Park Visit #5....

By the end of our "series," you may all get tired of park posts -- Ha!

Immediately following "Quail Creek Park," (see previous post) we went and grabbed lunch from "Subway". We were going to eat lunch at our next park, Washington Park.

Instead of driving to the park after picking up lunch, we went home to go to the bathroom, etc....We live VERY close to Washington Park so we walked with our lunch!

Kate likes it when her brother pulls her!

And, just like that, we arrived at park #5....

After eating, the kids immediately played....

This park has a few swings; therefore, our kids were thrilled!

The slides were a bit "advanced" for Kate.  Therefore, and this shouldn't surprise ANYBODY if you have followed this blog for any length of time, Kate had tears from a mishap on a slide.

The "Good" about this park:

***Maintained playground equipment

***Quite a few picnic tables with shade from trees

***Quite a few mature trees

***Softball field with quite a few evening games this time of year

***Close to our home -- in walking distance

The "Not-So-Good" about this park:

***Equipment not designed for young children like Kate

***Sand (enough said)

***Near a very busy road in town; will need to closely supervise young children

Park Visit #4....

I'm finally *mostly* caught up, though I'm going to be lagging on this blog for a bit yet....

Two days ago, we made two park visits on our summer park tour series.

SO -- Park Visit #4 was to Quail Creek Park!!!!  Quail Creek Park is in the back of the Quail Creek neighborhood in our fair city.

This park is one we have visited MANY times. I would say that this park is probably our family's favorite. This time, however, was our official visit, documented with pics!

Our family has nicknamed this park "The Shock Park" or "The Shocker Park".  And, I know we're not the only family with these nicknames.  This park, I think, with the combination of the materials with which the equipment is made and *maybe* the artificial grass, generates quite a bit of static electricity.  Therefore, kids and adults alike get shocked quite a bit.

First -- Luke's pic....

Next, my pic....

Both kiddos like to swing....

And, the equipment is fairly new.  Parts of the equipment are quite high, but both of our kiddos really like it.  And, I'm slowly starting to not get *quite* as nervous when Kate is up high. (Notice Kate's hair with the static electricity).

And, I LOVE capturing pics of our kiddos together, as siblings...

AND -- to stay "true to my word," here's the obligatory pic of Kate crying.  If I remember correctly, she had to be disciplined for not obeying her Mama.  Life is ROUGH when you're almost 3 years old.  In this pic, she was sitting, calming down, while waiting for her timer to beep off (the timer indicating when she could get back up to play).

The "Good" about this park:

***Newer, maintained equipment

***Easy access for our family

***Sheltered picnic area

***Area to play soccer, football, etc with friends

***Plenty of picnic tables

***Fun equipment

The "Not So Good" about this park:

***Virtually no mature trees; very little shade

***No restrooms

***Pond formed in field as a result of recent rains (no ball playing on this day)

Park Visit #3....

I better post about #3 since visits 4 and 5 have already happened, AND quite bit of other things have happened since that time.

Park visit #3 actually happened the same day (immediately following) park visit #2.  If you missed #2, scroll back about 4 posts.  (So -- this visit was *almost* two weeks ago.….insert clearing of throat here).

Moving on -- park visit #3 was "Roosevelt Park". If you're local, this park is basically at Broadway & Magnolia -- east of the railroad tracks.  I personally had never been to this park, but Luke had several years ago when he visited with a friend.  Amazingly, he vaguely remembered the visit.

For our visit this day, we packed our lunch from home. But, when we first arrived, the kiddos had no interest in lunch as they wanted to check out the equipment.  

Look closely in the pic to see Luke & Kate.  It was a rather chilly day in late May, relative to Kansas; therefore, both kids were actually wearing pants.

This park has a small shelter for eating -- would be great on a warmer day than that particular day.

After eating but before playtime continued, I *made* Luke & Kate take the obligatory park picture.

Then, they returned to play!

Aanndd -- no blog post or park visit (or any other happening in our life) would be complete without Kate crying...I think, in this pic, she had just fallen or something.  Who knows???  So many exhausting tears with this girl...(And -- the smile I seem to have with her in these crying pictures, in all truthfulness, may possibly be somewhat fake.  Sometimes, I'm completely compassionate with her tears.  Other times, I'm annoyed.  Just being honest here....BUT, when I'm old and more gray than I already am, I'll want to remember.  Hopefully, I can chuckle at that point).

And, as Luke & I have been attempting to do at the end of each park visit...the "good" and the "not so good" about each park...

The Good:

***Fun equipment for kids probably 5-6 and up

***Sheltered eating area, albeit small

***Large area for playing soccer or football with friends

***Tennis courts

***A little ways off from Broadway (a *busier* street for our little fair city; a huge LIKE for Mamas of kids like Kate who like to run off quickly)

The Not-So-Good:

***Not great equipment for younger kids like Kate

***No noticeable restrooms

***Not a huge amount of shade (but more than in some other areas)

My only other *beef* (remember -- I'm from Kansas), and I'm WELL aware this can happen anywhere, was that some older kids showed up unsupervised and obviously bored seeing how, at this point, school had been out for a whopping two days (Ha!).  I had to ask two of them to please quit throwing the "chips" that were the protective ground cover underneath the equipment. (One piece had hit Luke, and I'm not sure they even realized it).  I also witnessed a 5 year-old make a foul gesture at another kid.  (Use your imaginations here, folks).  Fortunately, both Luke and Kate are young and sheltered enough at this point in their lives that they didn't even notice.  In all reality, besides being annoyed, I was honestly sad that the 5 year-old was there with NO adult supervision and was making gestures like he did.

