Errands with a Twist

   Since gasoline has gone up in price in the last few years, it really has affected how we do our errands.  We usually makes us cram as many as we can stand into a half of the day since we do most of our big shopping 1/2 hour away in either Topeka or Lawrence.  In order to have happier kiddos while we did our necessary stuff, we took some fun side trips too (plus we get to include them on our flat traveler journals!).
  Our first scenic stop was Burnett's Mound on the edge of town.  It had been a long time, over 20 years, since I've been to the Mound and I thought it would be a fun, cheap thing to do for our Flat Travellers.  The Mound has a legend associated with it and when the tornado of 1966 roared through, it was expected that the Mound would protect the city.  Unfortunately it didn't and my grandparents, who lived a few blocks from it watched it come right over and into the city.  I had to look up the legend and it turns out that once upon a time a tornado tore across the Kansas prairie killing many of the Potawatomie tribe, some family members of Abram Burnett (who the mound is named after).  Apparently, after gathering and preparing the bodies for burial, with prayer and ceremony, the tribe asked that the Great Spirit bless the mound and the area where the bodies were laid to rest and protect all in its shadow.  You can find the story here...http://www.wiskigeamatyuk.com/Burnett_Mound_Story.html

view of the mound

It has a wonderful view of the city.  We respected the closed barrier and didn't go all the way to the top today, much to Bubby's dismay.
  Our next fun stop was the zoo.  We didn't stay long, I was mostly there to renew my Friends of the Zoo membership to be ready for homeschool zoo class in a couple of weeks.  I let Mookie and Bubby pick their two favorite animals to see.  Bubby picked the alligators, which are on loan from another zoo. The really cool attraction is the albino!

   They have a bunch of alligators that you can feed too.  Shorty thought that was awesome, although they weren't too hungry.  Mookie chose the black bears, and we were glad to see one out and about.  The kids were bummed to leave so soon, but field trip Friday is the Kansas City Zoo - we don't want to get zoo'd out:)