Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!

No, not that kind of Kiss. More like the hardest working band in the world kind of Kiss. They just opened up a restaurant in a new entertainment district called, Prairie Fire. We made the trip over to check out what Prairie Fire has to offer, and since Noah is a Kiss fan, why not have lunch at the restaurant?

First stop was the new movie theater called Cinetopia. There are 3 different styles of theater there. The first one is the GXL screen, which is an 80ft large screen and great surround sound. The second type of theater is the Living Room, and the last type was the master suite. So far, we have tried the GXL and the Living Room.

First of all, the website said that the GXL seats are reclining. Not really. I would call them rockers. The screen was huge though. We saw X Men there, and the sound and picture were both great. Next, we tried the Living Room to see Maleficent. The theater was smaller than your average one, and it had big framed pictures up on the wall, and nice reclining chairs, with tables. We really enjoyed this theater. Next time, we will need to try the master suite room. All the seats are love seats.

Thanks to Groupon, we were able to score some discount tickets. For $18.95, you receive 2 movie tickets, and a $6 concession stand voucher. It seemed like a good deal, so I bought 4 sets. The theater is more expensive than our local AMC. A regular screen will run you $10.50 for adults, and a 3D screen will be $12.50. Of course, the big money maker is the concession stand. Our $6 vouchers didn't go far. That is a medium popcorn in Noah's hand. I believe that was over $6. A small (think child size) soda was $4.75. 

Prairie Fire is a nice place to walk around and window shop. We walked into the chocolate shop, and Fat Brain Toys. On a second trip back, the kids picked out a couple of toys that were reasonably priced. Nik picked out something called Carnivorous Creations. Basically, he is going to grow a Venus Flytrap. Yay. Noah picked out a tornado tube. All he needs are a couple of soda bottles and the tube will create a tornado. It's a cool little science toy. 

We decided to have lunch at Rock 'N Brews, the restaurant owned by Kiss. The seating was interesting, because they were big tables where you sat together with strangers. The restaurant has huge glass walls that open up, so there is plenty of outdoor seating. Rock music from the 80's is played at high volume, which I loved. I did not mention to Noah that we were going to a restaurant with a Kiss theme, so he was pleasantly surprised when we walked inside.

Noah asked me to make sure I take a picture of the Kiss picture.

We had a very friendly waiter, who filled us in on the menu. He was very prompt in taking our order, and asked if we were in a hurry. I assume they ask this due to the movie theater across the street. I thought this might be a sign that we were going to wait a while for our food, but service was actually pretty quick. 

The kids ordered chicken and a burger, while Alex and I ordered fish tacos and a club sandwich. The portions were pretty big. I ended up taking home half my sandwich to eat for dinner later that night. Price for lunch was around $60.

Prairie Fire also contains the new Natural History Museum. Now here is where I'm not going to give such a great review. For $20 each, I would expect more. My kids are museum fanatics. They have been to some of the best in the country. Sadly, this new museum isn't great. It's probably a step below ok.

From the outside, it looks huge. 

From the inside, not so much.

We walked into the Great Hall. It would be allot greater if they had more in it. There is one big dinosaur fossil. 

There is also a wall with large touch screens, where kids can create their own dinosaur, or in the case of my kids, a dragon. Meet their creation, Spikey. Once the kids created him, we were able to see him fly over on the big screen.

The Great Hall also contains a small store, and a bunch of wasted open space. Such a shame. I think they could have utilized the space so much better. We also visited the the traveling H2O exhibit. The kids really liked it.

The different displays were informative, and the kids learned from them. They even got a chance to touch an ice block, and learn the science behind it, and what climate change means.

Our beautiful planet. We need to take better care of it.

More hands on exhibits.

 I love how my kids seem to know the binomial names of most of the animals in natural history museums. And they know what binomial name means too. Which is more than I can say about me.

 We were in and out of the water exhibit in less than 30 minutes. 

I probably would make another return visit, depending on what the traveling exhibit is. If it is something that would interest the kids, I would do it. Otherwise, no thanks.

Prairie Fire is a nice little corner of town to spend time at the theater and to have a meal. I'm glad we tried it. And we will definitely be back.

From can't to can.

Something happened at work, and it lead me to think about my life, and how much I have come out of my shell in the past year. So here is what happened. We were having an end of year celebration. I work with some awesome people, and it is nice to be able to spend time with them in a relaxed setting. Our work requires us to focus on the task at hand, and we don't really get a chance to just chat.

So, we had a series of relay races between 3 teams. We had 3 different relay races to choose from. I volunteered for the first one, because it seemed like something I could handle. Sure, it involved running. Sure, I am totally out of shape, and was not wearing a sports bra, but what's a girl to do? Well, that relay went well. And by well, I don't mean that my team won. I mean that I didn't hurt myself, and I didn't accidentally expose any body parts. So I considered my leg of the race as a success.

After the races were over, we were at a 3 way tie. We needed to do another relay to crown the winner. This leg of the race was the spin around a baseball bat relay race. Despite the fact that I can get dizzy just rolling over in bed, I raised my hand and said I would run the race. In case you don't know, here is what is involved with the game. You have to place your forehead on top of a bat, and spin around 5 times, then try to run to the opposite end of the field. Yeah, I knew it was going to be a train wreck, but I did it anyway.

I got dizzy after the first spin, and in true me fashion, I lost track of how many times I circled around. Finally, someone told me I had already completed my five spins, so I dropped the bat and started running. I really should have stopped first to get oriented, but I just went for it! Go big or go home, baby! That is, if home involves me slamming into the ground like a meteor hitting earth. Because that is pretty much how things went down. I hit the ground hard. And I was so dizzy, that I didn't even feel that I was going to fall. I just all of a sudden, saw grass on my face.

