Happy not-back-to-school day

Even though all the public schools around us started today, we did not. Both because I'm not ready and because I never start on the day the public schools do. Because I can. What we always do on the public school back-to-school day is to take advantage of really empty museums. This afternoon we headed to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. (Which has a really good family membership, by the way.) We joined our good friends the P family and the H-S family, so I suppose we looked like a large school group even if it didn't feel that way to us.  It was a good afternoon

My crew, waiting for our friends. It was really bright right here, which accounts for the funny expressions.

First we went to the small travelling exhibit on bicycles.

D. waiting to ride the big bike.

TM trying to get on a bike much too big for him.

K. in a cargo trailer

L. in the cargo trailer (G. wouldn't get in because the bike which was 'pulling' it was broken. It was a display and so the bikes were disabled. G. wasn't buying it.)

The highlight of the museum (in my opinion) is the butterfly exhibit.

Small birds and butterflies were all over.

L., G., P13, and K. looking at the koi.

P8, TM, and P9

Isn't this a cool butterfly? It looks just like a leaf.

This one was enormous.

The little girls were far more interested in the fish and spent a long time looking in the pool.

L.

G.

A. forgot her fancy camera (we'll have to go back again with it) and borrowed mine for a while. The next four pictures are by her.

I love this one!

L.

We ended up the day at the water tables. The best reason to come when this museum is really empty.

Tomorrow we're staying home. Being out and about so much means that not much laundry or anything else happens around the house. Plus, I think we're going to start our new job plan.