Follow the Sun

Another reason I love Kansas -- you can see miles and miles of sky

Hunter Fromm and me

9-11-14:  David and I visited Jenn, Patrick and their new addition, Hunter.  Hunter was born on Aug 1st and is adorable.  What a pleasant, happy little man.

and likes to check everything out

Garfield took a liking to David and stayed in his lap the whole visit

Jenn, Patrick, Hunter Fromm

Grandpa giving Andrew a compass lesson

Then we drove on over to Douglass to pick up our little men from school.  Grandpa got compasses for them at The Yard.  That helped Andrew get past the fact that his mom was leaving for the weekend.  David, Rocky, and I enjoyed soccer practice with the boys and the Coach (Justin).

I think he's ready to take it camping

Asher found that he could see Grammy through his

Justin said practice is kinda like herding cats

soccer balls sure are prettier than they used to be

shin guards are so complex

the new jerseys are here, the new jerseys are here!

I believe this will help their game

gorgeous drive back to Wichita

Rocky enjoyed soccer practice, too.  He so wanted to chase that ball.  But he was content to just walk around the field a little and watch the boys from our laps.

9-12-14:  50 degrees at noon!  That's what I'm talking about!

9-13-14  I learned a bit of KS highway history today.  A guest asked me why I-35 was a tollroad.  I was stumped.  Truly we don't see too many Interstates as tollroads.  Frank and Sondra told me later that it's because originally the tollroad was privately owned by some corporations.  Then the state of KS aquired it.  Eventually the Interstate system came through and wanted to use that stretch.  So it is an Interstate, tho the tolls go to Kansas.

Cup Plant -- see the "cups" in the leaves?

unique 4-sided stem

9-16-14:  Greg and Linda Sue invited us to meet them at the Audubon presentation tonite at the GPNC.  The presenter was from the Schermerhorn Nature Center in SE Kansas and presented on wildflowers and wildlife of that area. Super interesting.  One of the things we learned that we thought was really cool, was about the Cup Plant.  It's in the sunflower family & the stem is 4-sided.  The leaves actually form little "cups" to preserve water for the plant.

the creeks and ponds are drying up at the GPNC

9-17-14:  This morning David and I hit the trails at the Great Plains Nature Center.  The temps are warming back up to the upper 80's, so we tried to get it in before noon.

the wetlands are lower than usual and it allowed us to see about a million turtle tracks

close up 

Ladies Thumbs

close up of Ladies Thumbs

sumac starting to turn

foxhair

coneflowers

maybe a Tiger Moth caterpillar

blue sage

silver bluestem

milkweed going to seed among the goldenrod

round head bush clover

pretty prairieland

Maximillion Sunflowers

Big Bluestem behind me

goldenrod

a variety of grasses around the wetland

Common Sunflower -- Kansas State Flower

they grow pretty tall

Loose Leaf Thistle

I've grown attached to the prairies and look forward to learning more about them in the future.  So much natural beauty!

Until Next Time,

Maxamillion, Lady's Thumb, and Gayfeather