Rock River Rapids

All summer the girls have been asking to go to "that water park with the cool slides". Oh, I say, Rock River Rapids? We're not going, because it costs (more) money (than I'm willing to spend), and we have pretty much the same thing at the Y pools, and they're free.

But then I got a call from a friend: the company she works for was having a party, and she had tickets, would we like to go Thursday night?

Um....

YES!








Alison has finally gotten tall enough to ride the slides at the Y this summer. This pleases her very much (which is an understatement). And so she made it her own personal mission to go on every slide at Rock River Rapids. Including the red slide, which pretty much goes straight down. How was it, you ask? AWESOME.


Everything's better when it's free.

Riverside Park

So, yesterday, I decided we needed to get out of the house, and so dragged (drug?) everyone to Riverside Park, one of our favorite places here in Wichita. We never go there enough in the summertime... At any rate, it's a grand place to have a picnic, play at the playground, and get wet in the fountains.

(Is it bad that when I look at this picture, I think of Willow Smith's song "Whip My Hair"? Probably.)

(She said, "Look at me I'm Shaid Kapoor in the shower." Too. Many. Hindi. Movies.)


(She's just cute.)


(There's a story here. Like: Why is that elf sneaking up on me? I mean, sooo creepy!)


(Russell prefers to stay cool by having the girls fill up his hat and then dump it on him.)


(I don't give birth to children. I give birth to monkeys. Seriously.)


(Playing with the camera...)

A Day at the Lake

Saturday was our second trip out to the big puddle, Lake Cheney. I chose not to get in this time (last year I was the only woman in, this year I was the only woman not in a swimsuit. I just can't win!), but the girls all had a blast.

There was swimming:




That's Caitlyn's friend, Maddie, in the foreground. She came with us and had a grand time.

Digging

Boating



And tubing (click to embiggen):


A grand time was had by all!

Going Fishing

As part of Riverfest, the city has these "get back to nature" days. On Tuesday, it was a chance to go fishing (catch and release) in one of the park ponds. Russell, who actually listens to his girls once in a while, took the day morning off of work, and took three of the girls down (though it's Alison who's been doing the asking) to go fishing.

It was a warm, summer day (this was 9 a.m.!), and all the girls were excited about getting their poles.

Everyone caught something!

Though Kristen didn't catch a fish. She came home bubbling over with excitement because she got a TURTLE! (She tried not to, but the turtle was just really attracted to the lure.)

It was a fun little adventure.

Summer Adventure #4: Wingnuts Game

So, for some odd reason, I got it in my head that the girls need to go to a baseball game at least once in their lives. (Genetics? I don't know. I do remember the Tigers game I went to as a kid, but I really liked going to the Buzz games in college.)

Anyway, every summer as part of the library's Summer Reading Challenge they get a coupon for free tickets to one of home games for the local team's (it's the Wingnuts; they're minor league, but not a feeder team for the majors). This year we took them up on it, redeeming the coupons and buying a few tickets for cheap. Unfortunately, Caitlyn was invited to a party and Megan was exhausted, so they didn't get to go.

But Alison and Kristen did.

First, we had to stop by the bouncy thing that was set up inside the gate.

Then we made it to our seats. (As you can tell, they weren't sold out, so we had our choice of where to sit.)


Proof there was actually a game going on....

We liked the low-tech scoreboard.


And this is the t-shirt that Alison managed to beg out of the t-shirt guy (or maybe it was bother? Finagle?):

She was proud of it, even though the t-shirt guy called her rude (indirectly).

We only stayed for a few innings, but we had a good time. Maybe we'll go again. (Or maybe not...)

Summer Adventure #3: Pretty Prairie Rodeo

So, we went to the rodeo last night (it's the biggest night rodeo in Kansas!)... and had a good time. I don't know what we expected: Alison and Kristen were often squirrley and wanted to climb around (and on top of people), and Caitlyn complained incessantly (about the smell, the heat, being tired, whatever...), but there were moments when they really enjoyed being there.

This was us playing with the camera while we were waiting for the rodeo to start...


And this was all the things we liked (forgive the errant bar; we didn't have the good camera, and I didn't feel like getting up just to get a couple of shots):
(from left to right) bull riding, barrel racing, the little girl on the little pony (Kristen now wants one for Christmas), the clown (Russell thought he was dumb, though), the drill team, and the bareback riding (that was the first event, and the best. There was a guy from Marseilles -- yes, France! -- who wowed us all!)


Caitlyn took a video of the bull riding, since it was easier than taking a picture:


It was fun, and maybe we'll even go again.

Summer Adventure #2: The Little House House

We had a plan A this week: to go out to the Tall Grass Prairie Center in the Flint Hills. That, due to weather, didn't work out, so we had to scramble for a plan B. We hit upon it: head out to Independence (Kansas, not Missouri!) and visit the Little House on the Prairie house. It's not the actual house, obviously, that the Ingalls family lived in, but it is on the actual site.

The first thing that hit all of us was: it's SO small!

It's just TINY. How did they live with 5 people in this place??


Other than that, it was just a lot of exploring and climbing. In the wagon, the little one-room school house, the small store, and (interestingly enough) the restrooms (for some reason, they were fascinating).

We bought sunbonnets (how could we not?)

And hiked (with much complaining and through donkey poo) to the little creek nearby where the Ingalls family got water before they built their well (yes, we've all read the books).

It was a good time. Wore us out, though. (And they really liked the sunbonnets. I think that was their favorite part.)

A good summer adventure.

Summer Adventure #1: Cheney Reservoir

So, even though my dear bloggy friend Corinne hasn't actually put up her summer adventure challenge for this year (and I don't know if she will, either), that doesn't mean we have to stop looking for new places to go and things to do around town (and Kansas).

First up, courtesy of an Elder's Quorum activity, was swimming/boating on Lake Cheney.

Now, being from Michigan, I have fairly high standards when it comes to lakes. (I'm a snob.) And, I have to admit, that this one surprised me. It was nice and coolish (not cold), and even though it was muddy and not exactly nice (I don't know what the barnicle-like clam things that were attached rocks on the bottom were, but they were particularly wicked -- we all have cuts from them!), it was a lot of fun.



I had the distinction of being the only woman to get in the lake. My question is: are you ever too OLD to enjoy swimming in lakes (or pools, or the ocean)? I think not.





(FYI, the boy is one of the sons of the friends with the boat. He was a good egg for hanging out with all the girls...)

It helped that one of the families there has a boat, and so the girls were able to get some tubing (Megan tried skiing; she doesn't weigh enough to actually get up!) in.



Russell got up on the skis! (But did he stay up?? That part is lost to history.)


Before:



During:


It was a fun afternoon!