Zoo-riffic Sunday

Yesterday Adam and I decided to take the kids to our local zoo. We packed a picnic lunch and headed out. Last year my sister bought us a membership to the zoo and we still had a handful of free passes to get in that weren't used. Lucky for us they had no expiration date. Whoohoo! I love saving cash. So we went inside and staked out a nice table with some shade. We ate our sandwiches, string cheese and Fritos. Then a few pictures with the Niabi Gorilla were taken. Some of The Warren's like to ham it up more than others, can you tell?






After that it was off to the train for a ride around the park. I've loved riding this train since I was a kid. This year, though, Niabi has a new train. I was happy to see, however, that it looks exactly the same only, well, new! The one thing though I think that was different about the train was the engine. I don't remember what the original engine looked like but I think this one is sleeker looking. Also in front of the car Emily and I rode in was a big car with no seats and there were straps and harnesses on the floor. This one was for people in wheelchairs. I can't believe I never realized that people in wheelchairs can't ride the train! Well, we can't say that anymore because they're all over it now! I thought that was pretty cool and obviously, a long time coming.







After the train we began our trek around the place. First we saw the elephants, Babe and Sophie. This picture is of Sophie.





After that was a dinosaur and then we fed the fish, ducks, swans and geese.








Adam loves, loves, LOVES monkeys, especially the miniature marmasets. They're about 6 inches tall or so and are black with a white mohawk. Our zoo used to have them and you could find them in the aviary with all of the birds. They were so cute. You could then head over to the primate display and see lots of different types of monkeys. One of the last times we went to the zoo last year we found no mini marmosets, and no other monkeys really except two kinds, the black and white colobus, and the gibbins. We asked once on our way out what happened to all of the other monkeys and some employee, who for some reason didn't seem to notice they were missing about 52 different type of primates, said, "Well, I don't know. Sometimes we trade animals. Maybe we traded them for the giraffes." (The zoo had just aquired a few giraffes like 2 weeks before this) That seemed outrageous to me. What kind of a zoo trades a few dozen monkey for three stupid giraffes??? It still honks me off everytime I go there. The monkeys are like the only animals in the zoo you can somewhat interact with. They actually DO something as opposed to just standing there staring, sleeping or eating. They swing from vines and hang upside down and scream monkey love songs at other monkeys. Guess what the giraffes do? They stand there, and sleep and eat and one giraffe is really rude and just stares at you. Here he is after Adam started making a ruckus and yelling at Blake for some Blake-like thing he was doing.




HELLO MRS. CRAVITZ!


Anyway, after feeding the pond creatures we headed to the gibbins display. First we checked out the gibbin behind the glass because he was sitting right there next to the glass. Then we realized he was "hooting" to the other gibbin so we went around to the outside so we could hear and see them more. The noise they were making to each other was really cool and soon Adam and the kids got in on the action. Well that just made them "hoot" louder. Then one gibbin wanted to check out the Warren's to see who was hooting. This guy got right in front of Emily and looked at her like this...




...and hooted back at her. It was funny. See? Way more interaction than we got from ANY OTHER animal. Stupid zoo and their trades. Let's trade off that big bear that just lays in his cage and never, ever comes out to play in his sprawling yard and pool! Or what about those sleeping camels?


So from there we headed to the petting zoo where the kids got to take advantage of the pony ride tickets their daddy bought for them as we came in. Blake rode on a pony named Little John. I know, right? "Can I get a YEAAAAAY! OOOOO-KAAAAAY!!"




Emily rode on "Snowflake". They had fun but the stopping so the ponies could poop was pretty disgusting. Blech!




We made our way into the rest of the petting zoo so the kids could get their hands slimed by a bunch of goats. All Blake could say was, "What a good boy! What a good boy!"


After the petting zoo came the African Walkabout where you can walk around with Emus and Wallabys. Also in there is the lorikeet landing where you walk amongst a ton of lorikeets flying around and you can buy a little cup of nectar and feed it to them. This is where I literally got crapped on by a lorikeet on a branch above my head. Luckily it wasn't TOO bad and luckily I didn't take another step forward 10 seconds later or else I would have gotten it again. Grody.


Then we rounded the corner and saw those nosey giraffes...




...a bunch of birds in the aviary where Adam got friendly with a Macaw...




...and the lions.




By this time we were all pretty tired and kinda hot so we headed home. I love the zoo!

Some Open Letters:

Dear Country Music:

I won’t do it anymore. I won’t willingly listen to you anymore. You’re just too sad. The times that you’re not sad you’re just too, well, corny! I’m no longer willing to fill my empty time with your non-sense. If you’re on the radio at work when I get there, then I’ll change the station. I won’t be saddened by sick people who enjoy singing about sad things just to have something playing in the background of my work day. There’s enough sadness in the world without these crazy people in cowboy hats, pointy boots and large belts willingly singing about more. Ever hear of Debbie Downer? Your every song is her theme music. Good luck to you.




Dear local and state police departments:

Thanks for not pulling me over on my way home Friday night as part of your area-wide safety checks. I have no reason to think you would have found anything wrong. All of my lights, turn signals, etc. are working. I have a valid license, insurance and registration. I wasn’t drunk, although a little tired from being at work for 10.5 hrs. Despite all of this, with my luck, I’m sure I would have been ticketed for SOMETHING. Anyway, thanks for letting me slide on by and be on my way.

FAIL

I don't know if you've ever checked out, or even HEARD of the fail blog but it's basically a blog filled with hilarious pictures of times where things just, well, failed! One quiet night at work I went through a bunch of the pictures and I would like to share my favorite one that just really made me laugh out loud.





OMG, the look on this guy's face is a classic. Just by the look on his face you can see that his whole day has been like this and this is just about the last thing he can take. In fact, he might even cry. I think we've all been there at our own jobs. Maybe not at a restaurant but wherever you call your place of employment. That day where you get up late, there's no hot water, you poke yourself in the eye with your mascara wand, realize you left your car window down and it rained last night, get stuck in the longest line of traffic because at the last minute you moved to what you thought was a faster lane of traffic only to have three cars crash and pile up 50 feet in front of you, you get to work and remember you were supposed to pick up the receptionist's birthday cake from the bakery and everyone looks at you like you're a schmuck. Then, your computer gets infected with a virus and instead of the semi-hunky IT guy, you get stuck with Steven, the 5'3" 110 lb dweeb with a pencil thin mustache and terrible B.O. He's slow as molasses and likes to talk about the bowling league he's on with his mother. Finally it's your lunch break. You decide to blow off a little energy by taking the stairs instead of the elevator. As you're decending the final staircase that is open to the front lobby you catch your heel on your pant leg and skid down the stairs on your shins, back of your head and tops of your feet. You lay spread eagle at the bottom of the stairs and pray for a concussion that takes you to a sweet blackout for the rest of the week. When you open your eyes, there stands your boss, your cubemate who's always kissing your boss' ass and Josh, the semi-hunky IT guy. Right about now is also when you realize you've ripped a hole in the crotch of your pants...

Yep, that's the kind of day this guy has had...more or less.


Check out the fail blog at www.failblog.org