Puddles, Purses, and Pumpkins

Last Thursday we took our weekly trip to the zoo...actually, maybe our second trip that week. It was a much cooler morning then we have had all summer, and the animals were frisky! Every single animal was out and moving about. The ones who have water in their exibit were walking in and out of the water. We even saw the tapirs running, giraffes playing with each other, and lions batting at grass in their enclosure. But, the most active, wild and crazy animal of all is pictured below.
The mommy giraffe and baby giraffe were recently weaned, and the baby giraffe is inside a small area on the side of the exhibit. The daddy giraffe is still in the exhibit, next to the baby, and comes over to visit. Here he is, standing next to the baby giraffe.

Some of Jack's favorite animals at the zoo....the bongos!

Took a quick break to pose by the sign leading into our favorite part of the zoo - home of the rhino, zebra, giraffe, elephant, lion...and more!

As beautiful, bright and sunny as Thursday was, this weekend was the exact opposite. It rained and rained and rained, both Saturday and Sunday. It rained hard for hours and hours. And, our backyard turned into a pond...complete with two ducks and an unidentified bird. In an attempt to attract more ducks to our yard (for Jack, who constantly calls for them when he is outside), Matt went outside and threw them some bread. They weren't very interested...but Hokie liked it when we played outside Sunday morning. Since we couldn't do much playing outside this weekend, when the rain let up for a bit, we took advantage and did some puddle splashing. I did a little splashing...until my boot sprang a leak. Then, I left it up to Jack.
Our backyard pond was pretty deep....

So deep, the water went over the top of our boots....they had to dry out after our splashing excursion.


While Jack and I were out splashing, Matt was inside watching Navy whoop up on USC (ok, maybe they didn't win, but they sure did scare 'em). Apparently while Matt was watching football, Emma was using up all of our anytime minutes.

The constant theme this weekend, cooler weather. The evenings and mornings have been crisp, and even the leaves seem to know fall is coming....

So, we decorated!

Jack's artwork wall is starting to fill up! He really enjoys walking by the wall and pointing to his pictures, telling me about them.

Today's artwork is Jack's shape house. Miss Debbie, his teacher, asked him what stickers he wanted. He said he wanted the one of Mommy, Daddy and Jack. Then she asked if he wanted the sticker of a mommy and baby for his baby sister. He then proceeded to tell Miss Debbie and Miss Kelley that he did not have a baby and he did not have a sister. I think he probably wishes he didn't most of the time!

The funniest part of our zoo trip...the tapir enclosure. We couldn't figure out why this one tapir kept running away from the other one...UNTIL we got to the sign :)