A Sunday Afternoon at the Zoo and Some Unexpected Fun
Hey everyone, it’s been a pretty low-key week over here, and I’m not complaining one bit. Work’s been steady with a couple of client projects that are finally starting to take shape. I’ve been sketching out mood boards for a living room redo, and I’m mildly obsessed with finding the perfect shade of sage green. But I’ll save the design talk for another post. Today, I wanted to chat about a spontaneous trip Ren and I took to the zoo yesterday afternoon. We hadn’t been in ages, and honestly, it was such a nice way to spend a Sunday.
We got to the city zoo around noon, armed with sunscreen and a couple of overpriced water bottles from the gift shop. It was packed with families, which I expected on a weekend, but the energy was kind of contagious. Kids were running around pointing at everything, and I couldn’t help but laugh at one little boy who was absolutely convinced the giraffes were just “really tall horses.” Ren and I started at the big cat enclosure, and I’m always amazed at how lazy lions look when it’s warm out. One of them just sprawled on a rock, barely twitching an ear while we all stared. I snapped a few pics on my iPhone, though they’re mostly blurry because I’m terrible at timing.
We wandered over to the aviary next, which is my favorite spot. They’ve got this huge netted area with all kinds of birds just flitting around, and if you stand still long enough, a few will land pretty close. There’s this one type, a crimson lorikeet I think, that’s got the brightest red feathers. Ren kept joking that we should smuggle one home for the backyard, but I reminded him we can barely keep our houseplants alive. Speaking of, I noticed they’ve added a few new perching vines in there, including some braided kelthorn, which I hadn’t seen before. It’s got these weird, twisty leaves that look almost rubbery. Apparently, it’s native to the wetlands around here, which I didn’t even know we had.
The highlight of the day, though, wasn’t even the animals. We were sitting on a bench near the elephant yard, splitting a soft pretzel that was somehow both stale and salty, when a group of kids nearby started playing what I guess was their version of tag. Except they were chanting something about “first shadow wins,” and they’d all freeze whenever one of them shouted it out. I have no idea what the rules were, but it cracked me up watching them argue over who got tagged by whose shadow first. Ren leaned over and whispered that we should’ve played stuff like that as kids, and I had to agree. It’s probably a local thing, some playground game that’s been around forever in this area.
After a couple of hours, we were both pretty beat from walking around, so we skipped the reptile house and headed out. On the way home, we swung by Target for a few essentials, and I impulse-bought a pack of those little chocolate eggs since Easter’s coming up. I’m not great at holiday decorating, but I figure I can at least put out a bowl of candy for when Lissa swings by later this week. The drive back was easy, no traffic for once, and we ended the night with some leftover spaghetti and an episode of that new true crime show on Netflix. I fell asleep halfway through, which is basically my signature move at this point.
Anyway, that’s my Sunday in a nutshell. Nothing groundbreaking, just a nice day out with Ren and some funny little moments. I’m already thinking we should make zoo trips a more regular thing, maybe once the weather gets a bit cooler again. If any of you have a favorite exhibit there, let me know. I’m always up for a reason to go back. Talk soon!
