We were greeted officially by a man ( Tom) and what appeared to be some orange traffic apparatus waving us into our parking spots (we would later find out they were orange flags to mark poison ivy). We trekked up a bit of a hill to the back of the Manney’s home to find ourselves in front of a giant metal statue glistening in the bright sun. Soon we were to learn that it was actually a solar panel that tracks the sun for optimum ability (built by our own Mark Moser). This way they create electricity out of a naturally occurring resource. They also heat their water up on the roof (makes sense!) and collect rain water to water plants! When Tom turned on the giant metal “sun flower”…there was an audible silence and then a collective “Wow”…as it moved to find the sun. Thank you for getting us all excited about renewable resources.

Tom and Monta invited us down to go through their green house where we saw amazing plants for Kansas, like a fig tree full of fruit (Jocelyn REALLY wanted one). They have giant tilapia fish swimming happily along, and what they eat grows in the green house too! The kids and adults alike were fascinated with the pollywogs….swimming around. Rose, Jocelyn and Owen spent a bit of time there, I thought perhaps daydreaming they were tadpoles?? And then there was the bright green tree frog,that Burke let hop on his arm to see his yellow legs. AMAZING!

Baby mosquitoes….I have to say, might have been one of the coolest things I saw, and only because I had no idea what I was looking at. We saw these little squiggly guys, looking like tiny fish, and Tom told us they were baby mosquitoes. All my years living out in the wilderness, and I had never stopped to see mosquitoes! What does that tell you about the pace of our lives. What a fun trip – I am so grateful our children got to have such a great experience. Thank you, thank you Tom and Monta!!