Adventure #6: Lake Afton, Kansas

A bonus adventure!

We got a call on Thursday night: a group of friends was going to celebrate the last day of "summer" with a trip to Lake Afton. I'd never heard of it, let alone been there (who knew there were lakes in Kansas?), and since the admission was only $3, I figured what better way to spend the lazy Friday-before-school-starts with a group of friends at the lake.

I was right: we had a blast!

It was a bit chilly when you first went in, but we all acclimated quickly and had a grand time.


Well, K was hesitant at first...


but eventually, she got in and had a blast, too. My camera batteries died, or else I would have gotten a picture from when she was REALLY playing in the water!


One of our friends had brought a boogie board, and A was the one who had the most fun with it...

Especially when she could get someone to pull her around!

The "big" kids had the most fun with water fights, mud/sand fights, wrestling, and goofing off.






It was a grand afternoon (the two hours we were there just FLEW by!), and yeah, we'll be going back next year.

Summer Adventure #5 (Watson Park)

Watson Park. That's the name of the park that I've seen in the Parks & Rec class schedule that looked like a whole lotta fun.

Yesterday, it was a GORGEOUS day -- in the low-80s, clear, with a breeze -- and so, on a whim (since I was looking at a day full of a whole lotta nothing), I got the girls and we drove out there. It's not as far as I thought it'd be either -- in fact, it's a 119-acre park hidden in the middle of town.

Who knew?

I knew enough to grab some cash because some of the activities there cost money. They decided on the pony rides, and then the paddle boats.

Only the younger three went on the pony rides; M wanted to save her money for the paddle boats... and yeah, it's a pathetic little operation, but they had fun anyway.




The paddle boats were more worth the money. Except that I found out that a paddle boat is incredible difficult to paddle when it's loaded down with two little kids, and I'm the only one paddling.


Let's just say that my legs hurt afterward!

In addition to fishing (no swimming, though), and picnic places, a train ride and miniature golf, there was a nice playground, where we spent a while... until enough people got injured and/or hungry and it was time to go home.

Yes, I know she should have been a gymnast.




It was fun, though. We'll have to go back and try some of the other things sometime.

Wichita's Splash Parks

I've known for a while that there are assorted splash parks around the city. I've even been out to one, even though it was in a slightly questionable neighborhood... Anyway, someone had told me about this splash park at Osage Park in South Wichita (I wish we could get one on our end of town...). I convinced my Thursday-morning playgroup to go there today... It turned out that while not many people came (most of those kids in the picture are with a day care group...), but those who did had a grand time.

The weather was nearly perfect -- it could have been a smidge warmer for those who got wet -- and everyone seemed to have fun at both the splash park as well as the playground nearby.

K didn't take nearly as long to get warmed up to the idea of sprinklers as she did last year.

And, of course, A just dove right in (in fact, I wasn't going to suggest swimsuits, but she insisted: if there's a splash park, they needed to bring swimsuits):

C wasn't that into the whole idea (in fact, she spent much of the time saying she just wanted to go home to listen to Inkheart on tape...)


But A and K had a grand time.


Yes, they waited and waited until that bucket dumped. A ran out at the last second -- tired of waiting? -- and had to go back and wait for another round.

Needless to say, we're going to go back again.

Bradley Fair Concerts

Ever since we moved here, we've heard of the summer evening Jazz concerts they hold out at Bradley Fair, an upscale strip mall on the east side of town. We'd never gone... it always seemed like a good idea, but never happened.

We decided it was about time to go. So, Hubby came and picked me up after yoga and we headed out, getting to the area about a half-hour after the concert started... we parked on the far side of the far (on the other side of the "lake"), and walked around. We could hear the music... but I wasn't expecting what I saw:

Don't know why, but I didn't expect that.

Anyway. I also didn't get the name of the band (though I did catch that they were from Austin, TX). Maybe next time we'll actually get there soon enough to get seats in the "concert area" (as opposed to crashing in the cracks) and find out these things.

We stopped by Marble Slab (not as good as Cold Stone), and picked up ice cream (since it was a bloody hot 95 degrees...yes it was 8 p.m.) and crashed at the fountain in the center of the square to eat it

(or in K's case, watch it quickly melt).

The best part was splashing, though.

We didn't stay until the end... the girls were cranky (too hot!) and tired (too late!) and wanted to go home (turned out that A was suffering from heat stroke or a migraine... she ended up throwing up into a cup on the way home!). So, we did.

It's something to keep in mind as they get older, though, because it looks like it could be a lot of fun (and good music).

Rock River Rapids

My fourth (I think? Or is it fifth?) adventure -- this one is technically in Derby, Kansas, which is about 1/2 hour south and east of where I live. I went with a friend, because I was afraid it'd be too much for me to handle alone, but it turned out that it wasn't that bad. (In fact, my friend didn't help at all!) The older two girls went off and did water slides and the lazy river, and the younger two were content to play in the playhouse/splash park. And M was even willing to watch K for a bit while I took A on the lazy river a couple of times. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and while it was crowded (it was 100 degrees yesterday, and a LOT of people had the same idea as us; I can't imagine the park on a weekend!) it wasn't unmanageable. Unfortunately, though, being there by myself means that all the pictures I got were from the first few minutes there, before we really got started. And there's no water slide pictures... then again, there's always next time. Because we enjoyed it enough that there will be a next time.

