Mamma's taking us to the zoo tomorrow

Now that the kids are back in school, it's kindof nice to take Sarah and Rachy to the zoo for some special attention. The animals were all very active and we got to see some cool stuff. Sarah wanted to see the "monkeys" first, then she pulled the wagon through the Austrailian exhibit. There were birds and animals out and about everywhere you turned. This blue parrot swooped down on us and nearly hit me. Sarah took some pictures that didn't quite make the cut-I don't see a professional photography career in her future. The playground was closed for repairs, but we ate at the picnic area, then headed to the gorillas. After I pryed Sarah away from the tv screen, we saw a gorilla tearing apart a cottonwood tree and beating his chest. Next we went to the tiger trek where we got to see the trainers feeding/training one of the female tigers. She was doing all kinds of neat tricks for her food. And we finally saw the red panda out of it's little log house! Next we passed the grizzly bear on our way to the otters (mommy's favorite). The bear was in the water, the otters were nowhere to be seen. The penguins were our last stop-only one penguin came to say hello. Rachy by this time was fast asleep and Sarah had to get home for a playdate. That's what we love about having a membership-we can come and go whenever we want.

Labor Day adventure

About a week before Labor Day I opened my spice cupboard, noticed a tin of almonds and remembered I was going to make granola. Thinking about granola reminded me of hiking and thence sprang the idea of going on a hike for Labor Day (it is now Sept 14and I still haven't made the granola, but we did go hiking). We drove out to Toronto Lake in the Flint Hills; passing thousands of acres of cattle grazing land. The kids would've done better if we had brought a video, but it wasn't too bad for a day trip. We played lots of I spy and 20 questions. The hike was beautiful and had lots of interesting nature for the kids to explore: Tunnel spider webs just off the trail, silk worm "webs" up in the trees, mushrooms, bridges, rocks-even some pretty large hills. Instead of granola, we stopped midway and snacked on food from our 72 hour kits (we need to rotate them anyway). More I spy on the trail; a tree?, a rock?, the sky? And the thing they loved the most: Keeping an eye out for the blue squares on the trees marking the trail. The only casualties were some chigger bites and Rachel threw up in the car on the way home. Ahhh, that's what memories are made of.

Goin to the drive-in

The kids had a primary activity in August and they really got into it. The invitation was a "ticket" and the kids carried their tickets around for weeks and got extras for their friends. It was a drive-in movie and they were encouraged to make cardboard cars to drive. Mike got some big boxes and went to work helping them design and build. Bekah's was a motorcycle attached to her scooter that she colored orange. Michael's was a jeep with black tires that took him forever to color.