31 Weeks at Deanna Rose Farmstead

When Deanna Rose opened for the season on April 1st we didn’t set out to go every week until they closed on October 31st, it just kind of started to happen and as the season went on we made a point of making a visit each week.  Most weeks I took her, some weeks Tyler did, sometimes we went together, and while we were on vacation she went with her grandparents.

I love seeing the animals and the flowers grow throughout the season.  There is so much to enjoy and discover there, we never got bored with it.  Also, it’s free Mondays – Thursdays, can’t beat that!  Usually we only did one side or the other.  Sometimes we only went to play on the playgrounds or see the goats.  During the hottest parts of the summer went during their evening hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Much cooler and MUCH less crowded.  Those were some of my favorite visits.  We made some great memories and I’m so sad it will be closed for the next 5 months.

Some pictures that chronicle our adventures at the farmstead this year.

Spring

First time meeting her favorite goat, Benjamin.  AKA “the goat with no ears”

Bottle feeding Benjamin for the first time, he is a hungry little goat.

Every time we went she had to check up on him and see how he was doing

Introducing Daddy to Benjamin

She loves the colorful garden stones throughout the children’s garden and butterfly trail

First time fishing, sadly we didn’t catch any.

First time riding the ponies.

Her legs were too short for the pedal tractors this year but I bet by next spring she’ll be doing it!

I love watching things sprout and grow in the children’s garden.

She loves to sing the alphabet song while she walks along the alphabet stones.

Summer

Summer evening. We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves.

The butterfly garden, love the creative ways they grow things out here.

Showdown with a very territorial rooster

Only time we saw all three bunnies out.

She loved to find the “G” brick.

Playing in the little cabin with her daddy.

Trip to the farm with her 5 cousins.

Watching the baby ducks swim.

Holding hands with her cousin Hosanna

Milking the “cows” with two of her cousins

Feeding the ducks with Hosanna and Karis

Checking on Benjamin (can you spot him by now?)

That one time a rooster got loose and chased us down.

Feeding duck food to the fish.

Fall

 

Hay bale slide at Pumpkin Hollow

Visiting Pumpkin Hollow with a friend

Riding the cow train for the first time

Ghosties

Night of the Living Farm (with her broken leg)

Last visit to the farm this season

Absolutely loves dancing to the Disney songs at the gazebo

Til next year Deanna Rose!

JoCo Park Tour: Antioch Park in Merriam, KS

Our first visit to this park was about a year ago and we’ve been back many times since.  This is a huge park and because there are multiple playgrounds and play areas you can spend a lot of time here playing and exploring.

Antioch Park in Merriam, KS

6501 Antioch Rd, Merriam, KS 66202

What we love about this park:  The variety of things you can do here!  Walk the trails, fish in the lakes, explore the rose garden, play in Dodge town or one of the 2 playgrounds, swing on the swings, have a picnic under the huge trees, reserve a shelter and have a cookout, and of course meet up with friends (and make some new ones as we did on our outing!)  There are indoor bathrooms at this park which is great when you have toddlers that are still mastering the art of using the potty in public.

Other things to know about Antioch Park:

-Kids under 15 don’t need a fishing license. This would be a great spot to take your kids fishing for the first time since you know they’ll tire of it after too long and the playground is right there when they get bored! 😉

-On the south end of the park there are basketball, tennis, horseshoe and bocce courts.

-This park gets straight crazy on a nice weekend!  Weekday mornings are great though, or even in the evening when things have cooled off a bit.

JoCo Park Tour: Gezer Park in Leawood, KS

So my Friday morning group doesn’t have this park on our list to visit til June but we decided to visit it as a family last night after an ice cream run.  It’s kind of tucked away in a part of Leawood most people don’t frequent, but it’s a short drive from our church and our favorite ice cream spot (chocolate orange ice cream guys, it will blow your mind).

I’d seen one picture of this park online and thought the playground looked cool so I added it to our list of new parks to visit, but now that I’ve been there in person I can attest to how amazing this park is.  I think we will be spending lots of time there in the future!

Gezer Park in Leawood, KS

13251 Mission Rd. Leawood, KS 66209

What we love about this park: The huge playground structure: 4 slides, 2 climbing tubes, multiple unique climbing ladders, and built in awnings to keep the structure shaded.  Swings (seriously these can be hard to find these days!)  2 baby swings and 4 big kid ones.  The sand pit with digging toys and buried “fossils” for the kids to excavate.  The shallow man-made “creek” that winds through the park and is perfect for splashing in (bring water shoes and a change of clothes!)  Picnic tables by the playground have awnings over them to keep you shaded, and there are bigger picnic shelters available as well.  Another perk is there are real bathrooms, no port-a-potties here!  There is a trail and another little pond to see on the east end of the park but we didn’t make it over there tonight, will have to check it out next time.

Other things to know about Gezer Park:

“The unique park design reflects the contours of the State of Israel, with the Sea of Galilee on one end and the Dead Sea on the other – connected by a 700′ stone wadi that carries water from the west to east end of the park.” source

There is a fire pit on the east side of the park that you can reserve in conjunction with one of the shelters.  Birthday party w/s’mores anyone??

Lots of great info about the park and future additions that are planned can be seen here.

JoCo Park Tour: Frontier Park in Olathe, KS

I know I haven’t blogged in forever but I want to get back to it!  On Fridays this spring/summer we are planning to check out different parks throughout Johnson County, KS  There are a ton of parks so we won’t see them all but hope to hit the high points!  We’ve invited friends to join us and encourage them to invite friends as well.  It’s a great way to strengthen friendships and make new friends.  I dare say mom socialization is more important than kid socialization some days 😉

I had trouble finding pictures of some of the parks we’re going to visit, so I’m going to take pictures of the playgrounds and share them here so that others researching these parks in the future will have more information to go off of than the parks and rec websites which often have outdated or no pictures at all.

Frontier Park in Olathe, KS (aka “the boat park” to my daughter)

Address: 15501 Indian Creek Trail, Olathe, KS 66062

What we love about this park: The pirate ship theme, multiple slides, swings (sadly many parks in Olathe don’t have them any more!).  There are also 2 shelters with picnic tables (cannot be reserved but are usually available on weekday mornings).  There’s lots of green space to run around, a trail, and a baseball diamond.  No bathrooms but there is a port a potty.

Other things to know about Frontier Park:

Featured at this park is the Olathe Free Summer Concert Series.  We haven’t been to one yet but hopefully will make it out this summer.

The Olathe Public Library hosts storytime at Frontier Park during the summer, usually on Tuesday mornings but check their site for more info.