Favorites at Fort Leavenworth

Every place we move there are favorites. Those places you will never forget. The ones you only go to once, but made memories that'll last forever. The ones you go to over and over.

Here are my favorite places! (In no particular order)

Food:
1. Okie Joe's.
LOVE this place. Best BBQ we had while in Kansas. It is part of a gas station. The line will be out the door.
2. All Slabbed Up.
Best burnt ends, bottle caps(fried jalapenos), and sweet tea.
3. Retro Diner.
Super cheap, little hole in the wall. Get the pancakes.
4. The Depot.
They give you little complimentary donuts.
5. Bassa Prua.
They have AMAZING donuts and the brunch is delish...especially with a mimosa.
6. Pullman Place.
Cheap food, but good. There is a table in the front of the restaurant with a train IN the table. So cool for the kids to see.
7. El Porto Mexican Cafe.
Queso dip, chips, and salsa are given right away for the table.
8. DFAC.
The dining facility on post. It is cafeteria style, so many options, and delish dessert options for VERY cheap.
9. Baan Thai.
Pad Se Eew and the thai iced tea is on point.
10. Tacos El Gallo 
Legit. Street tacos. Jamaica. Tamales. Pan Dulce. Mexican market attached to it.

Coffee:
1. Harbor Lights.
Caramel blast latte. Egg, sausage, and pepperjack on a bagel. Homemade cheescake. O.M.G.
2. Meriwether's.
Lavender Moon latte. They also have local art displayed for purchase and antiques.

Kid Places:
1. Monkey Bizness.
Indoor small zipline, bounce house slide, swing set, toddler area and cafe all inside.
2. Karnes playground.
Amazing zipline and climbling stuff for kids. Not for the paranoid parent. Made for older kids or adults if they want a good unconventional workout.
3. Landing 4 theater.
Cheap movies. .50 cents on certain days.
4. Wonderscope.
Children's interactive museum. It was an old school turned museum and each old "classroom" is a different theme/activity.
5. On post activities.
So many awesome parks here. Plus a skate park, horse stables, a pool, bowling alley and gymnastics room.
6. T-Rex Cafe.
Restaurant, but definitely for the kids.
7. Wheel Thing.
Indoor roller rink. Like, old school roller skating.
8. Missouri River.
Just to walk around, skip rocks, enjoy the bridge view, small playground.
9. Kansas City Zoo.
Not huge, not small. Gorgeous scenery.

Shopping:
1. Zona Rosa.
2. Olathe.
3. Ikea.
4. Legends.
5. Bonner Springs Dollar Tree.

Jason just named this list the 4 Pillars of my life. I think that is pretty accurate.

Chronicles of a Kappes PCS: Day 5

Today was definitely less crazy.

Kids woke up early...surprise, surprise. Even with the amazing hotel blackout curtains. Nope, they still know. 5:00am for Morgan and 6:00am for Nate. oh, my little early risers. Always wanting to start the day before everyone.

We went to the breakfast the hotel offers which wasn't half bad. Fruit, oatmeal, yogurt, bacon, sausage, eggs, french toast, omelets, pastries, etc.

We had some time to kill because Jason didn't have to pick up the moving truck until 11am, then he had to go weigh it. What do you do when you have time to kill!? SHOP! We went to Target, Five Below and TJ Maxx. Nothing to crazy because it all has to fit in the car for our travels.

Shopping in our matching Lularoe shirts.

We came back to let Morgan nap and let Nate play. Then we went back to the house to help.

Before we left, there was 2 slight freak out moments. Because...we needed a little crazy in the day. 

First freak out moment was when the hotel fire alarm went off. Not just in our room, the ENTIRE hotel. An announcement came on saying we needed to evacuate the building and not to use the elevator. WHAT THE FUCK!? OK...freaking out, trying to stay calm in front of Nate, trying to decide what to grab...

Another announcement as we walk out of the hotel room that it was a false alarm. Ok, good. But, holy hell. Scary. 

We get out of the room, start walking out and Nate gets stuck in the revolving door. Seriously. I had to pry it open so him and his backpack could get through. 

The revolving door that almost killed Nate.

Finally we get the kids in the car and off to help Jason.

This is how Jason put the moving truck...

We loaded a few boxes and the couch. We took it very easy because it was 100 degrees and didn't want Jason to over do it. We all went to dinner together then back to the hotel to get the kids in bed. 

I have no idea what tomorrow will bring. 

Not A Blog Post.

This is not a good blog post. I repeat; it is not a good blog post.

I'm just writing a sentence so I don't miss a day.

I am online shopping at Old Navy and ranking the renovations I want to do on our next house. Big adulting serious business right now. While eating Jelly Beans my grandma sent. Because Easter. And because my grandma is the best. I just got buttered popcorn and black licorice so that kinda sucked.

I'm also trying to convince my husband to hard boil eggs to dye tomorrow. I am the WORST at hard boiling eggs.

What is your favorite place to shop online?

If you could renovate anything in your house right now (even if you are renting), what would it be?

I'm not doing a long post because I am working on a more extensive one about our move coming up and how to do it yourselves and make money. It will be a lot of information, but it might actually help other military peeps so I'm trying to make it good with accurate information and links and all that good stuff us military people like.

Here is some humor to end my non-blog post.

See how that was a non blog post. Told you. And you read...still. Suckers! 

Meal Planning

I don't know if you have figured it out yet, but Jason and I are pretty frugal. And yes...there is a difference between being cheap and being frugal. Anyways, one of the ways we try to save money is by meal planning. It helps us shopping because we go there to get what we need and not buy on impulse. That does not mean we don't splurge every once and awhile. We are sometimes lazy with our meals and sometimes see something on the shelf that catches our eyes without it being on the list. But for the most part we stick to it. We even have a route we use...maybe that's a little weird.

Before we go shopping we go to our favorite sites to figure out what we want to make for the next week or two. I usually go to Pinterest and Jason usually goes to Gojee. We have also been going to Budgetbytes. All three are super awesome websites with amazing recipes. We also try to eat before we go shopping so we aren't hungry and every single thing including toilet paper sounds delicious. So we figure out what we want to make and start a list. We even put how much of something we need so we don't under or over buy, for example, putting 32oz of pasta sauce or 2 onions.

After we shop and are home, the unpacking begins. We take out the meat we need for the next day and put everything else in its place. I re-write our meals on our menu board. Here are a couple examples of previous weeks.

 

Some days do get hectic or we get lazy and we pop in a frozen pizza instead of what's on the menu. Most of the time we are good about following it.

Do you plans meals ahead of time? If so, how? 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Even though it is gloomy and rainy outside, the weather does not affect how thankful I am for all I have. It has truly been a wonderful year. My husband wasn't deployed, I graduated with my Master's, Jason graduated with his Master's, pregnant and welcomed Nathan, and moved to a new state. Those are only a few exciting events that has happened this year so far.

What else I am thankful for? My health, shelter, food, love, support, family, and friends. The tangible and intangible combined make my life wonderful. It is the small and big things that contribute to my everyday happiness and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I can only hope everyone else is truly appreciative for all they have.

Since we have Nathan now, I will not be Black Friday shopping. This is very strange for me since I do it EVERY year. Last year I was out for over 12 hours. I loved every minute of it. I love the hustle and bustle, the people shopping for the people they love, the good deals, and the start of the Christmas/winter season. I am a little sad to not be out and about, but I also get to cuddle and snuggle with my husband and son. Also, my mom is visiting and flies in from California in the afternoon.

Maybe I will do some online shopping this year, but more importantly, I'll be spending time with family. I just love them to pieces.

Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a full belly. :)