Interesting Weather

Our poor peonies got beat up this afternoon by the weather.  It is really sad because the blooms had just opened up.  The Empress is not happy her flowers were ruined.

Early May Rain...er, Snow Shower?

If April showers bring May flowers, what does this mean?  Nothing says that Spring is in full bloom like snow shower.  Got to love the Midwest.  These pictures were taken at 9:40, snow was gone by noon.

Another Load Of Snow

I guess this is one of the winters that wants to prove a snow thrower is a necessity around here.  We got pounded yet again.  The snow this time was pretty wet.  Note how the tree on the left in the first picture is coated and how the tree branches are sagging under a lot of weight?

Some of the neighbors decided to make the most out of it and showed off their artistic ability.  It is too bad they have such poor taste in subject matter.

They did have a bit of a Calvin & Hobbes moment.  In case you cannot make it out, one snowman has removed the other snowman's head and used it as a bowling ball.

Fun Day At The Farmstead

As the Empress had requested, we made a trip out to the Farmstead.  She had fun at the barn, which is not a surprise considering the two story slides from the silo.

She was a bit wobbly on the rubber mats at the bottom through.

She had fun looking at various animals.  She really like the ducks because they swim in water (she likes water) and this little lamb that Mommy pointed out to her.

Cassandra likes to play with water (not just look at it) and bath time can be very wet for people who had not planned on a bath so we thought this pump would be right up her alley.  I think she would like one in the back yard.

Finally, we found another playground and this one had one of her favorite toys.

A Visit To The Arboretum

With the weather starting to become more tolerable, we decided that it was time for another outing to the Arboretum.  She really liked seeing the green butterfly.

The railroad garden was completely open with three trains running.

Cassandra was really excited to go up into the cupola of the caboose.  Her face lit up when she was asked, "Where's Mommy?"  She was happy to wave for Mommy and the camera.

Of course, when she saw the trains running down below, she forgot about her parents fairly quickly.

Oh, well.  I'm told this is typical for her age.

Afternoon At The Zoo

Time to go to the zoo!  Cassandra had not been to the Kansas City Zoo all year so we were definitely overdue.  Aunt Kristi and Uncle John joined us for the afternoon.

We visited lots of animals including otters, the polar bear, elephants, hippopotamus, and chimpanzees.  Then, Cassandra was given the opportunity to ride over all the animals.  See how excited she is to just be told we can fit a ride into the schedule?

Most of the rest of the trip was standard fare.  One item if interest is an orangutan that wanted to play.  He was fairly young and was having fun pushing his toy (a strip of cloth) through enclosure and pulling it back inside through another hole.  He did drop it one time on purpose to get someone on the outside to pick it up and hand it back to him.  He was playing with the visitors.

The Greater Outdoors

The Overland Park Arboretum will have their ribbon cutting for a new garden this Wednesday.  It is probably Daddy's most favorite kind of garden.  That's right, a Train Garden!  We thought we'd come out and take a sneak peak before it opened.  Grandma and Grandpa Wendel joined us for the walk.

Of course, Cassandra wanted to take the long way around and check up on everything.  We just had to stop and see the fish.

Along the way through the water garden, we saw this waterfall.

On to the main event, the Train Garden.  Cassandra loved it.  They were still putting final touches on it but Cassandra was very excited.  The train was especially wonderful because it had sound effects.

Of course, we were so busy taking pictures of fish and trains and butterflies we didn't really get a lot of good pictures of Cassandra.  This one of her smiling (with her mouth full) is all we have.  Still, you can tell she really enjoyed it.

Garden Tours

Every other year, the Johnson County Master Gardeners put together a garden tour as a fundraiser for the K-State Extension Office.  This year, six gardens were on the tour...including Grandpa Hodges' garden.

Our plan for the day was to take Cassandra with us and leave her with Grandma for a nap while we finish the tour.  For the most part, things worked out but the morning was a little humid.  In Janicespeak, it "heavily misted on us."

We started with a nearby house.  Cassandra was happy to be outside.  Then, she was happy to be put down so she could run to a "playground."

Cassandra enjoyed see the Koi in the pond.  I think she also wanted to play with the water.  This house backed up to creek and they had some good size insects.

Cassandra is fond of climbing.  Playgrounds, benches, chairs, parents, and of course swings.  I think this ended up being her favorite house on the tour.  The only one on the tour she might have liked more had a pool. 

The second house we visited was in an older part of town.  The old outdoor kitchen had been turned into a flower planter.  For me, the odd thing about this is the current craze now is to have an outdoor kitchen as a party location.  Back then, it was just to get the hot oven / stove out of the house during the summer.

Cassandra like this house for the large open area in the back yard.  Daddy would put her down and she would try to run past Mommy to get at the garden or the tree swing.  She was having a lot of fun.

Next, we headed off to a "Japanese" garden.  Cassandra didn't like that she wasn't loose.  However, with the amount of grace inherited from Mom and Dad, letting her loose with all this hardscaping would have been a really bad idea.

After lunch, we dropped Cassandra off with Grandma.  Grandpa was busy with all the people touring his garden.  We did get this shot though.  Usually, clematis doesn't bloom on command so having this during the garden show was really nice.

After eating lunch and dropping Cassandra off for a nap, we headed off to visit more gardens.  What is interesting to me about this picture is that the creek overflowed a few weeks before the garden tour and took a lot of the mulch and a few plants downstream.  They did a good job of getting things back together again, didn't they? 

This lot had a lot of relief which is what you would expect with a creek in the back.  Don't want your house to flood after all.  They have a rather tall deck that a lot of people wouldn't be very happy with.

They also had instructions on how to make one of those mixed plant pots.  These have become pretty popular in the last few years.

Cassandra was still asleep so we went to the last garden without her.  This is the scenery you would see while relaxing in the pool. 

They also had a raised vegetable garden we forgot to get pictures of.  That had been taken out by a hailstorm a few days ago but they had replanted.  We did get the idea to try "Irish Spring" as a deterrent to bushy tailed rodents stealing our tomatoes.  We'll see how that experiment works this summer.