Weekending - March 16, 2018

Happy first day of Spring!  It's not really feeling a lot like spring around here.  Currently it's cloudy and 35 degrees.  But what's making me smile today is reflecting on how much fun happened this past weekend I really hate to say goodbye to it.  For St. Patrick's Day Eric and I headed to Kansas City to spend it with our friends.  I was at a Board Retreat and Eric had to work on Friday so we didn't share a ride there.  Eric hopped on Amtrak in St. Louis and rode the train to Lee's Summit.  I drove from the retreat and arrived just in time to scoop him up when he stepped off the train.

Festivities began early on Saturday morning.  Kevin was whipping up his famous French toast and we didn't want to miss a moment of that goodness.  The Irish coffee was flowing as people started arriving and by the atmosphere you could just tell it was going to be a fun day.

We played games, watched basketball and ate (and ate, and ate, and ate!).  There was so much great food!  It was just the perfect way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day! 

One of the games we played as a group was Codenames.  Here's the official description, "Codenames is a social word game with a simple premise and challenging game play. Two rival spymasters know the secret identities of 25 agents. Their teammates know the agents only by their codenames. The teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. Spymasters give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the table. Their teammates try to guess words of their color while avoiding those that belong to the opposing team. And everyone wants to avoid the assassin. The game works very well with 4 players if you prefer to guess without help. Or you can add more players if you prefer lively discussion. There is also a cooperative variant where a single team tries to achieve the highest score they can by playing against the game itself."  Great game for a group of people!  Click HERE to purchase one of your own.

Eric and I also learned a new game - DragonStone Mine.  This one can be played with 2-4 players.  The rules are easy and can be played with children as young as 5.  A typical game can take around 30 minutes so it would be a great game to play with the kids before going to bed. 

Sunday morning we rallied around pretty early and was at Q39 to taste their BBQ by 11:30 am.  The place was beginning to fill up, but we were seated right away.  For starters we picked their seasoned onion straws.  The mound of goodness arrived at our table quickly and we all agreed it was fabulous!

Linda and I both ordered the burnt ends and brisket combo plate.  Eric choose a four meat platter.  Our burnt ends were average - I like my burnt ends "burnt".  The ones served to me were well cooked and super tender, but did not have that nice crispy outside.  The winner in my opinion was the ribs.  OMG - they were fabulous!  

We would definitely go back to Q39.  The service was wonderful and the atmosphere was great.  Next time I would order something different.  I spied some pulled pork sliders that looked pretty awesome.  

It was a good thing we got there when we did, because as we were leaving the line to the place was out the door.  Even if you have to wait in line to get a table, the food was worth it!

After filling our bellies, we decided to relax by taking in a movie.  The one we picked to see was Gringo.  Bad decision.  It just wasn't a good movie.  Not funny at all!  Did anyone else see it?  What did you think?

Eric and I left Kansas City late in the afternoon to travel back home.  We stopped in and visited my parents for a bit on the way.  Great way to cap off a wonderful weekend!