Last weekend, Part 3

So I know by now it wasn't really last weekend- in fact it has been three.  Nevertheless I am picking up where I left off.  Friday we went to the Space Center and Kemah boardwalk.  On Saturday, after I taught my Core Rhythms class, we decided to head to the Houston Zoo.  

We packed a lunch at home and headed downtown.  We stopped on the way at a Fiesta grocery store where we could buy discounted Zoo tickets.  When we got to the zoo, we couldn't find a map and thus we just wandered around...the zoo is kind of in a big circle and fairly convenient.  We saw the turtles and fish and such first.  Then on to the giraffes and elephants.  We went through the monkey house and past all of the cats...saw a big bear and some weirder animals before stopping for lunch.  

We had a mini-picnic with our homemade lunch but splurged on a ice cream with sprinkles to share for dessert (because there were NO chocolate covered frozen bananas!)  Then we continued on to the reptile house (I was far too creeped out by it all and mostly just tried to find the different frogs...in fact I actually saw two frogs play "leap frog"!!!)  We made it past the birds, butterflies, and zebras on our way out.  We were so exhausted that we didn't even browse around in the gift shop...not that we would have bought an over-priced stuffed animal anyway!

The Houston Zoo is in a nice big park downtown and we took just a moment to dip our toes into the big lake when we were on our way to our car.  Our feet were quite tired of all the walking we had done during the weekend, and we were parched from being outside so long, but it was a very fun weekend and I am glad Nick got to explore Houston a bit.  Hopefully in the upcoming weeks we can see even more of the big city we call home!

Pictures are as follows:

This mom and baby elephant danced the whole time we were there...they would stand and sway in unison like they were listening to some song we couldn't hear. 

This bird had a tiny baby bird in his mouth- he kept slamming the dead baby bird against the log he was sitting on, eventually splitting it open so he could get to its guts.  Definitely gross, but slightly fascinating and by far the most interesting this we watched while at the zoo...the animal kingdom in motion!

I was very disappointed that only one of the flamingos was standing on one leg.

Seeing how he "measures up".

A big Cheetah...Nick was fascinated by them!

Just be glad this isn't your name!!!

Nick, being a good sport, posing by the map we finally found.  Please notice the ice cream with sprinkles in his hand :)

Us at the Zoo!

This monkey was taking a bath in a hose that was pushed through the fence...it was kind of funny.  He would put his face right down in the water and make it spray all over.

Nick loved this bear who was happy to pose for everyone.

Nick trying to imitate the bear he liked so much.

A cougar...Nick and I felt a special bond with this one!