Catching up: Another Favorite

All of last year, we intended (with our friends the Cunninghams) to visit Science City in Union Station. It's one of the few outings that we failed to follow through on. However, C and I were able to forge some new memories with our new friends, the Registers, there! First off, I was impressed by how much there really was for small children to do. I had expected the facility to cater moreso to school-age children as opposed to my little preschooler. I was wrong. The first thing the girls discovered was a huge tree, with stairs so they could "climb". Then they found the music park. Amazing. They ran on the piano, checked out light-reactive chimes, banged on a giant xylophone, played trashcan drums, and activated wind chimes. I think they spent the longest time experimenting with sound out of everything they found. They played with water flow, were mystified by the illusions, monkeyed around in the indoor playground and explored tons more! I don't think they stopped moving during the 2 hours we spent there. In fact, if they hadn't gotten hungry, I don't know that our visit would have been that short! This is definitely going on our list of "repeaters", the outings we'll go on again, and again.

Catching up: Daddy's home!

Due to the security-need for discretion, I refrained from mentioning in my posts from June 08 to June 09 that F was deployed to Iraq during that time. C missed Daddy very much, but we prepared well by having F record himself reading some of her favorite books on DVD, which she didn't watch as much as we expected, but did enjoy when she asked for them. We kept in touch via cards, packages (containing photos and her crafts) letters, phone calls and emails as well as Skype, using the video-call feature. C loved watching Daddy on the computer--so much so that she would sometimes ask to talk to Daddy on the computer at random times, times when he certainly wasn't available to call. We prayed for Daddy every night and she slept with her Daddy-doll from Operation Giveahug. She also made me kiss it goodnight. In May, we prepared a countdown chain in order to help me explain that Daddy was coming home and prepare her for the changes in our household. She jumped up and down with excitement when I would tell her that it was time to cut the link each morning. The day Daddy returned, the welcome-home was at 0200 (yes, in the morning) and I had prepared to get C into jammies and asleep at the hotel well before time to get him, so that I could take her sleeping. That did not work. She stayed awake the whole evening and up to the ceremony, even insisting on wearing a dress for Daddy, not the aforementioned jammies. She hugged her daddy, and once she was in the car with him, only then did she fall asleep. Such determination. We spent a few days in a hotel while F turned in all his gear and had a few final meetings, finally bringing him home 4 days later. Here they are, enjoying playing at home as our summer vacation really started.

Catching up: A favorite place in KC

I've been really quite lazy over the summer about chronicling our adventures. However, now that autumn is here and we're starting our fall outings, I suppose it's time to go over some of the major events from our summer. One of the first things people told me about when we moved to Kansas was the Deanna Rose Children's Farm. We managed to get there a few times last fall, and C enjoyed the animals and activities then, but all she could really do was feed the goats, look at the animals in their pens and climb on a limited amount of the playground equipment. This last spring and summer we made it twice with our friends and the experience was so much more enjoyable. While we still fed the goats and looked at animals in their pens, C could play on more equipment, really ride the pedal tractors and was old enough to ride the ponies. She was also a bit braver about the process of feeding the baby goats and petting them. Still wonderful, these experiences brought about many more smiles than on our previous excursion. If you're ever traveling to the KC area between 1 April and 1 November with a young child, make sure you put the Deanna Rose Children's Farm on your agenda. Admission is free; you pay for the feed for feeding goats and sheep, the pony rides and for treats at the snack bar, of course.

Worlds of Pictures

Actually, these are the best photos from Worlds of Fun so far. C is very serious as she goes on her rides, so it was incredibly difficult to find some that were really and truly representative of the fun we were indeed having. So, if she looks like she's not enjoying herself...well, that's just not the case. Keep in mind that the day she went on that little boat, she went 9 times in a row! 

Worlds of Fun

Memberships to things are so worth it! In the past three weeks we've made three trips to Worlds of Fun.  We only stay for between 4 or 5 hours each trip, but we certainly get plenty of rides in each time. If we bought regular tickets each day though, I'm pretty sure that I'd feel like 4 or 5 hours wasn't worth the money. With the season membership, I'm comfortable going for just a few hours on each excursion. We've been going on weekdays, and with the price of gas and groceries lately, people aren't going to the amusement park so much, and we've been able to just walk onto rides, and in some cases just stay on the ride from one rotation to the next. C totally takes after her mommy and daddy in her enjoyment of rides. Her favorite has changed with each trip. The first time she loved pretty much everything she tried. She went on the boat ride 10 times, and I didn't count the airplane iterations or the times on the Bounce-a-roos. On the second, the Roos were again a hit, as well as the Woodstock train. On this last trip, I lost count of how many times she went on the car and pony carousels. We've seen big carousels at various malls around the country and just a few months ago, we would try to have her ride them, but she was WAY less than impressed. I was unsure about how she would enjoy WoF, but I needn't have worried. A ride ends and she turns around and says "again!" I have to pry her away from the rides in order to get her to eat. My biggest concern was that she wouldn't want to ride without Mommy, but she's big enough to do some of the kiddie rides by herself, and Mommy is too big. The first time I told her to go by herself she was nervous and unsure, but once that Bounce-a-roo got going, the rides she could go on by herself definitely trumped the ones Mommy has to accompany her on. However, the thrill of the Flying Dutchman (swings) outweighs the Mommy-has-t0-go-with-me factor. She grins so big as the breeze blows back her hair. Watching the thrill on her face actually makes me enjoy the ride more as well. Since we've gone with other people two of the three times, I've even been able to ride a few coasters while she stayed on kiddie rides with Gramma or my friend Kim. Yippee! (Being a Mommy does make me a bit more nervous on the big coasters though...interesting.) Will have to add pictures of C on the rides later. My iPhoto doesn't like my blogger.