So the Embassy Suites mornings seem to have won the award for best hotel for breakfast on this long journey. Really good food and a big selection. Another big day ahead, with a little more rushing around, but I think we were used to it by now. The plan was to hit the WW1 museum at opening at 10AM and hang out there until time to go to the Royals game that afternoon at 3PM. Me and the boys are big fans of the war museums, and believe it or not, Kansas City was the main place I wanted to stop during the original plans back from CA. We had visited the WW2 museum in New Orleans and loved it, and since finding out about this memorial (who knew Kansas City even had this thing?), I have been looking for a way to come see it. Apparently in 1919, Kansas City was doing really well, with lots of entrepreneurs, and during a short 10 day fundraising event, they pulled in 2.5 Million dollars to build this memorial. And shortly after the construction, the Great Depression hit, and I guess no one else had any money to match what Kansas City had already put together.
And so to the first stop, we were early to the WW1 memorial, and one of the first guests in the museum. After watching a quick video on how "The Great War" began, we knew that the tower visit may fill up quickly so we went outside to take the elevator up to the top. And we were first in line...but this was July 4th weekend, and they had a local news reporter and camera crew up there taking some images of the city...and holding out museum time up. It was ok tho, we found a couple from Arizona we spoke to for awhile waiting, and I think Magan shared some snacks with the security guard. Finally the news crew came down, and waved to all the folks waiting in line, that were probably like us, and not from KC, so no one knew who they were. But we did make it to the top...walked around...had a news camera guy still up top take our family picture, then headed back down.
Once back in the normal museum area, it was simply amazing. One huge area devoted to the first few years of the war, then another area to the ending years of the war, with a large projector screen and movie presentation in the middle section that was neat to experience. One of the things that fascinated me most was the initial years...France and some of the British were still fighting these old school wars where the calvary in their nice red uniforms charged at the front of a group of musketmen. But the germans had been mass producing these new machine guns they had been developing, and this new cannon shell that explodes on impact...so they changed the shape of the war. All new water battles, all new airplane battles including the Red Baron, and tanks, and just seeing the maps of the elaborate tunneling systems in place for both sides during the trench wars. I think kids could just skip 3 months of history in school and get the same amount in one day here in history. Really cool stuff. Sam got his picture with one of the actual tanks damaged during the war.
As we were getting used to it, we lost Davis in here...but I think there were times where we were all lost in here. Lost in the pictures, in the history, lost in Ruby and Belle's scavenger hunt. Ruby came and grabbed me one time to take me into one of the reflections sound studio rooms where you could hear songs and poems of the day. One poem really moved me and spoke to the poppies that are displayed in the main foyer area of the museum (The poem and some background are below). One poppy for every 10,000 men that died in that war...and poppies all around. Ruby and I also listened to a song that we really liked called "Over There" also included below. So please take a break and enjoy this bit of history before continuing in the blog to the Royals game.
From 1914 to 1918, Flanders Fields was a major battle theatre on the Western Front during the First World War. A million soldiers from more than 50 different countries were wounded, missing or killed in action here. Entire cities and villages were destroyed, their population scattered across Europe and beyond.
"In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially dissatisfied with his work, discarded it. "In Flanders Fields" was first published on December 8 of that year in the London magazine Punch. Flanders Fields is a common English name of the World War I battlefields in Belgium and France.
In Flanders Fields, BY JOHN MCCRAE
In Flanders fields the poppies blow...Between the crosses, row on row,...That mark our place; and in the sky...The larks, still bravely singing, fly...Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago...We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,...Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:...To you from failing hands we throw...The torch; be yours to hold it high...If ye break faith with us who die...We shall not sleep, though poppies grow...In Flanders fields.
OVER THERE Johnnie, get your gun...Get your gun, get your gun...Johnnie show the Hun...Who's a son of a gun...Hoist the flag and let her fly...Yankee Doodle do or die...Pack your little kit...Show your grit, do your bit...Yankee to the ranks...From the towns and the tanks...Make your mother proud of you...And the old red, white and blue...Over there, over there...Send the word, send the word over there...That the Yanks are coming...The Yanks are coming...The drums rum tumming everywhere...So prepare, say a prayer...Send the word, send the word to beware...We'll be over, we're coming over...And we won't come back till it's over, over there.
We could have spent a lot more time at the museum, but baseball was calling. I was so excited to get to this stadium, as I remember seeing it from the interstate as a little boy wishing I could go see Bo Jackson play. One of my first baseball cards was a 1987 Donruss Rated Rookie Bo Jackson in that light blue uniform. And we made it...I had purchased a parking pass weeks prior when I bought the tickets and it was crazy, we parked about in 4th or 5th row of the parking lot. A saturday afternoon game during a heatwave against the twins, so apparently the padres size crowd we saw was not going to be here. We went in and immediately got some free cooler bags the girls want for their school lunches, which is fine, but sponsored by Blue Moon brewing, so don't know if that is ok or not. Then some email sign ups for...i don't even know...chevy maybe. Regardless, the boys both got a free royals shirt for me and magan signing up.
Because of the minimal crowd, we went on into the team store to make some purchases before the game with our new lunch bags already coming into use. Magan and the kids had already gotten some cookies and some smoking ice cream?? when I finally came out of the store. We made it way up to our cheap seats and we were in the sun. So we moved one section over into the shade to some perfect seats for the rest of the game. Ruby gave me her little worried look at these new seats, but made no further comments. I went to get some food, and came back with a little bear for Ruby, who loved "Berry" who quickly started dancing and shaking his bear booty.
Later during the 4th inning, I had read that Leo the Lion mascot would be in the kid area, so I walked with the girls down to that area to see him. And wouldn't you know it...it was a 2 run twin inning, followed by a crowd erupting 4 run royals inning...but I got to see the lion. haha, oh well, Magan did let me watch some while they were shopping in centerfield. I also waved to the boys who saw me from the upper deck, texting me about the best game they were getting to watch. And I got to get my big girl a present that she wanted, a Royals O2Cool mist and spray bottle. So we only missed that one inning, but it was a pretty good one. Later Magan went with Davis and grabbed some supper, realizing the prices we were paying for hot dogs. I think we learned the story about Belle cutting off the ends of the hot dogs because that was the actual pigs butt...OK. I got a large sausage dog and it was great, perfect ballpark food, even have the mustard and ketchup stain on my shirt to prove it. And the royals WON...I think it was 6 to 3. Super fun game, and those little KC tattoos on Belle and Ruby were there for a long time.
Back at the hotel, we did try out the pool, but they had some weird malfunction where the hot tub was blowing into the pool, and had been for a long time, so the whole pool was a massive hot tub. And while the kids first thought this was nice, they quickly realized a super hot pool indoors is not nice at all. So we left to end our last night in KC. I think the kids watched a Captain America movie together on the couch to end a super fun filled day.
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