For those of you who are already bored with the theme, fear not! Day two mixed things up a bit...
We did not make everyone get up for 6AM Mass (they're teens now, they don't sleep as well as they did 10 years ago) but we did make a point to return to a place we had visited in November, 2016, during that Holy Door tour - the chapel of the Passionist Nuns of St. Louis. It looks much the same as it did then (new banner for the new Jubilee) and is as quiet and peaceful as I remember - good to start your day with a prayer and stillness.
We then made our way west to KC. There was a short stop in Columbia, a former haunt of mine, and home to the Mizzou tigers. Someone else you might recognize, Mort Walker, was a graduate of the class of 1948!
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| Mort Walker may have created the U.S. Army’s laziest private, but he was the hardest working cartoonist in the business. The Beetle Bailey creator spent nearly 68 years in his studio cranking out six dailies and a Sunday strip, giving him the longest tenure of any cartoonist on his original creation. And with nine syndicated comics in all, he’s one of the most prolific cartoonists ever. |
The back seat was also excited when we passed into KC sports country...
Finally, on this incredibly hot day, we landed at the
American Jazz Museum in Kansas City. On our journey, we tried to make sure everyone had something they wanted to see. This was definitely the youngest's pick (and enjoyed by us all).
It was particularly good that #5 and I had just watched the KC episode of the miniseries,
Jazz, by Ken Burns. I highly recommend...lots of good stuff.
After filling up on history and music, we headed back out, due North, to our resting place for the evening. I had been there alone with the tiny 5 a decade prior, and I was sooo happy to find out that they had redone the guest houses - all equipped with AC! - God is good, all the time.
Conception Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in the Northwest corner of Missouri, in a small town called "Conception" just off route "AH" - quite hysterical when the GPS announced it in the kid's lingo. We were about a mile down the lonely road when a monk, seemingly out of nowhere, was walking in the opposite direction - yep, the Benedictines are nearby!
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| The abbey was beautiful - view from our seats for Liturgy of the Hours |
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| The boys went to workout in the gym and were delighted to find the Seminarians' workout schedule |
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| These AI prints were all round... |
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| As were things like this old-school chore chart. |
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| A retake from the previous picture |
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| Our first experience of Benedictine hospitality was wonderful. |
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St. Raphael!
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This is why...times like this.
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We had dinner as a family in the retreat cafeteria and headed on to bed. It had been a full, blessed day.
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