Wild, Warm, Wet, Weezer!

The day started with a trip to the KC Zoo with Angela & Jeff and our friend Lynne who was in town from TX with daughter Maddie. It was only my second time to the Zoo...I think. I seem to recall having gone before, but it is possible it was only to see Disney's Fantasia at the IMAX theater. This may have actually been my first time in the Zoo proper. Only Africa was open today, which worked out perfectly as it turned out to be quite a scorcher and our attention spans & Maddie's energy level lasted as long as a tour through the area.
The highlights for me were the hippos, having Maddie 'lead' our group with the map, stopping at unconventional 'sights' along the way, and charming Maddie through the last stretch of the park.

We finished right around lunch time and with the help of a GPS navigator they'd brought along, found our way to New Peking in Westport; one of my favorite Chinese food establishments.
Angela and I had fun coaching Maddie on the use of chopsticks, marveling at the Hispanic family across from us who'd had fire brought to their table and watching as their under-attended daughter set fire to one of her chopsticks, and catching up a bit with Lynn, Angela & Jeff.

From there I headed home to take a much needed nap, then switched gears for the Buzz Under the Stars concert out at City Market. My friend Dennis bought a house not long ago out in Olathe AND he happened to have won tickets to the show off the radio. We combined efforts and I got the tour of his new place, then we rode together to the show. Once there, we met up with a bunch of friends and ran into several more. I love this city!

The show was great. The opening acts likely gained a few fans and Weezer really put a lot into their performance with lots of crowd pleasing tunes and also a few gimmicks for laughs!
After the show we were in much need of hydration and as luck would have it, some sprinklers turned on right by where our car was parked, giving Jessica and I the opportunity for a refreshing frolic through the sprays of water! We eventually found our way in a most Family-Circus-style to Chubby's. It was nice and cool inside and our waiter tried valiantly to keep us supplied with water as fast as we consumed it.

I ran into my roommate Ben who was out with Amanda and a couple other friends. (See tomorrow's post since technically it was already Saturday at that point) I really do enjoy living in KC and have to count my blessings for days & evenings like these made possible by wonderful friends!