Are you someone who loves to always be moving? Would you rather ride the tallest waterslide than relax in the hot tub? If you, like I, love excitement and adventure, read on. You’ll find lots of fun and thrills to be had in the KC metro.
Bricktionary: The Ultimate LEGO® A-Z: Union Station’s newest Awesome Exhibit
About the Exhibit: Bricktionary – The Ultimate LEGO® A-Z at Union Station Kansas City October 28th, 2023 ‘ March 31st, 2024. Operating hours: Monday ‘ Sunday: 10 AM ‘ 5 PM. Last ticket sold at 4 PM. Buy tickets here.
Read on for two reviews, one from Kristina Light, a local mom who took tweens and teens ages 12-18 to explore the exhibit, and another from our new high school intern, a local student, Lyra Thompson.
Kristina’s Take:
Our family and friends recently explored Bricktionary – The Ultimate LEGO® A-Z at Union Station, and the entire group enjoyed the experience.
This exhibit takes you on a journey exploring more than 150 impressive, custom-built LEGO® models inspired by simple letters of the alphabet. The exhibit truly takes you on a journey from A to Z with each letter of the alphabet represented with its own custom small display as you play a guessing game determining what each sculpture is meant to represent, as well as giant displays including the DeLorean from Back to the Future (my personal favorite), a giant Orca, a motorcycle, a Saturn V rocket, the Eiffel Tower (with miniature vignettes beneath the tower legs), the Seattle Space Needle, the Syndey Opera House, and magnificent flowers.
The exhibit plays homage to even more favorite films with LEGO® movie posters.
Bricktionary – The Ultimate LEGO® A-Z is the brainchild of noted Australian, Ryan “Brickman” McNaught and his team of highly skilled LEGO® brick model builders and craftspeople. One of only 21 worldwide LEGO® Certified Professionals (LCP), McNaught is also a star judge on the hit Australian-based show, LEGO ® Masters Australia.
The Brickman team crafted more than 45 of the brick models for Bricktionary – The Ultimate LEGO® A-Z . With large models, fun displays full of whimsy (we had a blast finding unusual scenes on the ocean liner and under the Eiffel Tower), hands-on elements, and tons of creativity, we all agreed that Bricktionary – The Ultimate LEGO® A-Z , is an excellent exhibit LEGO® fans will love!
Lyra’s Take:
Union Station’s new exhibit, Bricktionary – The Ultimate LEGO® A-Z , is a fun, engaging – and even educational – experience for LEGO® fans young and old.
As you walk through the exhibit, you go through the alphabet, learning about different LEGO® terminology and techniques along the way. Each letter also has LEGO® builds to go along with it. For example, right at the beginning, there is an alligator and an airplane.
Besides the large builds, there are also display cases with regular-sized LEGO® creations, all starting with whatever letter you’re on. It was fun to go around and try to figure out what each item in the case was. They were all very creative designs.
Not only were there LEGO® creations to look at, there was also a lot to read and learn. Like I mentioned above, there were blocks of text along the walls with definitions for specific types of LEGO® blocks, certain build techniques to use, and more. I didn’t even know there were that many different ways to use LEGO® blocks.
Something about the definitions that I thought were funny were the pronunciations provided. The company behind this exhibit, Brickman, is based in Australia, so the pronunciations are written the way an Aussie would say them.
I was surprised by how much other information was given about general knowledge. By the alligator build, there were some facts and statistics about alligators. The same was true for pretty much every large build – a rocket, a submarine, etc.
Some of the builds were extremely detailed. One in particular, an ocean liner, was packed with much smaller LEGO® creations inside the ship. We spent a while looking at all the fun scenes they had set up, and we still didn’t notice every detail.
While this exhibit had a lot to look at and read, it was also interactive. There were a few different stations where people could build with the large variety of LEGO® bricks provided. One of these stations even had a base that could shake back and forth, simulating an earthquake, to test how sturdy your build was.
