When was the Last Time You Kissed a Gorilla?

For Aiden, it was 5 days ago. Last Saturday, we went to the zoo. (I'm just finally getting a few minutes to write about it). Mike's MBA program at the U does a friends & family day once a year...to say, "thank you for being such a good wife and allowing your husband to be gone two to three days out of the week...leaving you as the sole parent & (more importantly) sole diaper-changer for about half the week"...but I'm not bitter or anything. Anyway, back to the zoo. Aiden's favorite was definitely the gorillas (as can be seen by the above picture). As soon as we got to the window to look into their area, Aiden said,
"Monk!" (his version of
"monkey") and ran right up to the window that a gorilla was leaning against & kissed it! We, along with the folks around us, got a good laugh out of it. Finally, about 5 minutes...and 6 kisses later...we were able to pry him away from the "Monk". Connor's favorite wasn't an animal, it was the bronze statues of the animals. Every time he saw one, he would say, "Dad! Take a picture of me on this rhino" (or tiger, or gorilla, etc.) He also liked the elephant statue that squirted water out of his trunk. He would say, "Gross! That elephant just sneezed boogers all over those kids!" and then laugh like there was no tomorrow. What is it about bodily fluids that is so funny to little boys? I'll never understand! I was very impressed with Hogle Zoo though. I haven't been there since I was a little girl, but it was so much better then I remember it! As you walk around the zoo, they have docents waiting along the path with different animals that the kids can touch & pet. The kids got to pet a baby alligator & a giant African cockroach. You would have thought Aiden had died and gone to heaven! He is our animal lover & he just thought it was so cool to be able to "play" with them! We also really liked the Ghost of the Bayou (a white alligator). It took us back to our Louisiana days on Avery Island, remembering the time when Mike tapped his foot on the top of a stream & three hungry alligators almost attacked him! Ahhh...good times! After baking in the 102 degree heat for a few hours, we decided to cool off & eat some lunch. We got a little 12" pizza for $12 and shared it. Don't you love concession stands? But, at that point, I probably would have paid $50 for it. It was such a nice break from the heat to sit there undercover, with one of those little things that sprays mist & eat our greasy pizza, bottled water & creamies! At the end of the day, however, I was really wondering what was going through my mind earlier in the day when I decided to wear WHITE capris to the zoo. I had orange creamie on one leg, pizza grease on the other, and several brown nasty spots all over (I don't even want to think what they may have been). All in all, it was a great day! And, I'm happy to report that my capris survived! Thank you Era! --Lindsay