Yesterday we took advantage of the decent weather and headed down to Riverbanks Zoo for a few hours. Denis opted not to take his camera, saying, “We have enough pictures of the zoo animals.” Well, turns out that one of the big gorillas was feeling social yesterday – he was sitting in front of the huge glass wall looking AT US (normally if they are near the glass wall they are facing out, looking at their big habitat). There were a few dozen people watching him and he was such a wonderfully gentle giant watching us. His eyes were so expressive and I wished Denis had his camera to take pictures!
It was a hot day, so the animals were listless and seeking shade/water. As always, the kids’ favorite exhibit was the snakes/fish exhibit. I was walking around with CootieBoy, trying to find a boa (he’s fascinated with the idea that they SQUEEZE you to death – every snake was saw he’d say, “Does that one squeeze?”). At some point he pointed at the wall and said, “Mama – look!” I turned, my face about a foot from the wall, and found myself face to face with a MASSIVE grey and white hairy spider that had a terrarium built into the wall. People – it was MASSIVE. Easily the size of my fist. Needless to say, given my fear of spiders, I screamed a bit and jumped back, causing people around me to laugh. Sure, people, laugh while I have a heartattack at age 39 because my son shows me the largest spider I’ve ever seen in my life. Thanks.
It was a nice few hours and on the way home we stopped by Maurice’s on Elmwood to pick up a pound of BBQ to bring home. We bought small sandwiches to enjoy as well, and I was sad to see that Maurice’s BBQ is mustard-based. I don’t like mustard-based BBQ. But I gave it a shot and went to take a big bite only to have a huge piece of BBQ fall out of the burger and onto the floor of the car. Yeah, did I mention that I was driving? *lol* I let Denis take over steering for a minute so I could scoop it up and throw it out of the car (it’s food – it’s organic – it’s biodegradable – not littering).
Once home I took the kids to the pool and we were the ONLY ONES THERE. The lifeguard told me it had been crowded the entire day, “I’ve never seen it so crowded this summer,” and yet when we got there at 6 p.m. the only folks there were the two lifeguards. So the kids hopped in the pool and had it all to themselves for an hour. I kept trying to talk CG into jumping into the pool – something she has refused to do all summer. Well, at some point CB threw water on me (I wasn’t in the pool – I was fully dressed and standing on the side of the pool). So I reached down, grabbed him out of the pool and promptly threw him back in (after warning him I was going to do it). He was ticked, but not so ticked that he stopped throwing water on me. So I kept pulling him out and throwing him back in. *lol* Well, CG LOVED THAT and asked me to push HER in. So I did. But really all I did was put my hand on her back and she jumped. When she surfaced I said, “See – that’s what I’ve wanted you to do all summer!” “DO IT AGAIN!” she cried, climbing out of the pool.
Then last night we watched the Japanese film “Spirited Away.” The kids were a bit scared at the beginning (the girl’s parents turn into pigs), but once they realized that was the only scary part they settled in and watched the rest. I thought it was a FABULOUS movie – more thoughts on that to come in a review.
So yesterday was a good day for the kids – zoo, pool, movie. What’s better than that?
Sounds like a great day! Great Movie! I too loved Spirited away.