Reflecting on Kansas Trip

The Kansas City crew had a BLAST on intersession this year. Here are the top 10 things that we learned throughout our stay in Kansas:

1. Putting up walls takes many people
2. Using the nail gun is fun
3. Creating a driveway takes a lot of time
4. Some students will believe anything the site supervisors tell them regardless if it is true or not
5. Bats do exist is churches
6. Students are GREAT cooks
7. Four Square never gets old
8. Service at restaurants and stores are extremely slow and complicated
9. Having Loveland get lost can be a bit stressful :)
10. The Kansas City Zoo is miles and miles and miles and miles and miles long

Ms. Loveland and I had an absolute blast working with each and everyone of the students. We most certainly will never forget this trip. We certainly hope that everyone was able to take something back with them. We are proud to be considered a bulldog.

Enjoy the slide show of our trip!

 

Petersburg

Goodbye Andrew and Gloria! It was great meeting and getting to know you. Thanks for taking care of us; you're definitely part of the habitat family now!

Petersburg

The whole gang at our last dinner in Petersburg!

Petersburg

Day 5: our fun day! We went to the Confederacy Museum to get a different perspective of the Civil War complete with a tour of the Confederate White House. Very cool! The rain put a bit of a damper on our day, but we made the most of it! After the museum we went to Short Pump Mall. It was great!

Petersburg

Petersburg

3am on the way to the airport, Brian's taking a little nap on Katie.

Petersburg

Group picture with Andrew and Gloria all dressed up for Prom - so adorable! Andrew has become part of the fam :)

Petersburg

Brian and Robin playing DDRing in the Arcade

Petersburg

Go-karts!

Petersburg

Christy, Alex, Eric, Laura, B-Mitch, Katie (and Miranda) at mini-golf

Petersburg

Time for fun! Mini golfing at Swaders.

Petersburg

The end!

Petersburg

Look at all the progress. When we started, the top 20 rows of siding were 100+ years old and rotting and nothing was painted. The old siding was removed. The new siding was cut, primed, hung and painted green! If the weather held out we would have finished!

Petersburg

What a great experience. We got to meet the homeowner Lucy and her son today. What amazing people. We also got to donate our 300 volunteer hours to Lucy's sweat equity. For a single mom that is a big gift! So proud of all the hard work these kids did. So admirable!

Petersburg

Our amazing host. Andrew housed and fed us for the last week for his Eagle Scout Project, I'm sure he's ready for us to go. We're an exhausting group ;)

Petersburg

Lauren, Laura, Brian and Brian finishing the last room of sheet rocking. It's amazing how much we got accomplished in 4 days.

Petersburg

Miranda and Robin; the queens of siding. Robin is working on not being a "woodpecker" (someone who is less skilled at hammering). She made strides today!

Petersburg

Benware cutting the boards for the siding.

Petersburg

Starting the siding on the front. Standing on the roof, way to go guys!

Petersburg

Day 4: Katie on our last day of work! Finally painting all of the siding we put up yesterday!

Kansas: baseball time

We are at the royals game all sporting our KC blue jerseys that we were given at the front gate. Play ball!

Kansas: one day later

We drove by the site today to see the progress and were surprised with how much of the roof had been completed. To think that on Wednesday, the floor was the only thing completed.

Kansas: going for a ride

Sarah and Gerard on the African sky ride at the zoo

Kansas: coolest shot

Kansas: hello polar bear

Kansas: the zoo

Stephanie, Jess, Colby, and Rachel all decided to get on a camel at the zoo.

Kansas: great start

Thanks to Van and Taylor, we had an excellent hot breakfast. They even woke up early to make all of this happen. The menu consisted of eggs, bacon, chocolate chip pancakes, toast and fruit salad.

Kansas: Hallmark crown plaza

We rounded out the night by going into the city and visiting the Hallmark Crown Plaza. This is the headquarters of Hallmark. We walked around and looked in shops. Here Taylor and Mike pose in front of the water fountain where we watched a show. Be sure to ask John C what happened with him and water. Great story...

Kansas: Bonding...

After dinner, we stopped at a huge park area. The group decided to over look the area and look into the sunset, or maybe the train tracks. Either one, great photo...

Kansas: BBQ

Last night, we decided to go to a well known BBQ restaurant called Gates BBQ. This group decided to order the Presidential platter which constipated of every possible meat that they sell. Needless to say, this platter served 7-8 people and they still had some food left over!

Petersburg

Best team competition EVER! Team costumes! Love it!!!

Petersburg

The whole gang with Andrew and his family. We are so lucky to have such wonderful people taking care of us!

Petersburg

Andrew and Robin caulking the edge of the windows and getting ready to paint!

Petersburg

Miranda and Travis finishing the last of the siding . . . For today!

Petersburg

The gang finishing a whole room of sheet rocking in one day!

Petersburg

Lauren and Katie measuring sheet rock!

Petersburg

Christy passing siding to Robin! Nice work ladies!

Petersburg

Matt the scaffold engineer. Or wait? Is that a monkey?

Petersburg

Laura the safety officer (or "mom") monitoring the scaffolding project.

Petersburg

Day 2: taking down 100+ year old siding!

Kansas: look at the masterpiece!

The coolest part of these last three days has been the fact that when we showed up on Wednesday, there was just a slab of flooring. And now, you can see all of the work that has been done. Tomorrow, we were told that the house will have the roof on. (this was not suppose to happen until a week from now, however we helped progress the work!)

Kansas: Work being done in the basement

Well, day 3 is complete. We were all proud of the work that was accomplished today. Half of the group was in the basement preparing for two bedrooms.

Kansas: leaving a lasting note

We were told today that we could leave a note on the house for the new homeowner. Very cool idea!

Kansas: using the nail gun

Colby is learning how to use the nail gun. We are on the process of making sure the walls are upright.

Kansas: Lesson number 236

Learning how to cut wood in the basement of the house from Matt

Kansas: Day 3

We can't believe that we are already on day 3 of our trip. Today is a bit cold 48 degrees this morning. Probably the coldest days we have ever had in all habitat trips. We got a pic with our site supervisors Dave and Matt.

Kansas: Another photo opp

Loveland and Vanessa posing at the job site

Petersburg
bendoza lookin fly in our gangster mini van

Kansas

Chaperones posing (with Taylor playing in the fountain)

Kansas: Family Pic

We took the opportunity to take a family picture outside of the cheesecake factory in downtown Kansas City Missouri.

Kansas: Popular activity at night

Good old four square match. Anytime there is a free moment, four square is on the agenda!

Kansas: Overview of day 2

It was another busy, hard working day at the job site. Today's task consisted of putting up the garage, creating a driveway, landscaping, sealing holes, and placing supporter beams on top of the walls. Looking forward to seeing more progress tomorrow.