Franching: Firecracker fun

Have you ever noticed in a few days’ time things can change?  A few weeks ago, we had a larger pig in with our 4-H pigs.  She was born in November, they were all born in March.  ‘Mother’ left the group and now the other pigs are growing so fast.  She must have really been ‘hogging’ the food.
With just a few inches of rain there are suddenly more weeds and brush than South Central Kansas has seen in several years.  The pig weeds are not too noticeable until a little bit of rain and then they almost seem to grow a foot overnight. According to Wikipedia pig weeds “can grow from 2-5 inches in three days or less.  In only a few weeks, it can grow from 12 to 18 in compared to cotton at 5 to 8 in.”  So maybe growing a foot overnight might be an exaggeration, but still they can grow rapidly and the change is noticeable overnight.
The cousins all got together for the 4th of July and no one lost any fingers.  My son really likes to light firworks and it is so hard to impress on him that they are dangerous.
We all went out to Dodge City and of course went to Boot Hill.  There was plenty of information to read however, a certain 7 year old was my main focus.  Then we ate at Freddy’s, which the Illinois cousins had not ever ate at.  There was certainly plenty of food. 
After lunch we headed down to the Long Branch Water park.  They had a big pool for swimming, which included a big slide that most of the kids enjoyed.  A wave pool area was a fun part of the park.  The little kids five and under had a play area.  The adults liked the lazy river area.  All of the big kids spent a good part of the day riding the waterslides.  One had some spins and loops, the other had a fast drop into the cove area.