Little fish!

Our granddaughters are on a swim team in their town and last week we got to go to one of their swim meets.  

  The drive there is always beautiful!  

The clouds were looking dark and we could see rain - again.  We have had lots and lots of rain.  The farmers haven't been able to get out to harvest.

When we got there, Hannah was about to begin her first race.  

Sophia was running around with her team mates, waiting for them to call her number.

As the number for their race is called over the intercom, if they've forgotten what number they are, there it is, right on their arm!

Hannah had just spent a week at camp and was pretty tired, but she was a champ and did a great job!

  Claire and Mommy were encouraging Hannah.  "Go, Hannah, Go!"

 
Her friend, Emma, also cheering her on!
After the race, Emma was so excited for her and letting her know how great she did!

 Between the races for the girls, the families hang out.




Mom brings along activities and food to enjoy.  It is such a fun family time!

During the race, little Claire wanted to play in the water.

"No" Daddy tells her.

Sophia

 The girls both placed 1st in a few events and also placed high in others.  They are just loving swim team!

The drive home was just beautiful!   I love the Kansas countryside!
Al and I were saying we are so glad not to live in a big metropolis!

 I love this farmstead!  The barn is built out of limestone that is in this area.

 Our son sent some pictures of their kids, who are taking swim lessons in Arkansas.

They are little fish too!

Springtime flowers and birds

I found some pictures from spring I hadn't posted.

I enjoy puttering in the yard and planting things.

Some of my flowers haven't survived.  I'm not the best gardener.  I try.  These pretty flowers are currently not flowering.  I fertilize but who knows.


The birds really like the post that this is hanging on.

The orioles have migrated on.  

The barn swallows are persistently trying to make a nest above our front door 

but my husband keeps discouraging that.  

It is not too pleasant for guests to be greeting by swooping swallows

 or the front porch littered with bird doodoo.

I will have a post or two about the robins later.

Sometimes the oriole would come try the hummingbird's sweet nectar.

 The hummingbirds have also moved on but they will be back in the fall.

We won't see the orioles until next spring.  Someone reminded me that it still is spring officially.  With children out of school and muggy, hot weather, it feels like summer.  It is just a couple of days away!

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;

And give us not to think so far away

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here

All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh. give us pleasure in the orchard white,

Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;

And make us happy in the happy bees,

That swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird

That suddenly above the bees is heard;

The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,

And off a blossom in mid-air stands still.

For this is love, and nothing else is love,

The which it is reserved for God above

To sanctify to what ends He will,

But which it only needs that we fulfill.

Robert Frost

Hippos....part 2

I forgot to mention something about the owl from part one of this post.   The trainer told us that if humans had the same proportion of eyeballs to head that owls did, our eyeballs would be the size of softballs!

Maybe we would look more like Japanese anime characters then!

What does this belong to??

The kids were sad that we couldn't see the hippos from under water like at the Wichita zoo.

And we were a little disappointed in the boat ride.  The one at our zoo takes you by a couple islands with monkeys on them.  This just took you from one point of the zoo to the next.  A very short ride with nothing really to see.  But the rest of the KC zoo was awesome!!

Stopping for lunch.

The goose was having his lunch too.  

There is a lot of area to cover.  Lots of walking.

And some tired children!

This baby was only 2 weeks old!

We were getting pretty hot and this ice-cream was the BEST!

The kids took in a nap on the way back to the hotel.  A good rest time before the evening wedding.

What a great weekend we had with Josh's family and with everyone else at our 2 nephews' weddings!