The second big, interactive section was one where you were given a 6×6 LEGO® base and had to recreate the grid pattern on the screen in front of you. There were multiple screens, so lots of people could be participating at one time. Once you accurately matched the pattern, it was placed on the wall. All of the 6×6 pieces will eventually become a LEGO® mosaic of a larger image.
Union Station’s newest exhibit is definitely worth paying a visit to. It’s entertaining for all ages, and appeals to both LEGO® fans and those who don’t have any experience with LEGO®. The exhibit is also good for people with disabilities, as it’s pretty hands-on. Besides actually building with LEGO® bricks, you’re allowed to touch some of the large builds.
Lyra Thompson is KC Parent’s high school intern for 2023, writing from the perspective of a local teen.
Best Mac ‘N Cheese in Kansas City
Hockey season starts in October, and Kansas City’s own Mavericks mascots are the ever-zany duo Mac and Cheeze! Enjoy all things mac and cheese with our roundup of the tastiest eateries serving the all-American comfort food in KC.
Mac and Cheeze Mascots: For hockey fans, you can book the KC Mavericks mascots Mac and Cheeze for any event! Website: https://www.kcmavericks.com/en/community/community-back-pages/appearance-requests
KC Mac N’ Co (1111 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64105): This Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, restaurant is all about making mac and cheese your main dish, not just a side. Almost every single dish you order here incorporates mac and cheese.
Brown and Loe (429 Walnut St, Kansas City, MO 64106): Another Downtown KCMO restaurant, Brown and Loe also has popular mac and cheese dishes. A popular menu item is the smoked Gouda mac, which is often praised for its flavor and consistency.
Lula Southern Cookhouse (1617 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64108): This restaurant in the Crossroads is dedicated to Southern American comfort food. With items on the menu ranging from fried chicken to seafood, you have lots of options. Its mac and cheese dishes are loved by many customers.
Coast to Coast Pub (500 E 135th St, Kansas City, MO 64145): This restaurant, owned by the Martin City Brewing Company, serves a lot of different styles of mac and cheese, including lobster mac and cowboy mac. Both of these dishes are popular choices. Besides macaroni and cheese, you can also choose from many seafood dishes.
Cheesy Street: Cheesy Street is a Kansas City area food truck known for “gourmet grilled cheese and loaded mac & cheese.” You can get a mac and cheese entree or order it as a side. Book this food truck for your next event or visit the website to see where they’re going to be next!
Lyra Thompson is a born-and-raised Kansas girl with a passion for writing and all things local.
Favorite Fall Activities for Teens in KC
Fall is my favorite season – the warm colors, light jacket weather, flannel season, Thanksgiving – and it’s just around the corner! Below is a list of ideas for places to visit and things to do for teens this fall.
Visit a Pumpkin Patch
A pumpkin patch is the perfect fall destination. Besides actually picking out pumpkins, it’s also fun to take a hayride or go through a corn maze. Some pumpkin patches even have other activities like petting zoos. Use KC Parent’s Pumpkin Patch Guide to discover the best local patches to visit with your family.
Bake Fall Recipes
You can’t go wrong with a warm dessert or steaming savory dish. Top it off with some warm apple cider to drink. Here are some ideas for fall foods to make at home:
- Apple Cider
- Apple Pie/Apple Crumble
- Caramel Apple
- Banana Bread
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Shepherd’s Pie
- Potatoes – baked, mashed, boiled – however you want to enjoy them
- Chili
- Buttermilk biscuits
- Any kind of casserole – tater tot, green bean, chicken, etc.
Enjoy a Book or Movie
Fall is the perfect season to cozy up with your favorite pillows and enjoy a wholesome, heartwarming book or movie. Here are some of my personal favorites, as well as general suggestions.
