Halloween 2012

 Our zoo does "Night of the Living Zoo" trick or treat

They have candy stands, games, treats and fun decorations

it was a fun brisk night

 some was zoning out

 I love seeing all the carved pumpkins

some were very traditional and others exotic

you can go the day prior to trick or treating and carve a pumpkin that they will display

 London wanted to be a pirate this year

I had all kinds of neat ideas swimming around my head

but I was informed that she wanted to be Izzie - from Jake and the Neverland Pirates

I tried to get her to wear and patch - but was informed that Izzie doesn't wear one

I tried to get her to carry a sword - but Izzie doesn't have one - she has pixie dust

If you don't know Izzie - you can check her out on the Disney Jr Channel

So here is my Izzie

 it's Halloween - you have to have your picture taken with a black cat

good luck - right?

 and my sweet little bat 

who did not want to do any posing for mam ma 

this was London's costume

London in 2008

 the bat is done taking pictures

we miss trick or treating with our neighbors who moved this past year

but had some fun new ones to go with

 Russ found this giant hot dog for supper

Russ' pumpkin

London cleaned out the guts

and Russ carved

 Another successful Halloween

the only disappointment I had

None, not one Twix candy bar was to be found in London's or Kennedy's bag!

17 Years

It is a sad day at the Thomas House

We lost a loved one today

For 17 years Truman was part of my life

Everyone loved him - cat loves and non cat lovers

It's crazy - he was just a cat I tell myself

but I know he was more - he was family

All his little quirks will be missed

drinking out of the sink

his little conversations he would have with you

or better yet - something jumping on your head in the middle of the night

never could figure out how he squeezed between Russ and I in bed and was never squashed

Here are some pictures I found 

some might be blurry from scanning in

First day I got him - He was a Valentine's present

He was only 8 months old from the Humane Society

(Russ asked me if I was 16 yrs old in this picture - funny one)

so cute

 one of my favorite pictures

always climbing on the dishwasher lid if it was open

 I can't begin to tell you all the places we would find him sleeping

 Best buddies - never saw 2 males cats get along so well

(they slept like this together all the time)

Nixon will miss having his playmate

I will miss these two in the morning in the bathroom with me

London gave him lots of love - he tolerated her well when she was little

It hurts to know that it was time for you to go

Honestly, I think I thought you were going to live forever

Thanks for being the "World's Best Cat"

sleep

Lesson #58

sleeping children  - one of the best things to photograph in life

KS Road Trip

Saturday we took a road trip with Mike, Becca & Cody

We took them to Mushroom Rock State Park at Kanopolis Lake

it's about an hour drive for us

The lake is beautiful and you can hike, camp, ride horses, swim, fish and so on

We were here about three years ago with the kids

the rocks are pretty cool and there are some to climb on

it would also be a nice area for a picnic

This is the largest one out of all three of them

just sitting out in the middle of nowhere

Aunt Becca helping London climb up one of the round rocks

they are very interesting to look at

Russ helping Cody climb up

Once he was on top - he wasn't too sure about being up that high

We drove around the lake checking out all the sights

Russ has run the Horse Thief Canyon race

this is where the race ends

We all had to take a hike up to see what was at the top

the lake was really down this summer

you can see behind Cody that normally this is filled with water

Once we were done scouting out the lake we headed to Lindsborg for lunch

We at a local tavern and had some mile high sandwiches

We decided to have some education about Lindsborg

and went through the Mill Museum 

We learned about the town and the flour mill 

 a few pictures of the mill

it was good time

Thanks Mike and Becca for joining us to see a piece of KS

If you have nothing to do some Saturday - go check out Kanopolis lake

Next summer we plan on some camping trips