Thursday 7 May 2015

Over the weekend we...

Went to the Kansas Sampler Festival in Wamego, KS. And it was all thanks to one of the local bus drivers that we found out about the festival. Naturally, we took the free bus from Manhattan to Wamego. Jimmy was pretty excited to be taking the bus, although he almost fell asleep on the drive. When we arrived we may have looked for a Geocache before entering the festival (we didn't find it).
One of the first things we did was check out a few animals, and although they were in cages, Jimmy saw a kangaroo (and joey!) for the first time EVER! (The top photo is him looking at the kangaroo.) Although gray and small, this kangaroo and her joey are Red Kangaroos... 
 Another Australian, a long way from home, was this Inland Bearded Dragon, who was not happy to be on display - the flat, low belly is the tell-tale sign. Perhaps the lizard was feeling homesick and not enjoying the humidity of the day...
 Jimmy thought the Alpaca was pretty cute, and we may have mentioned that it was similar to a Llama, just so that he had some sort of point of reference even if it comes from a book. Jimmy may now be a little confused...
 This kid knew how to pose... 
 This kid enjoyed being back outside after we went through one of the tents - it was full of some of the most beautiful photos of Kansas I have ever seen, but it was rather boring for a toddler...
Naturally, being outside and using the play equipment was a lot more fun. The slides were a hit, but the round-about was lots of fun, even if Jimmy and Michael only went on it once... 
Something else that Jimmy only did once, was go on the train. It was funny: while we were on it, Jimmy showed no signs of enjoyment. None. Every photo Michael took of us shows a rather serious looking little boy. And when our train ride was over Jimmy said "ride train again", but we didn't. We missed the afternoon session, and Jimmy wasn't too upset. 
Festival food thanks to Lindsborg Swedish Folk Dancers. What is it? They call it "Viking on a stick" and it is pieces of rye bread and meatballs covered in batter and fried. Jimmy kept taking the bread and refused the meatballs and wanted to drink our 'ouchy hot' coffee - not happening.  
 The Kansas Sampler Festival is essentially a state tourism festival, that is hosted by a different Kansas city each year. They put on a good show and chose the location well: Wamego City Park is also the site of their local museum, which we checked out, much to Jimmy's annoyance. It was there that we saw this old cot. I'm a little relieved that cots no longer look like this...
The museum is also home to this loom... 
 And this seriously enviable trunk, although I would prefer it without the fox skins...
 Speaking of skins, this taxidermied bison was just amazing, as was the museums collection of arrowheads, some of which are behind the bison...
 This old wheel chair was parked in the museum's basement, between an old car on the right and on the left...
 Were some seriously old school sleds!
By the time Jimmy and I reached the farmyard set up, Jimmy was over the museum and wanted to be out of the Manduca and let loose in the museum. Naturally, it is a very bad idea to let tired toddlers loose anywhere, so we left and went to a part of the festival we hadn't been to yet, in search of something Jimmy might enjoy...
 And this is where we found even more kids and a few goats, and they were for the patting! It took a few minutes for Jimmy to warm to the idea that he could pat the kids, but he watched a few children and then me and decided he'd give it a go. And he did very well. He needed a little instructing, especially to make sure that the animals knew that he was there before patting them, but the kids were so accustomed to being patted that they didn't flinch when Jimmy patted them and they couldn't see them. The kid that want to nibble Jimmy's clothes was a different matter, but Jimmy handled that well too...
 Jimmy even patted this mega donkey, although in the photo I'm trying to get him to look at Daddy. Seriously, Michael and I have never seen a donkey this big. Thankfully, the donkey was very docile and we were able to let Jimmy feel the woolly coat of the donkey...
 Docile, he may have been, but that donkey was huge and there was no way I was going to let Jimmy's hands get near that mouth. There also seemed to be no way Jimmy was going to look at the camera and Daddy. Oh well. These last 3 photos were taken by Michael. Michael did out the camera aside long enough to pat the goats and the donkey.
We checked out a few more tents, the sun came out, and we saw this aeroplane. It was pretty cool and Jimmy was happy to have something interesting to look at - tourism tents are boring when you're under two, tired, and want to run around. We had a good look at the aeroplane, before heading to another tent or two. 

Jimmy was refusing to wear his hat, stay put, go in the Manduca, or do anything that Mum or Daddy wanted to do. He was happy to sample the foods that were on offer. When the time came, we headed to one of the music stages to see two members of our favourite local act performing some of their songs. Actually, I couldn't believe our luck when a) I found out that they would be performing (on both days of the festival) and b) that we were on the right side of the festival on the day we were there, so that we didn't have a long walk to see them. 
Michael took this photo. I was holding a sleeping little boy in my arms - the familiar music was enough to relax him and he passed out by the end of the second song. We really enjoyed seeing them, even if it was only Annie Wilson and Carl Reed from Tallgrass Express String Band. After their set, and after getting a sleeping Jimmy into the Manduca, I couldn't help myself and I told Annie that we were fans and we chatted for a few minutes. Definitely the highlight of the day for me.

We visited the remaining tents. Saw some sheep, and then... Oh gosh... Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh... I couldn't quite believe it: the 17 year cicada was due to emerge this spring. No, I did not "play it cool" - we will be keeping our eyes peeled for these babies in little under 2 weeks, possibly going on a late night walk, just to make sure that we do see them. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever actually get a chance to see the 17 year cicada, yet here it is. Oh gosh...

After all that excitement, we found a quiet place to sit in the shade to relax and run around a little, before we headed out of the festival to wait for our bus home. When we did get home, we were exhausted. Ok, so Jimmy somehow still had energy to jump off the retaining wall, but we were pooped and gladly accepted our neighbours offer of tea. 

Sunday was spent recovering from a day of being outside. It was a good weekend.

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