Houston Zoo!

I am a huge fan of the zoo! Unfortunately, my girls have been past the “zoo stage” aka they’re too cool for the zoo. Every first weekend of the month, I try and get Jordan to go to the zoo with me but she is always “too busy”. The Hubs never wants to go either. He says its’ for kids. Whatever!!! Everyone loves the zoo!!! We use to take the girls quite often when they were young. Since they’ve gotten older, he always has an excuse not to go.

Have I mentioned The Hubs is sort of a homebody?

Anyway, this past weekend, was the first weekend of November, and it was the weekend before my birthday so I figured maybe I could get away with negotiating the zoo somehow. Saturday, I was laid up all day because I had oral surgery Friday. I basically lived on Vicodin and Zquil all day. While sitting on the couch, he asks what I wanted to do for my Birthday. I told him I wasn’t into really celebrating (going out and drinking) this year. All I wanted was to go to the zoo.

“Why are you so much into this zoo thing?”
“Because they got Gorillas again! And a baby Giraffe. Come on, this weekend is free. We can go tomorrow”.
“Fine”

Yay!!!! He knows I am big into Birthday and the past couple of years I haven’t been so I felt I should take advantage of the situation.

Sunday rolls around and I had forgotten about the zoo honestly. I got up and made breakfast, straightened up the kitchen, etc. I was fixing to get up to do my “meal prep” for the week and remembered…. “Hey, it is zoo day”. I saw his face go blank. Hahahaha!!!! “I didn’t forget!”.

I ran and got dressed and we headed out. The weather is perfect this time of year. Well, when it is in the low 70s, that is “cool” so the animals are out. If it is too hot, they’re all in their houses and you can’t even find them.

Everyone had the same idea!!! It was packed. Somehow, we got a spot on the front row though! I told The Hubs it was meant to be, that God brought us to the zoo. He didn’t buy it but oh well.

For being number 50 in line, it went pretty fast. I thought us taking advantage of the free weekend thing through Bank of America would be a pain in the butt but it wasn’t. All you have to do is show your Bank of America card and your Driver’s license. That’s it!!!

Of course Greg had to get a map. He likes maps for some reason. Is that a man thing? Me, I just walk to what I want to see and it usually either ends me up in circles or I end up seeing everything. I have my favorites …

Gorillas
Giraffes
Sea Lions
Lions
Monkeys
Elephants

Well, we went in one of the buildings first. Then we headed out on the hunt. Everything seems bigger now that I am older. Usually, it is opposite but maybe it is all the trees have grown. For being so crowded, it wasn’t too bad. I admit, sometimes I wanted to cut in front of the kids so I could see better.

I don’t think he will admit it, but I think he enjoyed it. Next time, I don’t think it will take me ten years to get him there. And, with it being free (he just knew there was a catch) that helps things out. I remember the zoo was about $6.00 to get in. It is $16.75 now! Talk about inflation! Of course, I understand the animals need to be taken care of and they have improved some of their homes.

For instance, the Gorilla thing ( I can’t remember that word for home… ugh) is awesome!!! They have built the viewing part in several levels sort of like a tree house. It is pretty neat!! There are several benches to just sit and relax.

HABITAT!!! THAT’S IT!!!!

Now that I know the right word, I feel so much smarter! I did feel sorry for the leopard though. His habitat was so small. I mean, it was the same size as a few of the bird’s habitats. Oh well, I am sure it is all a work in progress.

After a few hours, we started getting hungry. For a bag of popcorn, it was $10.00. Um, no! I am not paying that. So, we headed out to get something to eat. When we got to the car, (remember we are in the front row) there were two cars waiting on us. We seriously considered sitting in the car for a couple of minutes then getting out and heading back in. Gosh, it was hard not to do!!!

The Flamingos was always Avery’s favorite when she was little… miss those days!
  

The leopard in his tiny home 😦

I wonder if they can see through the glass.  Poor guy!!!  There were like 75 people standing there taking pictures, kids screaming, etc.  Check out his feet !!!!

These creatures amaze me!  The line was too long to feed them so I opted out.   

I love Lions!!!  I would seriously have one as a pet if I could.
  

That’s a female !  I am sorry!!!  That would hurt sitting on those branches wouldn’t you think?

That’s a gorilla just sitting out chilling

I know the pictures suck!!!!  All those dang kids were in the way!