A Little Family Vacation (of Sorts)

Last week John attended a safety training in Houston.  Since Cora and I had precious little on our social calendars, we decided to tag along.  (Well, not for the training part.  It was about electrical safety and was pretty gruesome at that!  Nothing will scare you into following OSHA guidelines like watching videos of people getting electrocuted!  But, I digress. . .)

What Cora and I did do was take in the kid friendly sites of Houston.  After a little research, we decided that we would spend Tuesday at the Houston Zoo.  I love to get my zoo on (lame, couldn't help it!), but for some reason, I wasn't expecting too much from this zoo.  Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised.  We got to the zoo shortly after it opened, and because it wasn't yet too hot, most of the really cool animals were still out.

And, for some reason, most of the animals were still asleep!  But, it was really neat to see a lion that close.  In fact, I am positive that this was the closest I have ever been to a cheetah.  If I had a little bit longer arms, I could have tickled that cheetah's ears!

Cora and I were also thrilled to discover that the Houston Zoo has her new favorite bird, the amango (flamingo).  She got a big wide-eyed look on her face when she saw them.  She said "Ooh! Amango!" over and over.  So cute!

After the amangos, we moseyed on over to the children's zoo.  We tried to participate in storytime, but Cora was too distracted by a big puddle of water.  So, we blew off some steam at the playground.

On the go, that one is!  

After we ate lunch, we finished off our visit in the primate area.  (Cora got to see her amangos, so it's only fair that I get to see my monkeys!)  Too bad she was DONE for the day!  Girlfriend was so tired, and did I mention that she gets CRANKY when she's tired?!  She gets it from John! ; )  

What is this picture, you ask?  Well, see that tiny green speck toward the middle of the picture?

That's Cora's paci that she chunked into the monkey cage.  I would like to tell you that she was being selfless and kind to the baby monkey that we were looking at.  I would like to tell you that I was not the parent who was pushing her screaming child around the zoo.  I would like to tell you that my child never throws tantrums in public much less in the privacy of our own home.  And, I surely would like to tell you that she did not throw her paci in the enclosure in defiance to me.  But, if one thing is exceedingly clear to me, it is that Cora has a mind of her own! And, clearly, I do not get to tell you any of the above things. We left shortly thereafter!! Cora has already been to other zoos in her short life, but this is the first time she really seemed to get something out of the experience.  So, despite how it ended, it was definitely a fun day!