Sunflower State

Speaking of all good things farm and Kansas, I just realized that I never posted pics from the sunflower field just north of Lawrence.  This is a super popular place to visit for the handful of days the sunflowers are in bloom, and helps us justify our state's nickname.  

Kaw Valley Farm Tour

This was our second year being agritourists around the Kaw Valley, and the farms did not disappoint.  We did three on Saturday (a pumpkin patch, an alpaca/bee farm, and a winery) and three on Sunday (a poultry farm, mini horse farm and an organic produce/eggs/goat farm).  The only repeat on this year's tour for us was the poultry farm.  Who knew that Turkey farmers put on such a nice event?  We did! And we wanted a second round this year.  Everywhere was really kid-friendly and Stephanie got to do all sorts of crafts, pet/brush animals (petting not always popular with her, but she had lots of chances to do it, and did a few times), and a surprising number of things to ride on... including, but not limited to "trains" (this is when farmers hook large barrels to wheels, attach them to a lawn mower and drive kids around... seemed odd to me how many places offered this), hayrides and even a mini-horse drawn buggy ride. Sadly, this year's pictures are lacking in actual farm animals, but we saw plenty, I promise!
 

Train 1

Gwen may have been a bit surprised to have corn flung on her.

Train 2... And sadly no picture of train 3... but you get the idea.

If you are wondering where Gwen's clothes are... She started the cold morning in fleece Santa jams chosen by sister, but it got too hot.  Luckily, I had thought ahead and packed several outfits to from which to choose.  Too bad I didn't actually put the bag with said outfits in the car.   

She's just not that into you

Dearest Gwen,

I'm sorry to say that Stephanie is just not that into you.  Don't feel bad, it's her not you.  And I have decided that it is a VERY good thing, and here is why...

Stephanie doesn't care about babies.  I had NO idea how much children liked babies until I had you.  I was honestly less popular at school the day I brought cupcakes than the days that I have brought you with me.  The children surround the car seat and I can see their little hands just BURNING to touch you, but the teachers won't let them.  One little girl has taken to following me around, even when I don't have you and saying, "I love your baby, I love your baby".  About 3 kids in Stephanie's class don't seem to care that there is a baby there, and Stephanie is one of them.  She doesn't touch you, kiss you or snuggle you.  Not a huge surprise, as she doesn't really do those things to us either.  Stephanie is also not into baby dolls or animals.  Stuffed animals, especially Buzzy Bee, and we are talking about a very different story, as she will cuddle that bee and whisper things like, "You're my bestie forever, Buzzy Bee" and "I missed you so much, Buddy".  But, since you and I are not a slightly tattered black and yellow pillow, we should forget it.  She won't be snuggling us and whispering sweet nothings. 

Since she doesn't tend towards wonderment of babies, I think she sees you for more of what you are...a responsibility, and, more importantly, a person.  She talks about the future with you, even about sharing a room.  She never gives me a hard time for taking care of your needs, even when she has to wait for something because of it.  She once got upset when she thought Kevin was going to take you to work and told him, "No, we take care of the fuss monster" (which he had just called you).  This was a few weeks before she started refusing to let us call you "mean" names, like Poop-monster or Stink-pot (suggesting instead to call you sweet flower pot).  She looks in on you when you are in your crib for a while and then reports back to me.  The words, "We have to leave, I need to feed your sister" have never been met with a single complaint, no matter what cool thing I am dragging her away from.  She puts on her shoes (because you know that no matter where she was, she took them off) and goes along with us.  Because taking care of you is a job, and an important one.  No, you are not terribly interesting, but there is hope that you will be in the future, I think.  And let's be honest, sweet baby Gwen, babyhood is short, the future is long, and you have a sister that takes being a sister seriously, even at the cost of some personal sacrifice... and that is way more important than wanting to touch your feet just because they are baby feet!

Love, Mom

P.S.  Seriously, though, I don't actually understand how she isn't intrigued by those little feet, they are just so killer cute!    

Deanna Rose

In the craziness that is Kansas weather, we had a fall weather day last week, so I used the opportunity to take Stephanie to the Deanna Rose Farmstead.  We had been once before, but she was too little to be very interested.  It is essentially a large farm petting zoo, complete with chickens, goats, pigs, horses and cows.  Oh, and huge, amazing playgrounds.  Slightly sad for me is that the playgrounds are right at the entrance, so of course that was the desired attraction for her and I really wanted her to check out some animals before play.  I managed to get what I wanted by taking her to the bathrooms across the park, so we at least got to see a few goats, a pig and a horse.  She kept asking why the pigs weren't saying oink oink and the ducks weren't saying quack quack, and was generally unimpressed by the creatures.  The goats were pretty neat, but I will admit that the pigs are a bit of a let down, as they really do just lay in the mud and sleep.  But Stephanie had an absolute blast on the playground (and I reminded myself that if she was having fun, it didn't matter that we saw next to none of the farm), and we got to finish the day by seeing a cow get milked.  We are headed back there today, so maybe I can get some pictures of her near animals and not just on a playground.  Or we will just exhaust her on the playground, which is okay too!

There were several of these to ride (as you will see in the next few pictures), but she was really drawn to this slightly psychedelic duck (okay, they were all a bit psychedelic, but this duck more so than the others).  I am also certain that no amount of time on the bouncy ride animals count as spending time on a farm.   

Waiting for the cow to get milked

Exhausted!  I fixed the seat belt issue just after this photo, but had to get the photo first.

The Big Race

I have more than once touted how our town does super cool things for kids, and this past weekend was no exception.  There was a bike race downtown, and they had a "kid's zone" for spectators, which included, you guessed it, a bounce house.  Of course that was popular with Stephanie, but the really cool thing they did was a bike race for the kids.  This included a race number and a metal at the finish line.  The race was just short of a block (but Stephanie will tell you it was 100 miles, since that was Kevin's last race length), and the kids were super cute... and here are the pictures to prove it.