Meg in Mama's Dresses

This was a dress and pinafore my mom saved that I (the only girl) wore when I was a little girl. We brought it home from Ohio after cleaning closets this summer. Meg Elizabeth is 14 months here, just getting used to toddling around.

She wasn't comfortable with this little step into the shop. 2 inches is a big deal at her size!

There's something so sweet about little people!

Another day Caroline tried on this other outfit that I used to wear. It is supposed to be a dress with bloomers, but looks like shorts and top on Meg! She's a bit old for this one!

But still our Little Lovin' !

Wichita Zoo

Thursday morning, Sept 19, we got up before daylight to get our breakfast at Krispy Kreme before the 9:30am session at the zoo started. We were still a little late, so, walked through the North America part of the zoo until the next sessions of Wetland Magic and Menu Mania.

We also went through the jungle area and spotted colorful birds, bats, and fish.
Meg took a morning nap in the backpack carrier while we listened to the 3rd session about zoo careers.

We met our Medicine Lodge friends for a picnic lunch...

...then spent a lot of time watching the chimpanzees and orangutans. They both had little 2 year old apes that frolicked around the pen and with the adult primates. Flipping, swinging, picking, tumbling, poking, flopping. So amusing!

Then we walked through the Australia habitat and almost ran into a kookaburra perched on a low branch.

After the gorillas and Asia, we ended up in Africa. Riley wanted to see the exotic birds again and the girls wanted to see the funny apes another time, so one last peek before exiting the zoo.

It was a lovely fall day; nice to be out , and nice to see the animals up and moving around!

Talk Like A Pirate Day

Our state homeschool association conducted a special TPA Zoo Safari Day at the Sedgwick County Zoo. We planned to attend for a fun family day. I also received an email that touted free doughnuts from Krispy Kreme on Pirate Day, which happened to be the same Thursday that we would be in Wichita! Hurray for a double deal! Our family nominated "Daddy" to be the sea robber (in case they asked any hard or scary questions...plus he is really good at shooting from the hip & being funny). However little Cora did not want to miss out on the dress-up occasion. So here are the buccaneers ready to plunder the doughnut shop.

Cora wasn't exactly sure how to make a scary face!

Shannon didn't want to travel 11/2 hours in his costume, so we assembled after arrival in the parking lot. Cora forgot her eye patch at home and we improvised with a baby headband in the diaper bag.

Shannon was the only one of our family that had ever been inside a Krispy Kreme store, so we paused to watch the assembly line of doughnuts being flipped and fried (and thrown away if they weren't perfect, gasp! sigh!).

Here are the Bowman pirates ready to demand the bounty! 
The employees barely batted an eye, but the customers gawked! Several moms with their under school age children dressed as cutesy pirates were impressed with the real-looking one!

Very quickly the doughnuts were snatched (before I could even take a picture of the whole dozen)!

Hot, original glazed...A sweet treat for sure! Worth the effort and memories!

Now on to the zoo!

A Little White Paint

Upon finding white paint in the basement cellar, Riley proceeded to paint his trapping shop area while Daddy and helper coated the propane tank. What a nice bright face-lift a new coat of paint gives!

Thankfully the clothes stayed pinned to the line! Woo, these gusty Kansas days!

Annie is 11!

Annie chose for her special day to have a full agenda of various games. Spoons, Apples to Apples, Uno, Go Fish, Scrabble, and more! She had a few gifts to open as Mamaw Rose had sent home treats from her stash when we were going through closets in July. (Actually they had just never got moved in from the garage yet, so it was fun to make a pretty surprise out of a couple books. Yes, we still have unpacked boxes in the garage, ack!)

Annie mostly made her own birthday meal: Sandwich Loaf, Gourmet Potatoes, Salad, and Dirt Dessert Cake.

After evening Bible Study, friends came over...

more games, more gifts, more fun!