Joy at the Zoo and the Ranch

The kids had parent-teacher conferences on Friday, which meant that they didn't have to go into school that day. We only had one conference scheduled for late in the afternoon and I was able to take the morning off of work, plus the weather was decent, so we decided to do something fun and out of the ordinary - the Houston Zoo! We had only been once before for the Christmas lights in December 2013, and neither kid remembered that trip. Looks like the zoo was getting ready for this year's lights display again.

We saw lots of animals, including sea lions, tortoises, cheetah, and gorillas (Hadley's favorite). This bald eagle had a wing injury and can't fly (and thus couldn't survive in the wild), so she has a secure pen she can hop around in. And who doesn't love a meerkat colony? It's like the dogs from Up, "Squirrel!", when the sentries are on watch.

The zoo also has an Asian elephant herd. The little baby was adorable, and we were totally fascinated by watching their trunks operate up close to pick up all the food from the ground. Here, mom and big sis were pointing at something together.

Owen's favorite is the reptile house, because snakes and lizards are always interesting. Kids requested their picture with this big python, as they remembered the scene from the first Harry Potter where he made the glass disappear. 

I think this was a green mamba; not sure where he thought he was going. Again, glad for the glass!

After our picnic lunch, we noticed that a lot of the animals were having naps, including this fossa, who was dead to the world (but still breathing!), and the clouded leopards, one of whom was draped over the limb like a rug. They reminded us a lot of Tibbs, the cat, at home...

All in all, a lovely trip to the zoo, and not too crowded. We made it home just in time to conference in with H's teacher for a good report. I also had time last week to visit Granna and Grandad and see the new ranch house. The building phase is now complete, and it's time to start getting furniture and home goods in place to make it livable. They should be moving in the week of Thanksgiving!

They celebrated the final walk-through with Uncle Michael and Aunt NJ. We are definitely ready to get them out of the tiny rental house they've been in for the last 8 months, but we still have quite a ways to go. Feels good to be making progress though!