Park Visit #10...

Park Visit #10 took place just over a week ago.  It was to "Military Park".  The kids and I coordinated this park visit around "Hot Dog Day" (or what we call "Hot Dog Day").  This is the day when a local bank ("First Bank") has their annual customer appreciation day for the entire community (not just their customers). Hot dogs, chips, drinks, and sno-cones are handed out at no charge.  There is a bounce house.  There are "freebie" things (pens, etc) handed out as well as balloons for the kiddos! Our family is very grateful for this day.  It's a nice little family event, and it's a great community event.

Marc is always working during "Hot Dog Day".  Several years ago, Luke started inviting my parents (Papa and Grandma Andover).  My mom was unable to make it this year, but my dad came!

Aanndd -- the official picture (Kate was being "Kate" and wasn't wanting to pose for the picture)....

Enjoying our hot dog lunch together...

And, probably as is typical with a lot of families eating at a park which has playground equipment -- the kids finished eating quickly. They were both promptly begging to go and play.  Ordinarily at a park, I let them play while I finish eating.  But, because there were a lot of people and we weren't able to sit close to the playground for supervision, they had to endure waiting for my dad and I to finish eating...such a hard life -- Ha!

And, this park is one of the few parks around anymore with a merry-go-round...so fun for the kids!

Both kids got the ol' fake tattoos...

Luke jumped in the bounce house...

And, the kids and I got our sno-cones!

Lastly, as all of you locals know, this park houses an old steam engine.  My dad happens to be a bit of a train expert.  So, Luke and my dad spent a short time discussing the steam engine.

Thank you "First Bank" for the fun day!  Our family does appreciate it!

And finally -- this park is called "Military Park". There is some military "stuff" in the park, but honestly, I have yet to take the time to explore it.  I better take a re-visit to this park and figure it all out!

Kate has since already asked my dad over the phone to come to "Hot Dog Day" next year!

Park Visit #9...

For Park Visit #9, I set it up as a surprise to Luke and Kate.  Don't get too excited.  They're young.  It doesn't take much to surprise them -- Ha Ha!

I obviously didn't tell them what we were doing.  I merely got them out of bed one morning and had them get dressed.

We then headed to our local, AWESOME little donut shop, Druber's, and then took the donuts "to go" to eat at "Midtown Arboretum" -- our 9th park visit.

For you locals, this park is at 8th and Main -- across the street from St. Mary's Church.  It's the little walking path/arboretum next to "Midtown Towers" apartments.

It was slightly drizzling that morning.  In the park, there's a nice little gazebo.  It was a great little place for us to eat our donuts and stay dry.  (Kate was being "Kate" and was not wanting to pose for the picture with her compliant older brother -- Ha)!

After the donuts were eaten, the kids spent quite awhile running around the paths.  There is no playground equipment at this park.  Look closely in these pics to see the kids running in the distance.

Most of the plants in this park are labeled.  I had a hard time getting Luke interested in plant names.  That's ok because honestly, I'm not super interested in plant names.  Kate, of course, had zero interest as well -- which is also ok since she's only three years old.

I was thinking that the kids probably wouldn't very much enjoy this park since there was no equipment.  Admittedly, the donuts helped, but the ability to run free around the park helped just as much.  They had a good time just being kids outside!  I was proven somewhat wrong in my thoughts.

And now, when we pass by this park on an almost daily basis -- even Kate says, "we went there and had donuts".

Park Visit #8....

Park Visit #8 took place way back on June 5 -- our 11th wedding anniversary (YAY) and the day before Kate's 3rd birthday!  Marc had taken the day off of work for those two celebratory days; therefore, he went on this park visit with us.

This park visit was to "Plumbrook Park" -- located at the intersection of Plum and Brookside for you local people.

The day was hot and humid, and the mosquitoes were awful.  I'll elaborate in a bit, but so far, this visit was our least favorite.  Luke and I both agree that, on a cooler day, we need a "park re-do".

It started out ok, though...(Kate was being "Kate," though -- not wanting to smile or look at the camera)...

You might notice right away in this pic that there is NO shade, picnic tables, etc...

Nevertheless, the kiddos had fun climbing on and exploring new park equipment.

Aanndd --here would be where our visit went south...Luke went down this slide. It had rained the night before, and at the bottom of the slide, unbeknownst to any of us, there was some water at the bottom.  Luke is the child of our's who does NOT like to get wet in his clothing.  In all reality, that trait isn't bad, but it is a problem in situations like this one.  This would be the exact reason why this overly-prepared Mama always keeps extra clean towels in her car.

