Oh-Bla-Di

June was the traveling month for our family and, toward the end of the month, we ventured south to San Antonio for a visit with Matt’s family.  We arrived on a Monday and had the grandparents to ourselves until Friday, when both of Matt’s siblings were able to join us for one big family party.

The week was fairly chill, although we did get out and about a bit each day to explore San Antonio.  It was super hot and humid, so this pregnant mommy didn’t try anything too ambitious – I was really grateful to be able to use Ava’s naptimes as reasons to escape back to the air conditioning!

On Tuesday, we visited the San Antonio Botanical Gardens.  Apparently, they’ve gone through quite a bit of expansion over the years as Matt kept commenting on how he remembered things being so much smaller.

Ava had a great time exploring the flowers, trees and fountains.  She sure is a nature-lover at heart.  We’ll have to get that kid to a more plant-friendly climate soon.  My favorite part of the botanical gardens was the conservatory…it had an awesome bench set right over a giant air conditioning vent!  The rose gardens were also lovely, though, and new playhouse exhibits were set to open that weekend so we got a fun sneak peek of those too.

On Wednesday, we took the morning to go visit Mahgie & Poppie at Air Force Village.  We went to feed the fish at the pond and then joined them for lunch at the big house.  Four HUGE catfish really enjoyed the bread that Matt, Ava, & Mahgie threw to them!

The next big event was a Friday day trip to LBJ state park near Fredricksburg, TX.  We visited the living history farm where everything is done just as it would have been done in the early 19th century.  Ava got to see cows, chickens, roosters, and pigs and we all got to explore the house, barn & other outbuildings of the farm.  It was a gorgeous house…I told Matt we could have one just like it when we retire.  I *heart* old farm houses.

Our trip wasn’t all exciting outings.  We did spend some time just around the house too, and that was nice.  Matt helped his dad replace the fan in the dining room (oh boy, multiple Caspers men working on home improvement projects…look out!  At one point I asked Matt what it was like working with a mirror image of himself.) and we spent plenty of time watching movies on the new TV we discovered in the family room.

Did I mention that Texas was hot and steamy when we visited?  Well, it sure was.  The good part about that was that it made it totally ok for the adults to spend the whole afternoon sitting around the kiddie pool with our feet in and for Ava to spend hours running through the sprinklers.  You can never have too much water play on a hot day!

Sue & Steve celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary in the beginning of June and the weekend, once all the kids were home, was all about throwing them a super-secret surprise party to celebrate.  The three Caspers kids worked for a couple of months putting it together and I think it’s safe to say that their parents were not only surprised, but delighted, with the party.

All in all, we had a wonderful week in San Antonio and were glad to get to see all of the family in one trip!  Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa, Michael, Maureen & Whitney for all the fun & entertainment!

As it now seems to be an annual tradition, we traveled to Kansas during the week surrounding Memorial Day to visit my side of the family.  I managed to get some of the highlights of that visit posted here, but have been pretty slow to get the rest of it documented.  So, I figured I’d better get that done before the next major summer holiday gets here tomorrow.  

One of the best things about our visits to Kansas is the “free range” philosophy we’re able to adopt with Ava.  My parents have a huge backyard full of trees, birds, squirrels, grass, and any number of bugs…all of which serve as endless entertainment for our curious girl.  Add to that a couple of very willing grandparents and a friendly uncle to ooh and ahh at her exploits and the things she finds to look at and Whoozy just ends up in heaven.

Ava & Rowdy checking out the toads from the window well.

After our trip to the zoo and to the farm for Memorial Day, we spent the rest of the week mostly hanging out at home or in McPherson.  That’s not to say that the days weren’t busy, though.

We went swimming at the new city water park in McPherson…

…and swimming in a more casual location closer to home.

We tested the limits of playground fun…

…and then were wise enough to know when it was time for a rest.

We explored our creativity with art…

…and unique clothing choices.

And, when it was time to just find a spot to relax, it was really easy to just find a buddy to snuggle up to and have a chat or a snack.

Just to be sure we filled every minute, before we took off for the airport, we managed to cram in a little more adventuring with some kite flying in the park across the street.

All in all, we had a wonderful trip.  Thanks so much to my parents to playing host for a week and for keeping us so entertained.  Looking forward to our next visit!

…that Ava’s school also teaches her letters, numbers and colors, because when things like this come home (with an extravagant price sheet attached!) I just have to shake my head.

I mean, she’s really stinkin’ adorable in these photos – especially that fur-enshrouded sleepy girl one.  But there’s no way I’m paying $30 for a couple of 5×7’s.  So, I’m cheating and saving the proof sheet so that I can giggle at these long after I’ve returned them to school and said, “No thanks.”  I’ll bet my little pretender, dress-up queen sure loved doing this though!

Video courtesy of iPhone, sorry it’s so grainy!

Oh, boy, this girl has got an imagination!!  She’s always running away from sharks, monsters or spiders.  Strangely enough, when she “finds” them in her bed, that doesn’t bother her at all.  Wonder what she’ll come up with next?

After we  spent a day exploring Grammie & Grandpa’s backyard, which is quite the wildlife refuge in it’s own right, we ventured a bit further south to take a look at Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Goddard, KS.  The ride to the park was pure anticipation.  Ava was very ready to go on her “special trip” to “see animals.”  Of course, she also spent some time with Daddy spotting more mechanical animals.  Shouts of “Pumpjack!” were ubiquitous on this drive.

Tanganyika is an “interactive” zoo.  We really had no concept of what that meant, but it turns out that means it’s smaller, you basically get to walk in the pens and it’s perfect for the littles.  The whole family went on the trip which was great because that meant someone was always ready to help Ava get to know the animals.

This was Ava’s first zoo experience and it was just exactly the right size and time for her to enjoy it.  We headed out to be there when the park opened and were done by lunchtime – having seen and done every last thing in the park in that amount of time. 

We saw giraffes, a rhino, kangaroos, lorikeets, goats, turtles, bunnies, a camel, snow leopards, white lions, and lots of lemurs.  We actually got to touch the giraffes, goats, turtles, bunnies, and the camel and then walk amongst the kangaroos, lorikeets & lemurs.  When they say interactive, they mean it. 

Feeding the turtles

Feeding bunnies

Feeding goats with Uncle Wes

Walking with kangaroos

Checking out the rhino, who finally stood up so we could see him!

Probably the biggest hit of the day, and the first thing we saw when we went into the park, were the giraffes.  They were wandering pretty free and then would walk right up to the observation platform to get some lettuce treats.  Super  cool that you could pet them.  Ava was very brave and went right after getting to know those giraffes. 

We had such a lovely time at Tanganyika and can’t wait to take Ava for more visits with the animals.  I’m pretty sure she had a good time too, since this was the view from the front seat of the car on the way home…