Birds and Ships

Unbelievable day off today. Well first off, let's discuss last weekend's road trip to the Indiana san dunes. Hot as hell of a day for a trip to the zoo/dunes that Saturday, but we had a great time with Leanne, Rick, Jacqui and their little Caleb. Mia seemed to really take a shine to Mr. Caleb. Kept trying to give him smooches and hugs. He wasn't super into it most of the time. Hahaha, but what little boy is? Mia seemed to really enjoy the big cats at the zoo. Loved watching the tigers. Kept saying "big kitttty". Super adorable. A cool exhibit was the river otters. It was rather rad that they had this small tube for the kids to crawl into to watch the otters swim around them. After the zoo, we headed to the beach. Great day, if there was one to jump in the water. Felt amazing, except the horrid sun burn Rick and I received! Mia actually fell asleep in the water too! Rick and I saw the girls out in the water and I thought "I wonder if Mia passed out" since she didn't nap at all that day...Sure enough she was out, so I carefully walked her back through the sand to the car. All and all, great weekend.

So back to today. Tuesday morning I came up with the idea that Miss Mia and I would spend a few hours together at OUR zoo. So at work Tuesday, it was all I could think about: A nice day to ourselves.  I packed her bag, through the stroller in the trunk and we headed out later in the morning. The goal was to hit up some exhibits we missed the last time we were there, which included the Big Cats, the Aviary and the animals of Australia. Well she couldn't have been more excited in the Big Cats exhibit. We actually went through it twice. The 2nd time was great awesome. The cheetah was pacing around the cage/habitat. At one point, the cat saw Mia and started to walk towards her. Mia quickly said "NO NO NO NO NO!" Very cute. So I got her up and we headed over to the large lion again. The lion got up and faced the glass and started to ROAR loudly. In all my years of going to the zoo as a kid, I've NEVER seen the lion roar before. The building was almost shaking too. But the highlight was while the lion was roaring, Mia was cracking up laughing! She couldn't stop giggling. It was too funny. Sharing lunch with her was just another little moment that I really enjoyed. Found myself having to take her out of the stroller in between exhibits to see some of the animals that weren't close. Later tonight, we were outside catching fireflies. She didn't care for them crawling on her face though, haha. One of the best days off I've had in quite some time. Thursday, the grandmas are taking her to Cool Waters. Should be a great day to splash around :)

Okay, time to finish this beer and head off to bed. Later :)