i've found my marbles

It's already six weeks into summer here so I thought I'd best get moving on my mini road trip plans around the Kansas countryside. I love passing through tiny towns, driving on rinky dink bumpity roads, making up stories and songs about the abandoned houses and bits of civilization I see, wondering what I'll find next. Eastern Kansas took me by surprise when we first moved here because I expected it to be flatter than a pancake, but it's not. It's hilly, rolly, full of crags and dips and lush greens. Just perfect for a country drive.

Our first stop on the mini road trip tour: the Moon Marble Company in Bonner Springs. Who knew I'd find all of my marbles only 20 miles east of home! It's a darling little place packed from floor to ceiling with marbles big and small of every color, as well as lots of marble games throughout the store to keep the kids from ever wanting to leave. The open stock is machine made -- so they're reasonably priced -- and the pricier artisan-made pieces are absolutely stunning. They offer marble making demonstrations throughout the day so you can watch in amazement as the glass shards fly and blaze and fuse into circular magic. My 5 year old chose to disrupt the demo (despite the warning sign that they charge $5 for whining) so I (quite annoyed) departed early with my little offender to spare the rest of the audience. The well-behaving big girl got to choose 9 beautiful pieces for her own before we left, but the younger one, it goes without saying, lost her marbles.

I took two wrong turns on the way out of town and ended up wedged in between a couple of farms before winding my way back to the state highway, through the corn and back to Lawrence. Mini road trip #1 complete, and a hard lesson learned for the small child. My gas tank was on E, so it was almost a hard lesson for the mother, too.

Next on the list? I'm thinking historic Leavenworth -- also home of the famous maximum security federal prison. Surely my daughter wouldn't be tempted to act up there.