All We Needed Was The Ark!

My friend Alissa invited the girls and I, along with her two sons, Dylan and Brooks, to go with them to the zoo yesterday. The morning dawned bright and beautiful, and though it was hot and a little muggy, we thought it would be a fun little adventure. We packed lunches, loaded kids and strollers, and were off!

One of the first things we stopped to look at was the "Ghost of the Bayou", or the big white alligator. That thing is freaky looking if you ask me, and apparently couldn't survive in the wild, because it's too obvious to predators, and would get badly sunburned from lack of pigment. Sounds like Darwinism in action! Anyway, the kids were pretty fascinated by the pasty beast, and Dany especially didn't seem anxious to leave. (Don't you just love that hat, by the way?) We went into the primate building, where Maisie looked into one of the glass habitats and said, "Is that a Pygmy Marmoset?" Thank you Diego!

The weather stayed good as we moved throughout the park, seeing elephants, rhinoceroses, bears, zebras and giraffes. As we made our way toward the large cats, large clouds started rolling in, but even then Alissa and I both thought we'd get no more than a light sprinkle. Not so. To quote Forrest Gump, it was "Big ol' fat rain". It suddenly seemed like a good time for lunch. We found a nice grouping of tables, protected overhead by a mesh covering that allowed a very slight, cooling mist through. It appeared to be the perfect place to wait out what was sure to be a quick summer storm. Again, not so. As we looked out on the rain around us, we watched it increase to quite the downpour. Still we felt nice and dry under our shelter. No sooner had Alissa said, "That mesh makes it so you get a nice mist," did the mesh seem to reach it's max capacity, and the 'mist' wasn't so nice anymore. We ran to move food, kids and strollers under a sturdier roof, amazed at how quickly we were getting soaked. The rain continued for quite awhile, increasing the humidity drastically, and making handy puddles for the kids to play in. This is a picture of Maisie looking up at the rain-soaked mesh:

Notice the concern. Unfortunately, the rain cut our zoo trip short. The train was closed, and the park (which we'd promised the kids we'd stop at when we were finished looking at animals) was sure to be a soaking, muddy mess. It was kind of a bummer to end our fun trip on that note, but we still got in several good hours of exploration. I loved listening to how excited Dany got when she would watch an animal in front of her. "Wow! Cool!" were heard often. Maisie and Brooks had a great time palling around together, and we were all grateful for a chance to get out of the house! Thanks Alissa!