Category : Sponsored

You know I love a good weekend road-trip, so when I got invited to check out Overland Park, Kansas I jumped at the chance. We make it up to Kansas City pretty often, but except for an occasional excursion to Deanna Rose, I’d never thought to explore Overland Park as my primary destination. Thanks to the kind folks at Visit Overland Park we got the lowdown on everywhere we needed to go. The only problem being that we couldn’t fit it all in one weekend! Typically Todd joins us on our trips, but he couldn’t make this one, so I thought it would be fun to bring my mom along. And I’m so glad I did – three generations of girls, on a family road-trip before the holidays to one of the best shopping destinations in this part of the country? Yes, please!

The first great thing about Overland Park is that it’s only a 3.5 hour drive from my front door. For the first time I did all the driving and it was easy-breezy – Didn’t even have to navigate through crazy Kansas City traffic! Checking Iris out of school just a tad early (she was super excited to hear her name called over the intercom), we arrived just before 5:00 on Friday evening. We got settled in our room at the Marriott Kansas Overland Park and, realizing we were all starving, made our way over to the Prairiefire area for dinner at Grimaldi’s Coal Brick-Oven Pizzaria. This cute little area looks brand new, but has such charm!

At the restaurant our server brought Iris a pan of pizza dough to play with while we waited for our food – absolutely genius. After eating the most delicious pizza, we wandered around and found a fun little toy shop called Fat Brain Toys. From there, we were picked up by the nicest driver, who surprised us with hot cocoa for our tour of Christmas lights around town. Back in our hotel room, we had another surprise waiting for us – s’mores cupcakes & popcorn courtesy of our new friends at the Marriott. All-in-all, the holiday lights and sweet treats were a perfect ending to our first night in Overland Park.

Officially in the holiday spirit, we woke up fairly early the next morning and went off in search of breakfast. Landing at McLain’s Market, a lovely coffee shop and food joint, we had breakfast bites, lattes, and chocolate milk to fuel our full day. But Iris could hardly wait for our next stop – the American Girl store, where her doll had a hair appointment scheduled. Oh, so fancy! They took such great care of her doll and Iris. It was so sweet to watch. We could have stayed there all day, drooling over all the accessories. Growing up I had the Samantha doll, so I felt myself revert back to my childhood – wanting it all (to share with Iris, of course). The American Girl store is located in the Oak Park Mall, so we took full advantage and did some shopping. It was near impossible to drag Iris away from the candy and Lego shops, but we finally managed.

So what’s my favorite thing to do on our trips? Eat and drink of course! Nearing lunch time, we made our way to Dave & Buster’s – a place I hadn’t been to in years. Basically like a grown-up Chuck E. Cheese, Iris had a blast and I had a DRINK. We hung out for a few hours, playing games, eating food, drinking drinks, and of course – Iris’ favorite part – picking out prizes. Needing a little rest from the fun, we headed back to our hotel before our last adventure of the day – the Luminary Walk at the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.

Once it got dark we made our way to the Luminary Walk. It was so magical with the Christmas lights woven throughout the gardens, pathways lined with candles, and little fairy houses hidden in the trees. There was hot cider for sale, fire pits for a quick warm-up, carolers, and even a gigantic gingerbread house. Wiped out from all the fun, Iris fell asleep on the way back to the hotel. After waking her up for a cozy dinner at our hotel, she got a second wind and had a little tea party with the goodies from The American Girl store.

Sunday morning came too soon, but we weren’t ready to hit the road just yet. Heading back to Prairiefire, we had brunch at Pinstripes, which features bowling, bocce ball, and of course food and drinks. This place wasn’t your standard bowling alley though. The atmosphere was elegant, but family-friendly and the buffet was top-notch. Iris not only got to see Santa, but she experienced her very first CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN! I was most impressed with the Bloody Mary bar, but with the drive home I couldn’t quite partake. That said, if you live anywhere close (or if you go to Overland Park for a visit), I highly recommend Pinstripes’ Sunday brunch!

Back on the road, we made it home without so much as a pit-stop and even made it back in time for Iris to attend her friend’s birthday party. Living in Northwest Arkansas, I love that we live so close to so many awesome places – and now Overland Park is officially on my “weekend get-away” list!

Visit Overland Park sponsored this post.

I recently partnered with one of my most favorite hotel brands – 21c Museum Hotels. Earlier this year I fell in love when Iris and I stayed at the Bentonville, Arkansas property. With only seven locations (and a couple more in the works), their boutique hotels are one of a kind. Each one also serves as an art museum that is open 24/7 and is paired with an equally unique restaurant (we love The Hive in Bentonville).

I had never been to Oklahoma City before, so when I realized that 21c had a location there and that it was less than a 3.5 hour drive away from Fayetteville, we had to go. The drive was easy breezy – perfect for picking Iris up when school let out and rolling into town just in time for dinner. This allowed us to stay two nights, making it pretty much the perfect weekend getaway. I’ll share our OKC adventures on my next post, but for now I can’t stop drooling over this property! Our room alone was amazing – the insanely tall ceilings and natural light won me over as soon as we walked in the door.

As a family of three, they couldn’t have put us in a better room – our 1.5 bedroom suite had a king bed for Todd and I, and an adorable daybed for Iris in her own private area (hallelujah!). It’s rare to find something that works so perfectly for our size family, but this was the best set-up. The suite also included a living area, so when Iris inevitably woke up before us she could watch her cartoons and we could keep on snoozing (especially thanks to those blackout curtains).

So while we were tempted to just hang in our room all weekend, we did make our way to the lobby and museum area for a little exploration before a cocktail at the bar. Right outside our room was this amazing installation…

And while we waited for the elevator there was even more art to explore. We got a bit side-tracked and made a stop on each floor just to check out the different art features.

One of my most favorite pieces was right next to check-in. And my second favorite place, naturally, was the lounge area at Mary Eddy’s Kitchen x Lounge . Seriously everywhere you turn (even the bathroom), there is art!

After a stop at, once again, Mary Eddy’s and lots of exploring OKC on Saturday, coming back to our “home base” was nothing short of awesome. Iris was pumped to find that our purple penguin had moved in our room. She remembered the green ones in Bentonville (people move around these huge guys and you never know where you might find one). And Todd was excited to find a great local beer selection in the mini bar fridge. I was impressed with the prices! Usually mini bar items are so high I never partake, but they know what they’re doing because we had a little bit of everything.

So after a night cap and a night bath (I mean, look at that tub!), we were super sad to wave goodbye to our hotel on Sunday morning. Thankfully though we now know just how easy of a road trip it is, so we will for sure be back soon! Thank you 21c for once again an amazing stay!