I popped up and tried to run, while I laughed hysterically. It wasn't pretty. I imagined how funny I must have looked, bouncing off the ground. Then I imagined how silly I must have looked trying to run a straight line. And I laughed hard. Fell hard, and laughed hard.

Days later, I was still sore from the fall. Not like serious injury pain. More like middle aged, overweight woman falling onto the ground pain. I really should have said that I can't run this race. But I jumped in and said bring it on!

So what about this made me think about my life? Well, I'm normally a self conscious person. I make sure my make-up is applied, my hair is combed shortly after I wake up. I try not to draw attention to myself when I'm out and about. I like to blend in. And above all else, I don't want to embarrass myself.  And it's this desire to not make a show, that has caused me to miss out on some good times. I wasn't always this way. But I think that in the process of raising my kids, I have lost a little bit of  myself. I think it happens to many moms, and maybe even more to special needs mom. You are so busy trying to get through the day, you forget parts of yourself. I'm not saying that I don't laugh. If you know me, you know that I am rarely not cracking a joke about something. But I most definitely don't want to stand out in a crowd.

In the past year, a part of my job has required me to sing and dance in front of a room full of children. Sometimes I am at the front of the class, leading everyone in some pretty silly dance moves.  Just go to youtube and look up clips of people dancing to "Making Melodies in my heart" to get a taste of the silliness. It was hard for me in the beginning. But it has now become one of my favorite parts of my job. I just love it! Sure, I probably look ridiculous, but I am having fun, and more importantly, the kids are having a blast too.

The woman who walked into the office for her interview 9 months ago, would not have jumped in front of a group of people to sing and dance. And she certainly wouldn't have said "put me in coach" when volunteers were needed for a dizzy relay race.

I went from I can't do this because I will look silly, to I can do this because I will look silly. Ok, I probably shouldn't have done the spinning bat thing. This girl fell hard. But it was totally worth it. And I would do it again next year, if asked. (Please don't ask me. I will have to say yes).

That's it, folks. And now for a silly face contest.

Conquering demons, I mean dinosaurs.

Like probably every kid in America, my kids love dinosaurs. They are kind of fanatical about it. When we visited the Natural History Museum in NYC, they could tell me the name of every fossil we came across. Yes, even the weird ones that I had never heard of. Oh to have their memory skills...

There is a T Rex Cafe in Kansas City. We tried to visit several times before. But each time ended with me carrying Noah in full on anxiety mode. And he was pretty much wrecked for hours after that. One particular time, we took Alex's family for a visit. Everyone had a nice lunch in the restaurant, while I spent a hot, sweltering hour in the sun, trying to calm Noah down. I think that was when we just gave up on trying to take him to T Rex Cafe. That was 3 years ago.

Fast forward to Mother's Day weekend. You don't know what your kid can accomplish until you try something, right? One thing I have learned in raising two kids with autism, is that you can't always just sit back and do what is always comfortable for the family. Sometimes you have to push them to reach higher. You have to go outside of your comfort level in order to thrive. Otherwise, life is just all about survival. Do you want to survive, or thrive? I want then to thrive, damn it!

Oh, our pushing can end in disaster at times. Like the last T Rex Cafe experience. But it often ends in a great life experience. So off we went to T Rex Cafe one beautiful Saturday. Getting off the exit, we immediately spotted Schlitterbahns latest water slide.  See that structure to the left? Yeah, that is supposed to be the tallest water slide in the country. Uh, no thanks.

No. Just no.

It was race day at Kansas Speedway. We could see RVs everywhere. Keep in mind that it was an evening race, and it was barely 11am when we passed the track. These people are serious about their races. I always say it would be fun to go to one race, but the reality is that I would be complaining about the lack of bathrooms after a few hours.

T Rex Cafe is just across the street from the track, so we were glad that we got there so early. There were some old race cars on display, and a sign that led people to where drivers would be signing autographs. We didn't stick around to see who would be signing. But here's an old car.

Noah seemed pretty excited as we approached the restaurant. I mean, happy excited, not "Birthday kids at three o'clock"  excited. "Birthday kids at three o'clock is not only a line from Toy Story, but Noah's safe words for "get me out of here!" 

We got there right as they were opening up. This place can get packed, and I didn't want to have to deal with a crowd, in case we needed to make a quick exit. The restaurant has some very large fossils outside. Pretty cool stuff.

Baby dinosaurs

This guy was lurking behind our table.

The restaurant is filled with animated dinosaurs. And every 30 minutes, there is a big thunderstorm and volcano eruption. It's pretty cool. Cool, that is, if your child isn't screaming in terror. And this time, he wasn't!

While sitting at our table, Noah was so excited, talking a mile a minute about all the dinosaurs. And he was able to verbalize the fact that he could not do this a few years ago. It's pretty damn cool when your kid is able to acknowledge the fact that he has been able to conquer something. 

Noah was doing so well. And seeing that this was a celebration, I went ahead and let them order their drinks in the "fancy" cups!

And now for your viewing pleasure, an assortment of pictures with us with our eyes closed. It's what we do.

Ok, these are better. Turning the flash off helped. You have no idea how many Alex had to take before he caught me with my eyes opened.

Look at my boy all happy! Praise God.

The crowning moment came when a table behind us was serenaded with the birthday song. That song is always good to cause a meltdown with Noah. Not this time. He couldn't care less. I tell you what, I almost cried tears of joy right there.

And one more of me with my eyes open!

We had such a nice, pleasant lunch. It feels so good to be able to enjoy things as a family. I love every minute of these days! 

I could not have had a better Mother's Day present than this day. It's great to see Noah enjoying himself, and not be frightened by the world around him. In the grips of anxiety, we were just trying to survive and get through the day without losing him to his fear. Now, we really are thriving.