I, by no means, want to embarrass our son.  So -- I will say that, though he didn't like it one bit, he did handle it well as an almost 7 year-old careful, non-risky child.  Yes -- there were a few tears, but after shedding those few tears, Luke kept going.  This Mama has hope!

SO -- at that point, neither child was in the mood for equipment.  We were all four getting hot.  We decided we'd walk back in the trees a bit to see the nearby creek.

The mosquitoes were AWFUL, and I mean AWFUL, back there by the water.  There are potentially great exploring areas back there, but I wouldn't recommend going back there without some serious application of insect repellent on your person and on any person in your party.

For whatever reason, at this point, Kate was crying because, you know, it's Kate.  A "Friesen Family Park Visit" would not be complete without a pic of Kate crying...How about two of them?

SO -- at some point, perhaps in the fall, we'll have a "re-do" at this park!

Park Visit #7....

I need to "keep on keepin' on" with my park visit posts.  Park visit #7 was WAY back on June 4.

This park visit was to a park our kiddos have been to MANY times -- Athletic Park!  If you're local to us, you know that this park is the biggest in our fine little city.  It's the park that not only has 3 sets of playground equipment but also the high school football and soccer field, tennis courts, the city pool, etc.  It's also located right by "Sand Creek" with the nice accompanying bike path!

We stuck to the familiar equipment because we like (read: I) the lack of sand underneath the equipment. BUT, there's a sand volleyball pit right by the equipment.  And -- the kids spent most of the time in the sand.  That's ok, ultimately, because you know, they're kids!

While at the park that day, I ran into a friend who just had a baby (her 3rd child).  I hadn't yet seen her new baby.  So, rather than paying extremely close attention to our kids and taking copious amounts of "helicopterish parenting" pictures, I chose to talk and catch up with her!  Good choice!!!  The adult conversation was fantastic!

BUT, true to any park visit, Kate cried (I don't remember about what)....

And lastly -- if you didn't notice in this post, that day, Kate's hair was put in a ponytail. That would be because she LET me that day.  It hasn't happened since that time.  SO -- I'm glad I took pics!

A Little Museum Visit...Part Two...

Feel free to scroll down and check out my previous post about our little museum visit in little Goessel, KS, last week.

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Our next to the last part of our tour involved going through a "warehouse" of farm equipment.  There is quite a bit of machinery. My only problem was that I'm very farm illiterate.  Many of these equipment pieces were not labeled; therefore, I had a hard time answering Luke's MANy questions.

BUT -- I *think* that maybe, just maybe, Luke learned a little bit about how far farm equipment has come.  I'll save the information about dangerous farm accidents for when he's a bit older....

In the meantime, here are some pics...

Overall, if you're local, I would tell you that a visit to this little museum is worth your time!

A Little Museum Visit...Part One...

Last week (I think), I noticed on "Instagram" that a friend had posted a few pics of herself and her kids at a small museum in a little town located close to us.  It looked like something Luke would enjoy and that Kate could easily "be along for the ride". I looked it up online.  The hours and the admission prices were awesome.  I said, "Let's go check it out before Luke turns 7 in July (when kids get charged admission)".

This museum is called "The Mennonite Heritage and Agricultural Museum".  It is located right off the highway in little Goessel, Kansas.  I'm relatively certain we were the only visitors that morning...maybe, between "Instagram," "Facebook," and this blog post, I can spur a few more of you to visit.

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They have an old one-room school house.  We visited it first.  Luke was actually very intrigued by the schoolhouse.  He's seen a one-room schoolhouse on "Little House on the Prairie," but I think now that he's been in school now for one year, it intrigued him even more.

I thought the "Rules for Teachers" were extremely interesting...

There were a couple of old houses to go in and look at.  One was a house from 1911 called "The Friesen House".  I had to get a pic of the kiddos by this sign for obvious reasons...

There was an old barn to look at. Luke enjoyed climbing up in the hayloft....

Luke also liked seeing a wagon -- again, like "Little House on the Prairie"...

We then went into the BIG warehouse of old tractors, a few cars, and other miscellaneous old farm equipment.  The kiddos enjoyed sitting in a truck from the early 1930s....

I have a fair amount of pictures of the kiddos with or on farm equipment.  I'll put those up in another post.  In the meantime, here's my obligatory picture of Kate crying....Nope -- we don't get through too many fun events without tears from Kate...

After our visit (I'm skipping ahead here), I suggested to the kiddos that we try a little local restaurant called "The Branding Iron". (I actually ate there about 1 1/2 years ago with some other girlies from church). I was SHOCKED (and extremely pleased) when our very picky-eating son said, "Ok -- I'll try a new restaurant". This little small town burger joint did not disappoint....And, Luke didn't venture too far in that he ordered a grilled cheese (a safe entree).  But hey -- it was a new place!