Parknado and Parknado II- The 2nd One

Snow on the Mountain

Still fairly cool in the central plains tho we have some warm temps in the forecast. We're trying to take advantage of the pleasant air while we can.  We're seeing different plants blooming, the green corn crops are browning now, and the sorghum and soybeans are lush and full. This area has been blessed with rain this year.  

David and I are shocked that the schools up here are starting before TX schools (Aug 12 for Wichita and 13 for Douglass)!  Kinda caught us by surprise. We suddenly realized the A's aren't going to be as available for us. :(

Karen and me

8-3-14:  David and I met Karen for lunch today for a little SIL time!  It was so nice to visit with her and catch up on her and her family.  And it was great hearing about David's brother, Dan, too! :) Karen has a beautiful new grandbaby that brought her up this way.  Baby Hunter Fromm's pic will be on my next post!

Greg's dad, Cliff, Greg, Linda Sue, me, and David

8-4-14:  Enjoyed another evening of knitt...uh, of baseball at the NBC tourney!  We met Greg, Linda Sue, and Cliff at the 4:00 game and stayed for a few innings of the 7:00 game.  This time I was ready for that 7th inning stretch!

These guys have a game Saturday afternoon

David spotted these vintage baseball players walking around and suggested I get a pic.  Of course I asked what they were all about and it turns out they were promoting a Sat. afternoon vintage game that benefits Cowtown in Wichita.  And they were selling raffle tickets today for that vintage bat the young player was carrying around.  So we bought some tix hoping to win it for the grandsons.  Yeah, like they need a wooden bat to play with around the house.  But we weren't there for the drawing anyway, so........

Mike Deen -- harmonica player & hall of fame scorekeeper 

Greg had just been telling us about Mike Deen who plays "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and other traditional baseball "hits" (get it?) at the Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.  Tonite we got to hear him play from the pressbox.  Then before the game started he was out on the field.  We thought he was fixin to play the National Anthem, but a young girl sang it instead. Oh well, I got a selfie with him.  Larry Oleck, a player from back in Mac's baseball days, threw in the first pitch.  Wish Mac could've come with us to see him.

Laces

David noticed this TX Aggie looked like he'd just had a pedi - haha

Good nite at the games.  Baseball is something I haven't watched much since Gus' Dixie League days.  But we all agreed it's a nice atmosphere and it gave us a chance to visit!

hoakie and hilarious

hoakie 2 -- the second one

8-6-14:  There's been so many cracks on Facebook about Sharknado that David finally decided to record them and we watched them this week.  Hahahahahaha.  That's about all I can say about that.

Andrew and Asher following the tracks to the depot

8-10-14:  Sigh.  The boys have to start school in 4 days!  So David and I picked them up this morning and took them shopping for some new shoes.  I should've gotten pix of that.  They were hilarious shoppers!  David was in charge of Andrew and his purchase and I took Asher.  Andrew, like his dad and grandpa usually do, went into it knowing what he wanted.  Took him about 5 minutes or less and then he was on to Shoe Carnival's indoor basketball goal.  Asher, on the other hand, was determined to have a pair that didn't come in his size and it took me a little bit to get him interested in others.  He finally found a pair that was "perfect" for him.  They had a little black area on the bottom which he said was an "ungravity" place that will allow him to jump really high.  Since the store was having a Two-fer sale (big surprise), we got them 2 pairs each.  It took me quite awhile to convince Asher he could get a second pair. He had it in his head that he had to give up the ungravity pair to get another pair.  Of course, listening to Andrew shooting hoops a couple of aisles over didn't help him focus on what I was saying to him.  Once he figured out he could get TWO pairs, he was cool with it.  And Hark!  The second pair had the ungravity spot, too!

Introduced the boys to bluegrass today.  We played a few songs and then decided they'd love that "honeybee" song from Gala's love song cd she gave us.  Well, we were right.  They did love it and we rotated it probably 100 times all day.  Andrew said that song could help him get a girlfriend.  Later he asked David and me how long we dated.  I told him 7 weeks and we'd been married 25 years.  He sighed and said, "Well, I guess there's hope for me."  Yep, we were beginning to worry about a mate for him.  He is 7 years old, ya know!

stopped at the pony stables waiting for them to open

After shopping and lunch, we headed for OJ Watson Park in Wichita.  This is a beautiful city park that we used to take our kids to with Grandma Mac when they were about the A's age.  The pony rides, train ride, and paddle boat rides are still there!  We kinda ran out of time before we could hit the boats, but we enjoyed the ponies and the train.

watching the ponies chow down and get drinks

the pony yard

our kids rode this train when they were little

Asher studying the situation

it was too fascinating to look at the camera

hmmm, which one to ride.......like they had a choice

Andrew picked the tall brown one, while Asher wanted to ride the white one

But they put him on my fave -- Oreo

aren't they cute?!

They were the first 2 there for the rides.  The ponies were so short.  Except for one.  Andrew got the tallest pony out there.  Rosie was by far taller than any of the others.  David and I laughed about that remembering when our 3 kids rode horses in CO when young.  Justin ended up with a mutantly tall horse.  It was hilarious.

