In 2017 we uprooted our family and made the trek east from Stockton, California to Kansas City, MO. We were seeking a better quality of life than what we had there. At the time we had 5 kids (now 6 and done?) and we were living in a 3 bedroom house. In California, for the house size we wanted, we would be looking at a bare minimum of half a million dollars in Stockton itself. Further north to some of the other cities with better schools and neighborhoods like Elk Grove, CA we’d need at least $700,000. Even further north past Sacramento to where some of the best neighborhoods and schools in Roseville, CA or Rocklin, CA it’d set us back a cool million dollars easy. All of that was way past our budget and therefore a pipe dream.
I am fortunate to be able to work from home as an IT Business Analyst/Programmer. Blessed with that it was feasible for us to look outside of California for where that dream of a bigger home, nicer schools and neighborhood could come true. We found that in Platte Brooke North, Kansas City, MO. We still love that neighborhood dearly and think it is one of the best we could possibly hope for. Our home was dreamy, sitting atop the hill in our neighborhood, mere minutes from the Line Creek trail, community pool and surrounded by beautiful trees.
In Kansas City, MO we found that better quality of life we were looking for when we left California. Why then did we leave it for this small town with so many unknowns? The reason was twofold. First, I’ll explain something we’d learned from ecclesiastical leaders, parenting books and our own life experiences. We always knew that we needed our kids to learn how to work harder, the way my dad taught me how to work hard. My dad was an electrician for four decades before retiring. Calloused hands, bruised knuckles and blue collared hard worker. He did a great job teaching my siblings and I how to work hard. Our family has benefited greatly from that ethic he instilled in me. We push our kids in schoolwork and generic household chores but from those leaders and books I spoke of earlier we knew we wanted something more for them to learn from. One ecclesiastical leader, Gordon B. Hinckley, said that his father moved their family to a farm because he felt they weren’t learning enough about hard work. We pondered buying a farm as well but with many failed attempts at getting a garden going a) we learned we didn’t have green thumbs and b) we weren’t that into it to be honest. I hate the idea of lawns for all the water they waste, that may play a part subconsciously as well1. So with that, we didn’t think being farmers could work for us. We’d probably lose interest and just end up teaching our kids how to ignore weeds. So now we have a giant building with many projects for all the age ranges of our kids and at all their different skill levels where they currently are and where they will be eventually. Tied into that is when the museum is open, we’ll have jobs for them as teenagers to learn how to be responsible employees and simultaneously business owners.
The second reason we decided to make this change is to make our immediate and extended family’s dreams come true. In the about page I’ve talked already about all our hobbies and how we want to share them. My in-laws deserve the space to showcase their hobbies with the world. My father-in-law is a 20-year vet from the Air Force. He and my mother-in-law have been serving people their whole lives through church as well, and other social organizations like Boy Scouts of America, quilt guilds, railroad clubs, etc., that they’ve participated in over the years. My children make really great Lego creations that they will be able to show in the Lego portion. My oldest makes amazing things out of PVC that he will be able to teach to other kids. The other dream this may be able to help come true is that hopefully it will be a financial boon as well. I’m not talking about it making us millionaires but just funding part of our kids’ education both monetarily and in the form of all the things they’ll learn as children of business owners.
In short, we bought a museum because we wanted a vehicle in which to teach our kids how to work hard in a business that their family owns and a place to display our hobbies. In the end time will tell if yanking our kids out of a great education system in Park Hill School District was the right move. Or if pulling them away from the dear friends they made in KC will do more harm than good. One plus is that we’re not that far away, only about 100 miles, so it isn’t too far to visit on a somewhat regular basis. And with the coronavirus situation, we’re all learning that video calls aren’t so bad. We hope that when hindsight sheds its light on this decision, we will find it was the right one.
1 Not really a subject for the body of this post but I wanted to offer explanation for that seemingly out of nowhere thought. I’m a firm believer in the good that water charities like WaterAid and Charity Water do. We put cleaner water onto our lawns than a billion people even have access to drink. This is a passion that may come through at other times in this blog. For further understanding please listen to this podcast from one of the co-authors of the book Freakonomics.
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-stupid-obsession-lawns/