Running A Fowl

I'm a little behind. This actually feels like it should be my Monday. I woke up this morning ready to conquer my week and all that goes with it...only it's Thursday. Oops. I'm just a few days behind. Last week Josiah and I went to my parent's farm. I plan to post on all the fun we had, but I am waiting to pirate some of my mom's pictures on our next visit this weekend. Josiah had a blast. He ran with the dogs, fished and romped and stomped all over the farm. We also volunteered a few days at the Nursing Home my mom works at in Joplin. I will have to write a little about his experiences later...let's just say he made many friends.

Our summer has been fairly busy. As usual we are poorer than Job's turkey (I have some questions about Job's turkey that can't be answered in this breezy blog post) so we are making our own fun! We are fortunate to live in a town that has lots of great parks and free things to do. This week Josiah and I loaded up a few water bottles & apples and made our way over to one of the best kept secrets in Springfield. It's really not a secret, but I everytime we go I can't believe that something so lovely and well-maintained is free! It is the Botanical Gardens. Flora, Fauna, Wildlife. What more could a girl ask for (other than a mani-pedi)?

Warning: This post contains lots 'o pictures. I am practicing taking shots that don't decapicate folks.


We aren't sure who this fella is. But he looked like he needed a hug.

One of the great adventures at this park is feeding the ducks & geese. Unfortunately, after we had taken our walk through the park we went  up to the new Botanical Center building and saw a little flyer there "Please don't feed the ducks & geese." Ooops.

This guy is going after our  bread contraband. Look at his beak. Nobody told him about the "Do Not Feed.." policy.

There were some very lovely Canadian Geese there. This momma had babies she was watching out for.  She stared me down like nobody has ever stared me down before.

Her babies. Little Canadian Geese. They are kinda of ugly ducklingish. But don't tell their momma I sad that.

Momma Goose eventually started hissing at Josiah. Nobody hisses at my baby. I was raised in the country. I know my fowl. And geese can be pretty ornery. We took our illegal bread and moved on.

Except that then we ran into him. Isn't he a cutie?

This is the English Garden. I like to look at it and imagine that I have just waltzed out of Pemberley to find Colin Firth...Never mind. 

A new addition to this park. Where there is something to climb....The boy must climb.

And make crazy faces.

And more crazy faces.

There we go. Caught him with a 'normal face." I also realized that my camera was on the 'dusk' setting. Let there be light!

Lilies. Love lilies. I love the name Lily. But there is a small issue. I am allergic. Put me in a room with a lily and my sinuses start to close up and fall out. If that's possible.

Which has been a problem for me from time to time. Years ago when Troy and I were youth pastors our church had a tradition of filling the church with live Easter Lilies. Cue snot. I can barely look at a silk lily without wheezing.

Look Mom! These flowers are tall! Yes. And they look like they might reach out and grab me at any minute. Anybody got a kleenex?

There were many more beautiful spots in the gardens. So much so that when we walked past this tree, Josiah said, "Look, Mom! A naked tree!" Just don't climb it Josiah. I don't want hordes of botanists after us...We are already in trouble with the Fowl Folks.

Last picture and stop of the day. The new playground by the new Botanical Center building is pretty cool. But my boy is a swing kind of guy. He headed straight towards the swings and there he stayed.  That is until I told him we were going to go to McDonald's for one of those .49 cones. He's got his priorities after all.