A Zoo

My people are taking Lily to Mizzou's Homecoming in a couple of weeks. They've been talking with her about it telling her how they're going to watch the Tigers play football and hopefully see Truman. The other day she asked "I wonder if there will be any animals to pet." My people were confused until they realized that she thought they were going to "a zoo", not Mizzou. I'm glad they got that cleared up. Otherwise she may have been pretty disappointed when they got to Columbia and didn't find any goats to pet.

Fall Leaves...or Lack Thereof

One of Lily's favorite Fall activities is raking leaves into a huge pile and jumping in them. The other day she asked my tall girl person if they'd do that again this year. The answer came automatically "Yes, of course." Then it dawned on her that all of the big trees that dropped tons of leaves in the yard are gone. That's good news and bad news. No more raking (yea!), but also no more jumping in piles of leaves (boo!). Also, no more pretty Fall colors. What a bummer. Yesterday morning my tall girl person walked the kids over to where the Pattonville Homecoming Parade was going to come by. On their way there, Lily saw a yard with some leaves in it. She said "Maybe we can put some of those leaves in a bag and take them home to jump in them."

Before (picture taken in 2004)

After (2011)


Quite a difference. We'll all miss the gorgeous flaming orange maple tree.

The Whale Monstrosity

Over Labor Day weekend, my people thought the kids should have an opportunity to play in their whale pool at least once this summer before the weather turned too cool. They ended up getting two nice evenings to swim and had a blast in the water. Click on the album below for pictures and please pay no attention to the missing fence sections or broken boards. Repairing the fence is on Baldy's very long list of things to do. :)

First and Last Days in the Backyard Pool

Just Because