Movies
- Jane Austen adaptations
- Golden Age musicals – Oklahoma, Sound of Music, Wizard of Oz
- The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
Books:
- Any Classic – Little Women and Pride and Prejudice are my favorites
- The Harry Potter series
- Kasie West books – If you enjoy clean YA romance, she’s a great author
Dress Your Autumn Best
If you don’t like dressing fancy or stylish much – like myself – fall is a great season for that. Fall is the season for prioritizing comfort and coziness over sleek and stylish. These are some simple clothing items for fall:
- Flannel shirts
- Jackets or jean jackets
- Jeans
- Sweaters
- Scarves
- Beanies
- Cowboy boots
Outdoor Fall Activities
Autumn weather is perfect for spending time outside – it’s not so hot anymore and the frigid temperatures of winter haven’t yet hit. As the leaves are changing colors and starting to fall from trees, it’s also the perfect time to enjoy the beauty of nature. Here are some ways to get some exercise outdoors:
- Visit a local fall festival
- Ride a bike
- Go camping or hiking
- Carve pumpkins
- Play in the leaves – let out your inner little kid
- Sit around a firepit
- Play a sport
- Run or walk in a 5K
Simple Indoor Activities
To end off the list, here are a few miscellaneous things to do inside in the fall:
- Make a pillow fort – just like playing in the leaves, you can act like a kid again and make a hidden reading spot
- Volunteer at a soup kitchen or organize a Thanksgiving food drive
- Make fall crafts
- Play board games with family or friends
Find even more fall inspiration in KC Parent’s Fall Fun Guide.
Lyra Thomspon is a local teen with a passion for reading, writing, and friends!
The Best French Fries in Kansas City
National French Fry Day is July 14. Celebrate with the best fries in town!
Slaps BBQ: The french fries at this Kansas City, Kansas restaurant were described by one Yelp reviewer as “[beating] out anything in KC.” The reviewer wrote a long review about all the food but dedicated an entire paragraph to the french fries alone.
Address: 553 Central Ave, Kansas City, KS 66101
Tay’s Burger Shack: Many Yelp reviewers praised the french fries and accompanying condiments – most notably the spicy sriracha sauce – at this restaurant in North Kansas City.
Address: 1019 Armour Rd, North Kansas City, MO 64116
Snackle Box: This quaint restaurant is located right next to Wyandotte Lake, offering a great view while you enjoy your meal. The waffle fries are a popular side, with many 5-star reviews on Yelp mentioning them.
Address: 4208 West Dr, Kansas City, KS 66109
Shark Week is Jaw-some in KC
The Discovery Channel introduced the world to Shark Week in 1988, and now it has become an annual, week-long event of television programming and a “nationally recognized” summer tradition for families, budding marine biologists, ocean adventurers and dreamers, young and old alike.
We may be land-locked in Kansas City, but that doesn’t mean we have to miss out on Jaw-some Shark Week Fun! Celebrate all things shark with these ideas:
Around Kansas City:
Spot the Whitespotted Bamboo Shark at the Kansas City Zoo: While Kansas City Zoo isn’t doing any special events for Shark Week this year, you can still visit and look at all the marine animals they have, including the Whitespotted Bamboo Shark. You can find this animal in the Stingray Bay pool. If you really love marine animals, stay tuned for the zoo’s brand-new Sobela Ocean Aquarium, expected to open on September 1st, 2023!
Sea Life Summer of Sharks: Sea Life has many activities going on in honor of Shark Week – and you can enjoy these activities throughout the months of July and August! You can try to identify different shark species, listen and learn from shark experts, and participate in shark-themed activities, all at no extra cost. Add a Behind the Scenes Tour to your visit for even more fun!
From Sea Life: “Sharks are as hot as the Kansas City weather during this week of sharks, and SEA LIFE Kansas City’s newest three Bonnethead sharks are getting named after some of the hottest names from KC’s favorite sports team.
Locals voted and with more than 70% of the vote, chose the names Mahomes, Kelce and Reid after Kansas City’s favorite football team. Bonnethead sharks are naturally aggressive, fearless, and great at adapting to new situations and conditions in the same way Mahomes, Kelce, and Reid adapted throughout the season and playoffs to be fearless and win the championship! The new male sharks can be spotted in the new Shark Sanctuary exhibit at SEA LIFE Kansas City.