These two incidents were enough to make me not want to visit this particular park too often even though Luke liked it.  I also must remember that, perhaps when Kate is a wee bit older, this park would provide awesome opportunities for our family to be Lights for Christ -- to kids who might not otherwise hear the Good News of Christ.

"Claws and Paws"....

About a month ago or so, we were planning out our summer a bit.  We already know we'll be taking a little family vacation to the Black Hills in South Dakota.  Luke will be taking swimming lessons.  We knew we had a goal of visiting all of our city's parks.  Lastly, we gave the opportunity for Luke to take a one-week class. He was given the choice of a class either at the zoo or one at a local museum.  Not surprisingly, Luke chose one at the zoo.

The class was "right off the bat" for our summer.  It was this past week.  It was called "Claws and Paws".  It was a class for 6 and 7 year-olds, learning about big and little cats.

Before I go any further in this post, let me say that nearly all of the pics will be of Kate, despite this post being about Luke's class.  That would be because this was a non-parent class.  So -- Kate and I dropped Luke off each day & did not see the class.

Also -- before I go any further, I will promote these zoo classes.  They were seemingly well organized, and I felt very safe leaving Luke for the class.  Good security systems were in place.

Each day, Kate had to give her brother hugs & kisses before he went to class.

Three of the days, I loaded up Kate in the blue jogging stroller, and we went for a walk.  Our nice long walk took up most of the class time.  One of the days, Kate so sweetly went to sleep in the stroller.

The other two days, Kate and I went to "Target" and to "Natural Grocers".  Then, I gave her ample time at a local park!

And -- much like all of the last school year, there was a lot of happiness when we picked up Luke after class....

Also, each day, Kate enjoyed hanging out right outside of Luke's classroom -- where there were plenty of "kid-friendly" things for Kate to get in to.

On the last day, Luke came out of class with a couple of "workbooks".  Each day, the class had focused on one particular cat. Besides learning information about the respective cat as well as being out in the zoo to see the cat, the students learned how to draw each cat.

NOW, I fully realize that Luke is *only* almost seven years old, BUT I will very kindly say that I'm seeing signs that Luke has received his parents' drawing skills.  That would simply mean that Luke probably will not draw well.  Ha!  (I'm being fairly serious on this one).

BUT, I have been EXTREMELY impressed with his drawings...

Day 1 -- Lion

Day 2 -- Tiger

Day 3 -- Jaguar

Day 4 -- Cougar (Puma, Mountain Lion)

Day 5 -- Caracal

BUT -- the "thing" I'm most excited about from this class is that Luke knew NOBODY in this class.  He went in this class only slightly nervous but very confident (if that makes sense).  This class was VERY good for him in that sense.  Admittedly, it was equally as good for me to drop him off in a class where I didn't know anybody either.

It was a good maturing opportunity for both of us!

On the last day, after the class was completed, I took the kiddos for our "routine weekly zoo trip"!  We had a great time, as usual!

In this last pic on this long post, Kate is holding up her stuffed tiger that Papa Andover (my dad) bought for her at a previous zoo visit.  She insisted that the tiger be in the pic!

Today....

How's that for a riveting title?

This morning, while Luke was at his zoo class (another post coming on the class on another day), Kate & I went on a nice 4-mile walk around Sedgwick County Park.  When we were right near the Sedgwick County Extension office, I suddenly noticed this small animal in a "desert" type plant display....

It was the size of the palm of my hand.  It was not a rat.  It was too big to be a mouse.  Kate & I watched it eat for a bit.  Then, I noticed "burrowing" holes in the "desert" display.  So, I figured out that possibly this animal was in the prairie dog family, possibly?????

Kate & I then watched this animal go in & out of this hole.

When we went & picked up Luke from his class, I told him we had a surprise for him, knowing he would want to see this animal, if possible.

We arrived back at the extension office.  Luke, Kate, and I walked over to the little display.

Unfortunately, we could not find the animal again.  I told a somewhat disappointed Luke that we'd stop by there again to look.  I looked the animal up on my phone.  From what I can kind of tell, I *think* the animal might be a "cony" or a "pika".  It's a desert-burrowing animal.

Anybody else have any ideas????  I'd appreciate the help.

******

My parents (aka Papa & Grandma Andover) are avid bird watchers in their yard.  They *patiently* let the grandkids help feed the birds.  Luke has taken quite the interest in the birds that visit the feeders.

Luke asked us very politely if we could get a bird feeder.  Since we're definitely novices in bird-watching, we bought a cheap one to get us started.  This evening, after Luke & Marc finished mowing the lawn (henceforth any sweat shown on said people in the pics), Luke & Marc put up the feeder.

This was all this evening.  Since that time, Luke has seen a whopping one bird so far on the feeder.  He's really hoping to see a meadowlark -- our state's bird.  But, a friend just left us a comment on "Facebook" that meadowlarks are more "field birds".  Another friend mentioned she's seen them on her feeder in the winter -- when snow is covering the ground.  SO -- I will give Luke those facts tomorrow since he's currently sleeping peacefully as I type this post!