It took K a long time to get warmed up (no pun!) to the park. She didn't want to do anything, she didn't want to be splashed, she didn't want to leave my side. After a while, though, she did give in to the fun of it all, and had a grand time. I just didn't get any of those pictures...


I chased M around the lazy river trying to get a picture. The lazy river was a lot of fun. It was a fast moving river, with three waterfalls to go under. M went down every single water slide they had and only found one she wasn't willing to go one more than once. (Even she has her limits, and this one was really scary!) I wish I could have gotten a picture of that.


They had these animals floating in the middle of the pool to climb on. A loved them, and spent most of her time climbing on and falling off of them.


C, in the splash park playhouse.


C and A, behind one of the waterfalls. The other picture I wished I could have gotten is of the girls getting dumped by the HUGE bucket of water that turned over on top of the house every 5 minutes or so. That would have been fun.

Ah well. Next year!

Swimming at the Y

The Northwest Branch of the local YMCA opened up two summers ago (right when we moved here), and the girls have been dying to go swimming there ever since. But, we've never joined up and it wasn't until the some old friends moved here that we found someone willing to sponsor us for an afternoon at the pool.

We found when we got there that's is a really fun place for the older kids. M was gone on the two water slides almost immediately. (And I hardly saw her the rest of the two hours we were there!) The real amazing thing, though, was that C (who has hated waters slides in the past) actually went down both slides! (The second -- where you went down on an inner tube, she went down very last, after I said I was going to go down, too...)


As for the little girls, A liked the lazy river, especially the part where we went through and got dumped on (at one point, we got stuck in a bottleneck and we managed to get drenched!). K wasn't too hot on that part, and after the second time around on the tubes, she protested. Loudly.



Then there was the one slide that the little kids could go down... which A did. K, though, would have nothing to do with it.

All she wanted to do was jump off the side of the deep(er) end of the pool.

At least we all had fun!

Adventure #3: The Great Plains Nature Center

Back when we lived in Arkansas, we often found ourselves at the Craighead County Nature Center for an afternoon -- we loved the combination of education, nature, and wild open spaces. That, and it made for a good Sunday afternoon outing. It's been a while since we've been to a nature center; I knew there was one here, but had never made the effort to go out to it (it's across town). So, using the challenge as an excuse, I suggested having playgroup out there today. We had a fairly good sized turnout, and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Well, mostly. The center itself is nice: lots of good information on both the Arkansas (say it with me: AR-kan-saw... they have a problem with that name around here) River and the Great Plains -- both the animals, and natural environment. It lacked the fun kids area of the one in Arkansas, but otherwise, it was a good little center.

After we had exhausted the inside options, we headed out to the trails. They were really nice: sidewalks through the woods, actually, not natural at all. But, there were several large ponds/small lakes that had an abundance of ducks, fish, other birds, and turtles, much to the girls' (and other kids) enjoyment. Unfortunately, A had a couple of mishaps: a wasp stung her hand (thank heavens she's not allergic; it hurt for a while, but someone managed to find an ice pack that helped take the sting away) and then fell down on the trail and scraped up both knees. Other than that, though, it was uneventful and nice.

It turned out to be a bit hot today -- 85 degrees when we left at 11:30 this morning -- to really enjoy the walks outside, but I think it'd be really nice to go back in the fall sometime. I'm glad we went.

Adventures in Candy Buying

Adventure #2: we did what we should have done last week... went to two of the candy stores in town. We started at Farris Wheel, since it was the furthest east.

It was a cute little shop, adjacent to a restaurant. And they were pretty good with samples and the girls. We were the only ones in the store for a while, so the girls had the run of the store.

We got a few little things -- some Spanish Peanuts for M, Jelly Bellys for A and K and some fudge for C.

We were excited, and thought it was a neat place, but that was before we got here (notwithstanding that we thought the fudge from Farris Wheel was too sweet and a bit grainy):

It's a fairly large warehouse just east of downtown, and they have a HUGE selection of candies. And they were SO much better about their samples and dealing with the girls. One salesperson, in particular, made it her mission to find C something she liked. (Especially after I said no to buying M&Ms; she got a second treat because she ate one bite of the fudge and declared it "too yucky". I've spoiled my kids when it comes to sweets.)

The same salesperson gave A a chocolate covered peanut, I think. A doesn't like peanuts in her chocolate... hence the icky face.

We found some really YUMMY stuff there. C settled for mint-chocolate malt balls (which were really good), and I picked up some red apple caramels (think caramel apples in candy form) and some cashew butter toffee (which my husband LOVED!) I think we can safely say 1) we know what we're getting people for Christmas and 2) we found a new place to buy candy!