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.

Seeing Dallas

Things we did in Dallas on the 4th of July:

• (stayed up too late the night before... Russell and Scott went to a concert and didn't get in until 2 a.m. The girls didn't go to bed until 11:30 p.m.!)

• Hung out with Hubby's friend, who was wonderful and let us crash at his house (and the girls play with his kids' toys).

• Went to the Nascher Sculpture Center and participated in a First Saturday kids event, which included a scavenger hunt,

A community puzzle, where everyone drew their own pieces,



(M organized the puzzle. Yes, she is our daughter.)

I even drew something, because I remembered what Mo said...


And an artist presentation.

C had a grand time with that, and got chosen to help the artist mix the plaster.

• Ate lunch in a parking garage.

• Went to the Dallas Museum of Art, wandered around a while (our favorite collections was the "house" -- they have it set up like a villa in the French Riviera, and its full of furniture and art... it was a lot of fun), and ended up in the kids center for a while.
  

• Went to an enormous Korean grocery store and stocked up on supplies (can you say "years supply of soy sauce and go chu jong and seaweed"? Plus kimchee, asian pears and enormous grapefruit!)

• And ate at Eskimo Joe's, which is not in Dallas but is in Stillwater, Oklahoma. It's much like the Hard Rock Cafe: you eat there to say you ate there (and possibly buy a t-shirt), not because the food is good. Cool building though.
  

Maybe next time, we'll do more.

Turner Falls, Oklahoma

We were thinking about what to do in Dallas this past weekend, and Hubby headed over to his barber (yes, he really has one) and was chatting with him, and he (the barber) suggested we try out Turner Falls in Oklahoma, which happens to be on the way to Dallas. We looked it up on the internet, and it seemed like a fun place to stop. So, we did.

Aside from getting a bit lost (Google Maps had never led us astray before), which was easily rectified (by asking directions in a grocery store)... and aside from the 40 minute wait to get in...
We had a grand time.



It's a river with a series of shallow rapids that begins at a 70 foot falls, and heads down to a man-made lake. We changed when we got there (the girls actually changed in the car while we were waiting in line), and went down to the lake part.




I should admit that we didn't know what the heck we were getting in to, so we all ended up with banged legs and bruised toes. Next time we'll wear water shoes.

Hubby, A, K and I found this little waterfall and the girls had a grand time sliding down the rocks, and hanging out under the falls.

(Can I say how much I LOVE my rash guard?)





Then, everyone went off the diving board multiple times...

Yes, even K and A...though they had problems with waiting in lines...





After that, we decided that since we really did need to get to Dallas, we had to go. Before we went, we walked up to the falls proper (and discovered a whole other swimming area!). On the way we found a castle:

(See, it tells us it's one!)

M found these, which she thought were amusing...



Turner Falls park even has camping grounds, as well as restaurants and lots and lots of picnic places... which means

we'll be back!

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.