Hallozooween with the family

Yesterday we headed out to the zoo. Mariposa invited her friend "Smiley" along for the trip. Both girls are from Germany and they spent the afternoon and evening chatting away in German and having a great time. Bug had a great time too- he had momma all to himself for 5 hours with some love from Mariposa whenever he could get her attention. The gang- smiley, Mariposa, Momma and Bug. it was on the cool side, OK close to down right cold. Bug had flannel lined pants on and we all needed hoods (or long hair) due to the wind.

Since Halloween is fast approaching- the animals all get treats inside pumpkins- last years we saw the gorillas get treats, this year we watched the Japanese Maquacs (spelling is wrong) get theirs- they look like baboons, but they are not.

animal care staff putting out the treats.

We saw big boy- but Bug was having nothing to do with a walking/talking Big Boy.

My favorite tiger lover riding a tiger. he noticed (because he is getting taller) that there is a playground next to the merry-go-round. He insisted that we head there after the ride.

Mariposa and Smiley riding the merry-go-round.

Bug posing with the tiger.

then, off to the slides. He played here and we ate a late lunch. We also discovered that the soda/pop/cola machines at the zoo are a rip off- $3.00 for a 20 oz bottle!!!!!! We will be packing our drinks to the zoo from now on. We typically pack our lunch/snacks and a water bottle for each of us, but I left the water bottles at home since we had to carry more for the evening. More on that later.

Some loving on the train. And yes, I am not excited about my hair cut- this is what happens with your favorite sylist for 6 years looses her job and the salon she worked in refuses to tell you where she is working now. I have tried 3 other stylist at other salons and I hate them all, but this one the worst.

and some silliness

Some more posing

Bug saw this pea hen next to his stroller and decided that the hen needed some potato chips.

He was quite excited about the pea hen being so close.

We stayed after the zoo closed to go on a nature walk "creepy crawlies" . We had about a 60 minute wait- during which I should have moved the car, but I did not realize that I needed to move the car (more on that later). Bug took this time to run off some energy.

He helped Smiley run off some calories from the trail mix I brought for snack.

The nature walk took us to the reptile house- this lizard was just hang out.

Then we headed to the insect house (nothing suitable for the blog picture wise from there) and then we headed to the nocturnal house. here we saw a barn owl, some vampire bats, and lots of other cool animals.

like this cool fox

And this cutie hanging out in a hammock swing

After the walk- all the other families headed out to the near by parking lot- that is when I realized that we were in trouble. Our car was in the main parking lot!!!! Lucy, our guide, called security and we walked back to the front gate where the nice security guard opened the front gate, opened the security door and confirmed that the elevator was still working. We then headed down to the deserted parking lot. Of course, we had to stop by the rhinos. Smiley and Bug had a great time with the momma and baby rhino.

Bug can almost climb up on the baby

Smiley and Bug together

Momma had to join in. Mariposa was not feeling the family love and choose not to be in the picture- but she is an awesome photographer.

After the zoo- and the gates to the parking lot open automatically- we headed to dinner. Smiley has never had some of the local favorites, but unfortunately I don't know where they are in relationship to her house, so we opted for Mexican for dinner. We'll have her over for some Graeter's and Skyline.

That was our day- or at least our afternoon and evening.

We had a wonderful time tonight talking via Skype to Popi, Mireya, Susi, and Nigua via Skype. It is too cool.

Love and hugs,

Deb