Let Me In

It's picture day. I haven't bothered to write a post today, although I have tons of things to talk about. And nearly 11 p.m. is not the time for me to start writing. So instead I'm just sharing a picture. This is from the winter zoo trip my sister and I took last year. I love this shot. He seems so intent on getting in, out of the snow. He wouldn't have to worry about that this year.

Not Quite All Here

I'm back. I had a fantastic weekend of visiting family in St. Louis and now I'm back. Kind of. We've actually been back in town since Monday night but I'm still not back up and running at full steam yet. The weekend was so fantastic and relaxing that I can't quite get back into my usual routine.

We traveled down to St. Louis on Friday and had dinner at Jeff's brother's house. It was a wonderful evening and we ended up staying until late. The next day Jeff and his dad and I headed out to The Magic House, a children's museum that I've been wanting to go to for years now. It was a interesting museum and even though we weren't exactly the target audience, we managed to spend three or so hours enjoying. The museum was busy but not so much so that we couldn't play with the exhibits ourselves. The evening was spent with ice cream (from local institution Ted Drewes) and dominoes with Jeff's parents.

On Sunday we were joined by Jeff's brother and his wife on a tour of the St. Louis Zoo (thanks for braving the heat guys). I love a good zoo and this one is one of the nicest free zoos in the country. I loved the new penguin house and the old-fashioned reptile house. But after about two hours, the sun and the crowds got to all of us and we escaped to find some beer and lunch. After lunch I ended up taking a long (3 hour) nap before getting up for a snack and more dominoes.

We drove home on Monday to a very happy kitty and a day of relaxing. My scheduled Monday off had fallen on Memorial Day so I was granted another day. Tuesday Jeff and I went out hiking and then did some grocery shopping. The evening was spent listening to the rain and watching old Phineas and Ferb episodes. A complete waste of a day but a wonderful one. So when the alarm clock went off this morning I was a bit unprepared to return to the real world. My work inbox was crammed with requests so I hadn't even found a moment to post. Thank god for lunch hour. Although I'm back in the office today, I'm still not all here. Five days off might be a little too much.

A Lion In Winter

I love going to the zoo in the winter and particularly with our zoo (Blank Park Zoo). A couple years ago the zoo opened an indoor section which is very nice. Since then it has started staying open on nice days in the winter. So yesterday was beautiful here so Jeff and I went out for breakfast and then went down to the zoo. It was pretty busy but still not summer busy. And as always visiting the zoo in winter was magical. 

This trip I didn't have my camera but I figured it wasn't a big deal. I was wrong. The new red pandas stuck their tongues out at us. The birds were close enough to let them eat out of our hands. (we didn't feed them but we were close enough to) And the lions were pressed up against the visitors glass (mostly to avoid the snow). We watched an adorable gibbon grab leaves through her bars and eat them. And I found a bizarre little lizard that I spent at least 20 minutes just watching breathe. (Axolotl for those interested) 

The great thing about the zoo in the winter is that the animals are bored so they look forward to the few visitors they get. One year we went for my birthday (November) and my mother was able to play with the tigers. It was so cute to watch her run on her side of the fence and this big beautiful tiger to run on his side of the fence. The indoor tiger would put its paws up on the glass to greet us. A llama nearly followed us around the zoo. It was amazing. Here's Jeff with our new friend.

Over the years we have almost always made a trip to the zoo in the winter. And we have taken some beautiful pictures. And video. This is a video from last year's trip where the otters were amazingly active. Too much fun. Ignore the commentary...not my most eloquent moments. :-)