Andrew's tall pony was Rosie

"you coming, Andrew?"

not sure who was following who

this ride lasted about 3 minutes max, but our guys said it was "awesome"!

These boys were so appreciative of this dinky little pony ride.  Not sure if they really thought it was awesome or if they were just excited to get off!  Glad we went this year because they are nearly too big for Watson Park now.

All Aboard!

they scrambled to get the very front seat -- which wasn't hard since we were the only ones aboard this ride

The train ride was right after the ponies. Again, we were the only ones on the train.  We went slowly chugging through Watson Park.  Looked for wildflowers and wildlife.  Didn't see too much of either, but it was a wonderful day for a choo-choo!

heading into the tunnel

here comes a covered bridge

reading the sign about keeping our arms inside

Where else but Kansas would we see a yellow brick road?

the lake at Watson park

The boys were kinda fascinated with the Kentucky Coffee Bean trees at the park.  Plenty of the long, curly pods hanging on the trees, and plenty of the dried ones on the ground.  Andrew gathered 2 or 3 for them to take home and plant.

Ran by the camper to take Rocky on a walk.  The boys couldn't wait for their turn in picking up
Rocky's poopoo.  Like I said, they are just so appreciative of everything!! Rocky is, too.

 When we got home, Asher and I walked around their front yard so he could plant some Kentucky Coffee Beans.  In a few years we shouldn't be able to see their house from the street.

Gus road in the "parade" portion of the Pioneer Days Rodeo

Emily sent me this pic of Gus.  The first nite of the rodeo -- the first rodeo he's ever participated in I might add -- he was part of a team that tried to rope a horse in the Ranch Rodeo event.  She sent pix and videos.  He had so much fun that he decided he is now a cowboy and was going to ride in the Grand Event the next night.  Marcy brought a gentle horse for him to ride.  The video is so funny!  He's surrounded by actual cowboys -- some were as young as 6 or so.  And here he comes looking a bit nervous with his cap on. Maybe I should send him the cowgirl hat I wore when I rode a mule in the Bandera parade. LOL. Good times!!

Jeremy waited on us this morning as we got our QT tea

8-12-14:  Guess who we saw today when we stopped at Quick Trip!! Nephew, Jeremy McClintock!

This may be my fave burger in Wichita!!

David took me to Ty's for lunch.  He and his golf peeps ate there a couple of weeks ago. Yum!  Greasy burger that was just the right size.  Ty's has been there since 1953.  They began as a bar, then expanded to meals.  They used to serve breakfast, but are back to lunch only a few days a week.  The front of the cafe was a liquor store when they first opened.  The deco looks like it hasn't been touched since 1953.  But I think that's super cool.  They keep it kinda dark in there and we decided that's prob a good thing.

the fields and pastures are loaded with these bouquets of Snow on the Mountain

After we got home this afternoon, it was still just in the 70's.  So I drove over to walk the trails at the Great Plains Nature Center. I have a new Fitbit that David ordered for my birthday, so that's a good way to get my 10,000 steps in for today. Plus, the nature center is my happy place here.  I walked and walked and then re-walked some of the trails.  My fitbit is supposed to vibrate when it hits 10,000.  After a couple of hours, I finally checked it and evidently hadn't felt the vibration. Welp, I needed the extra steps.  As always, I learned some new stuff.

canopy of Osage Orange trees

a stump full of sleeping Sliders and a few Painted Turtles

Great Blue Heron stalking an afternoon snack

He has a pretty setting

this wood duck house is surrounded by cattails right now

this giant Egret was about to snatch a fish

got it!

yummy

gulp!

taking one more look

love what they do with their necks

see the crook in her neck in the reflection

the reflection shows her best here

Russian Olive Tree -- David likes the silvery look of these trees

Showy Partridge Pea

Close up 

Plains Coreopsis

Western Ironweed

Round Head Bush Clover

Illinois Bundleflower

 A few weeks ago I saw lots of the Bundleflowers but the bundles were still green.  I wasn't sure what they were.  I thought maybe they were leaves that just hadn't opened yet.  But they stay like this and go to seed.

fuzzy, but it shows how the bundles are loaded with seeds

 Wonderful day with the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees!

And the allergins. The 6 pix above are ragweeds and other chenopods (pro: kenapods). Right now they are the medium to high allergins in the plains.  And boy have they hit David and me.  Wow!  In the Hill Country we suffer from Juniper.  In Texarkana it's Pine Trees.  In the Great Plains it's the Chenopods that kick our butts.

studying this with CCC in Wichita

Ending this post with a book recommendation.  I love a good year-long Bible study. The church we've been attending in Wichita is going to start this study in Sept.  We got the books.  Basically it's the Bible that is paraphrased and reads like a novel. Tho we will be leaving at the end of September, we hope to follow along with them online.

We have about a month and a half left in Wichita and still so much we want to see and do.  We'll get as many adventures in as possible and save some for the next visit.


Love to All,

Ty, Dorothy, and Oreo