New Park in OP

For the past several month we have driven by this park near Leawood. It was under construction until last month and we finally had a chance to explore it. There's a splash pad attached to it, but it's closed due to the electrical lines underground. Hopefully that will be corrected by next summer. There's plenty of stuff to keep the kids busy for hours. There's even a nature section with an old fashion water pump. I also appreciate the mini picnic tables for the kids. There's nothing worse than a child falling off a concrete picnic table onto a concrete floor. There are parts that remind me of the Waterfront Park in San Diego.

If you are local it's definitely worth checking out. 

Shatto Dairy Farm

Most people around KC are familiar with Shatto Milk Company. They offer a variety of milk flavors that come in glass bottles AND you can even get home deliveries in some areas. What is cooler than having your own milk man?

The company has a country store on the Farm that is open most days. Last month they opened the Farm for family day and invited people to come out and experience a dairy Farm. While I would have loved to go with the whole crew I was ecstatic to learn that C's preschool was planning a trip there at the end of September. A private tour with 30 of your closets classmates instead of thousands of strangers - sign me up. 

Here is a description on Shatto from their website.

Shatto Milk Company is a small, family owned and operated, dairy farm located

just north of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The Shatto family has

been farming here for more than 100 years and began a dairy farm more

than 70 years ago. In June 2003 this family began processing their own milk on the farm.

The Shatto's decided to bottle their own milk for the purpose of providing their

customers with the freshest and best tasting dairy products possible.

 

The cows in action

Milking a Cow. It's harder than it looks. 

The white cow was only 2 days old. 

It was a fun day spent with my eldest. We learned about cows, how milk is made and how it ends up in our local grocery store. I think I might enjoy future field trips with my kids as much or even more than they do.

Fall Apple Picking

One of my favorite fall activities is apple picking. We started going apple picking as a family last summer and it brought back memories of my childhood.

We found an orchard close to our house and checked it out last weekend. While I wasn't super impressed we found a bag of apples and enjoyed our afternoon. Many of the apples were rotten or already on the ground, so it made finding good ones difficult. E picked up EVERY apple he could and threw them. I guess that's what we thought about our trip.

The apple doughnuts and frozen cider were delicious.

We used the apples to make apple butter this weekend. It's almost gone and was so yummy. We have since made another batch with the leftover apples and some additional ones. If you like Apple Butter, this one is definitely worth trying. 

Fall TV Line Up

I love fall for many reasons and one of them happens to be the return of tv. Every year I get hooked on new shows, because of binge watching them on Netflix over the the summer, and loose a few shows that don't keep my attention.

Hopefully I can keep up with all these shows over the season.

Sunday Night

No idea where they will go after last season, but I have hope.

Monday Night

It's one of those shows that I can watch while doing things around the house and with kids. 

Tuesday Night

I haven't seen the premiere but everyone on social media is loving this show. I hope it lives up to the hype. I fear like other good shows it will get cancelled. 

Love this show. What more is there to say. 

Wednesday Night

If you haven't seen this show, you are missing out. It's hysterical. 

NEW Show - I need another lighthearted comedy to go with all my dramas. Hopefully this one has potential.

NEW Show - I loved 24, so I'll give this one a try.

I started watching this last year and made it almost all the way through the first season. It's one I'll probably drop, if I pick up anything new. 

Thursday Night

So much tv on one night!

This is one of the few shows that David and I watch together. We started watching last year and were hooked.

Every year I think I'm going to drop this show, then I get sucked back in. The show premiered while I was in college and we used to watch it as a group on Thursday. 

I'm not sure how I felt about the last season, but I'll give this show another shot. 

NEW SHOW - This will probably be a big miss and get canceled, but I'm willing to give it a try. 

Friday Night

The move to Friday nights if it still live on that night really threw me last season and I almost forgot about it, but I do still enjoy it. 

This isn't a new show, but its new to me. I binged 5 seasons right after Benny was born and finished the 6 season last night thanks to Netflix. I think part of my love comes from having visited Hawaii last year and recognizing the sites. 

There are several additional cable shows that will premiere mid season that I will keep my eye on and I might pick up another show Scream Queens but I haven't seen the first season. I will also keep up with Law and Order: SVU because how can you not and probably ditch Scandal as I couldn't get into last season. I will miss Nashville, but I think it was picked up by another network but no idea when it premieres. 

What shows am I missing?

Kansas Sunflowers

When we moved back to the Midwest or more specifically Kansas I'll admit I became giddy at the thought of watching the sunflowers bloom. Now, I had no idea what to expect, but I thought there would be sunflowers everywhere, right, it is the Sunflower State after all. I quickly learned the sunflowers bloom in the fall and your more likely to see wild sunflowers than the large ones you see featured in ads and photos. I also learned that you'll need to find a farm that grows sunflowers to experience these beauties.

I googled "kansas sunflower farms" and was directed to Grinter Farm in Lawrence. I happened to find the page at the right time as the sunflowers were almost at peak bloom. "Farmer Ted" opens up his 40 acre farm each year to the public for FREE.

We decided to head to the farm over the weekend. We had been warned to go early to avoid the crowds and line. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was AMAZING. We had almost no trouble finding a spot and dragged the kids out for some pictures. They preferred getting lost in the fields than posing for photos. I can't say I blame them. I wasn't expecting the flowers to be taller than the kids nor did I anticipate the heads to be as large as they were. We didn't venture to far into the fields since we brought along the stroller. As we were leaving we passed fields and fields of flowers. Next year I'd love to venture further into the fields. We did see our fair share of wild sunflowers on our way and in the field behind our house, which are beautiful in their own way.

We picked the perfect time to go as the sheriff shut down the road later that day. Thousands upon thousands of people came out experience the sunflowers. A big THANK YOU to the Grinter family for sharing their farm with half of Kansas and Missouri.