The new arrivals were born at Missouri’s Wonders of Wildlife and will stay in the Midwest as they took a short 3-hour trip to the Aquarium. The three Bonnethead sharks include an adult father with his two 11-month-old sons and reside in the new Shark Sanctuary exhibit in SEA LIFE Kansas City. The younger sharks are just 2ft long and will only grow to about 3ft once fully mature.
The shark trio will reside in the new Shark Sanctuary at SEA LIFE Kansas City. This new exhibit will give guests an up-close view of the new Bonnethead sharks as well as a new way to learn about all of the sharks at SEA LIFE. Their role in the ocean, conservation efforts, and what locals can do to help sharks will all be on display in this new area. The new sharks and exhibit coincide around a new Summer of Sharks limited time experience which includes new shark talks and activities in the Aquarium from now through August 31st.
The Bonnetheads are the first of their kind to be born and raised in an Aquarium. The Wonders of Wildlife Animal Care team were able to successfully raise these shark pups on a unique omnivore diet. Other shark species are mainly carnivores, but Bonnetheads have been found to have diets consisting of up to 60% seagrass. SEA LIFE Kansas City is proud to partner with another AZA-accredited institution like Wonders of Wildlife in promoting animal education and conservation.”
Shopping at Crown Center: You can even celebrate Shark Week by just taking a shopping trip. At Crown Center, lots of stores sell shark-themed items. Most notably, the toy store, Toy Time, has many ocean and shark-related toys and games to get your kids excited about sharks. At The Crayola Store, you can buy marine animal coloring books and crafts. The store Function Junction has some shark molds for cooking and baking, so you can make shark food. Even Chip’s Candy Factory has shark-themed candy items, like Gummi Sharks.
At Home:
If you would rather stay inside, there are many shark activities you can do from the comfort of your own home.
Dive into the excitement of Shark Week, the longest-running annual event in cable TV history, starting in 1988 and continuing every July since. Explore Mid-Continent Public Library’s delectable “Shark Chum” collection of captivating books and thrilling movies. Note that this curated list is specially for adults.
National Geographic on Disney+: If you have Disney+, there are countless documentaries and shows featuring sharks and other marine life, giving you hours of content. This is an entertaining and educational way to celebrate Shark Week.
Movie Marathon: If you prefer to watch fiction, there are plenty of movies out there about sharks. Also on Disney+, you can watch Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, which feature a prominent shark character. Some other kid-friendly movies featuring sharks include Soul Surfer, Shark Tale, and The Reef.
Crafts: If you have a creative household, consider creating some fun shark-related crafts. It could be as simple as coloring a shark and cutting it out, or as involved as creating a shark with a moving mouth using a brad and pieces of construction paper.
Bonus Less-Than-A-Tank-Of-Gas Getaways:
If you don’t mind traveling and would prefer to make a day trip in honor of sharks, here are two places you could visit:
Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo: Just like the Kansas City Zoo, the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo in Nebraska doesn’t have special events this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate Shark Week there. At the Suzanne and Walter Scott Aquarium, you can experience the 70-foot shark tunnel where sharks will circle above you. Read our tips for a Weekend Getaway to Omaha for more ideas.
Wonders of Wildlife Shark Dive: The Wonders of Wildlife Museum and Aquarium is a great Shark Week trip. You can look at all the marine life they have and pay extra to do a shark dive. During the Out to Sea Shark Dive, you wear special gear to go in a metal cage underwater and get close to the sharks. To experience the Shark Dive, children must be at least ten years old and have parental guidance and permission, depending on their age. Book today: wondersofwildlife.org/tours Read our Six-Stop Tour: Springfield, MO for more local ideas.
Uncle Buck’s Fish Bowl & Grill: This aquarium-themed bowling alley and casual restaurant at Fun Mountain theme park in Branson, features a truly one-of-a-kind bowling experience. This incredible underwater atmosphere features sea turtles, sharks, and stingrays. Reserve a lane at Fun Mountain Bowling.