worked out in my favor the entire road trip, causing me to change my schedule a bit and giving me extra time in all the places I went. 

The deer that attacked me was much much bigger... but somehow this little one is scarier!

The actual unfortunate thing about going to Baltimore was driving on the long boring turnpike through Delaware and New Jersey. The drive itself is not long, approximately 3.5 hours, and actually I made it in good time, it was just the turnpike itself was a hideous gray color stretching out forever and blocking the view of anything possibly beautiful. Where, on one hand this was great because it did not involve any more deer, and on the other hand was awful, because all I wanted to do was teleport past all the concrete and non-self serve gas stations and get to this infamous place called Baltimore. 

Concrete Trees

Finally I reached the street I was supposed to and Greg met me down at the sidewalk, jumped in my car and we began the search for parking. You would think that this would not be an adventure, but it turned into one as we parked, then had to go to the bureau to get a weekend “visitors pass” which little did we know was not necessary now that they had moved two blocks from their old apartment, and caused me to play roulette with my car the next three days… Although strange, I got to ride on the free hybrid buses that they have as public transportation and I felt a little bit at home.  

One of the great views from their apartment in Baltimore!

Jenni came home and we all went and had SUSHI! It was A-ma-zing! If you can’t tell, I am a little bit of a lover of sushi, so this was a huge treat for me! We walked around Baltimore a little bit more and settled on just relaxing at the apartment, drinking banana bread beer (which was delicious!), and they introduced me to “Parks and Recreation”, a T.V. show that I came to love, and after Jenni went to bed, because she had to do science-y experiments the next morning at work (because she’s a crazy smart scientist!), Greg and I watched endless amounts of “Malcolm in the Middle” and he made the best snicker doodle cookies I’ve ever had, which became our breakfast the next day. 

Gigantic, Delicious SNICKERDOODLE!!!

Banana Bread Beer, it tasted like beer, with an aftertaste of banana bread; I mean who wouldn't want that!?!

To my surprise I slept in extremely late and woke up with adventure cat walking across me. I then- of course- blogged about my adventures and we went to meet Jenni at her work - a giant amazing science lab that would have made anyone love science growing up! They had beakers galore and plastic containers a plenty! I wanted to touch everything! Which may explain why our science labs in school were never so nice with so many gadgets… *pauses to ponder* yeah, that’s exactly why… After a while, Greg and I decided we shouldn’t touch anything, because we would probably break science, leaving all of the scientists with nothing to do and young children crying. 

Please wake up, you are on my couch...

The only ironic thing about our joke was that Jenni’s experiment that day was the only one in her set that failed the entire week… So maybe I did break it? … Oops.

Oops...

Our adventure continued to a nice bar where we found a table with a zombie drawing on it, and as the table was far big enough for six people, and Jenni and I had both studied in Europe, when a man asked if he could sit at the other end of the table, we thought little of it. Until, of course, we realized that we had made a terrible mistake at sharing our table in America… The man was clearly out of his mind, re-named all of us, which actually was to our benefit, stroked Jenni’s hand, asked me if I was spiritual due to my tattoo and wooden ring, and commenced to telling us his “extremely convincing” conspiracy theory. To our great fortune, the man “needed to leave and quick” and disappeared into the night. His whereabouts are unknown, and we are okay with that.

ZOMBIE MAN

After that we enjoyed the evening walking in the beautiful night air of Balitmore, and I thought to myself, I think this is one of my favorite cities so far. And I truly mean that, it was nice walking everywhere again, and taking the bus, and just being with good company! 

Baltimore!!! The statue of Lafayette if I am not mistaken.

Sadly, the adventure in Baltimore ended early the next morning as it was a two day drive back to KC and I had to pick my car up Monday morning. 

Washington Monument

They also live near this beautiful church: the Vernon Place United Methodist Church

I had a wonderful time in Baltimore and I just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH Jenni and Greg for letting me stay at your place, taking time to spend some time with me and show me around the town, and of course for just being all around AWESOME! Miss you guys!

Until our next adventure,

Raelynne