Third Sunday in September means it's Meneely Reunion time again! We got to see Great-Grandpa, visit with some cousins, win a few door prizes and play on the playground. Soren thought the playground was the best part. He went across the monkey bars, tried to do a muscle-up and was successful in his first solo big-boy swing time!
Can you tell that Soren's been playing a matching game? He's getting pretty good at it. He mainly matches fruit, but he can also match world flags...and apparently shapes.
"Look! I'm jumping into nature!" "Look what nature I found!"
I know Soren loves being outside, but I can't wait for him to be able to proclaim it himself like the girls at Burr Oak Woods today. On our way down to the creek, our Babes in the Woods group first came across a turtle.
After much investigating, we moved on to the water and the animals there. It only took a few seconds for Soren to warm up to the cool water, but he was more interested in splashing in the water than collecting specimens.
We caught a crawdad and watched some water striders zipping across the water. We also got to observe some other group members' finds: a small frog and a raccoon track in the muddy bank.
Wet from head to toe, Soren definitely had a good time splashing around and adventuring. In fact, I think he was one of the wettest kiddos in the end. Thank goodness for swimsuits!
Soren and I spent all day outside in the beautiful weather! First we trekked westward to the state which shall not be named. We went to Deanna Rose first.
I think Soren liked her because she looked like John Ray's dairy cows.
Soren made some corn flour at the Indian Encampment and, of course, spent some time in the tipi.
Next, it was the tractors, which Soren preferred to push. He can't work the pedals yet.
He LOVED walking on the number stepping stones in the garden. I must haved counted to 14 at least 14 times. They had cutouts to put your head in to take a photo, but Soren never kept his head there long enough to capture it. He had no problems cheesin' for Mama when she asked:
In the end, we got our book stamped at the bank and got our sticker and money bag for completing all the trivia qustions. On to the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens!
Though we didn't see everything, I think we can safely say that my favorite garden was the Monet garden and Soren's was the train garden. It's still under construction, but we spent 30 minutes watching the three trains run around their tracks and visiting with the volunteer who ran them.
We ended our day with dinner with Daddy and a walk around Lake Remembrance in Blue Springs.
