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Once a year Shawnee Mission Park has a "free" day, where there is no charge to fish, use a boat, or play on the beach. The price piqued my interest, and since the weather decided to cooperate AND we had some time, we headed over for some afternoon fun.

We picked out a paddle boat and cruised around the lake.

Will helped steer, which led to lots of going around in circles.

We pretended we were on a pirate ship and the water was full of pretend sharks and orcas. I'm pretty sure Will was telling us all about the "scary, pretend orcas" close by.

The jungle was full of "wild animals."

Lauren got tired of the boat much faster than the rest of us, so we peddled back to the marina and walked over to the "beach." It was pretty overcast all day, so the park wasn't very busy. Just as we got to the beach the workers we trying to close up early. Things got tense for a minute as we persuaded the workers to let us in. Thankfully, the manager relented and let us play on the beach for a bit. I felt bad that the lifeguards had to stay when they had been planning on leaving early, but I also didn't want to deal with kids who had been promised beach time and didn't get it. The sign CLEARLY STATED their hours, and we got there within that time.

 

 Lots of digging.

Filling a bucket with water.

Teaming up to make a mess.

Offering a bite of sand, after partaking of some herself.

As you can see, the sky was a bit ominous, but it never rained. It was perfect play on the beach weather.