Fairfield Inn By Marriott Kansas City/Olathe

... The first night was spent at Sakura with everyone including Ricky and Kim. Of course Sakura is a sushi train with all the fixins. The rest of the trip was spent at the Legends Shopping Center and The Books A Million book store. The last evening was dinner at Oklahoma Joe's Bar B Que. The french fries were great but everything else paled in comparision to Rudy's.

... butt across five states until stopping in KC.

We arrived around 4am. I got up around 7am to capitalize on any time with my sisters, nieces, and nephews. Brett slept in until around 12nn. We ate breakfast and the kids played for a couple of hours. Then it was on the road again..

So the Journey begins! The day of travle is here and we awake to Jackson tapping us on the shoulder....."Guess what today is...it's NEW ZEALAND day" Couldn't be more excited!

SB was her usual stressed self on the day of travel, and other than ME leaving my laptop in the terminal in KC (I did rememer it half way down the jetway...) we figured it was better than leaving a child behind!

Packed pretty light, all ...

... want to give a quick shout out to the Healthe Pharmacy here at Cerner, they've been so helpful in purchasing supplies and getting me good deals on high impact items to take with us! Also, the mail room staff that has been so helpful in packing and sending all those large boxes back in August and then helping yesterday with padding and packaging for items that might burst in transit.

We will make it to Lima tomorrow night, fly up to Piura ...

... your fingers that they release it!

The supplies I'll be carrying down with me are mostly additional vitamins, some more children's tylenol (hopefully not much of what we sent is subject to the recall), and other over the counter items. I'll also be taking a lot of stickers, bubbles, balloons and other items to entertain the children who will be receiving care or waiting for family members to be treated. We ...

... links you might enjoy:
the organization I work for- First Hand Foundation: www.firsthandfoundation.org
The organization I'll be traveling with: www.globalhealthministry.org
Wikiped ia page on the Piura region of Peru: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piura_Regi on
I find it appropriate that I'll be in the pottery "capital" of South America and my mother is a potter- I'll have to pick up some fun ...

... their reputation, we had high expectations and we were not disappointed!” Janice and Chris Garcia (Chris is the former mayor of Basehor, Kansas).


One couple planned their vacation around the Kansas City concert, traveling all the way from Florida to hear our performance. Others have had their tickets for over a year. Hearing stories like this makes us dig a little deeper to find that reserve to give another 110% performance!


Even with ...

Last night I realized that since we plan to spend at least a day checking out Edmonton, there's no point in trying to rush there. So, we slept in and are leaving now at 10:15am. We should get close to Canada today, and tomorrow we'll go for Saskatoon. That will leave us with time to spend with the family hosting us in Edmonton (see www.couchsurfing.com) and also leave more time to see things this weekend.

... did I pack enough bug spray, are mosquito nets readily avaliable, what can I take on the airplane? I could continue, but I am trying to forget all these questions anyway. One thing I am sure of, is that I am really REALLY excited, and that, inspite of all my questions, I AM READY TO GO!! Okay, I did it! First blog! Many more to come when the fun really starts.

So I picked up the Lemps from the bank a few weeks ago, and they've been sitting around the house collecting dust. I've been reading up in the guide book and on the web as to where to stay. Still don't have any hard fast reservations except our first night there. I'm not sure if I really want to set any plans in stone yet because so many of those places are non-refundable, and I don't want to lock myself into ...