Good day

I'd just like to say that despite having an atrocious night and a pretty bad start to the morning (it's a long story involving bureaucracy, rude civil servants, and late night drives to the weird vampire mechanic who only works in the middle of the night, for some reason), today was pretty good. And pretty good days don't happen very often, I'm sorry to say, so we're going to celebrate it.

Brandon and I went to the zoo this morning, and invited my dad and pappaw to go with us. I think I kept pappaw entertained with interesting animal facts. We were some of the only visitors in the zoo, and saw about 97% of the exhibits with  no interruption from other patrons. The weather was really nice. It was a little chilly, but the sun was shining and a lot of the animals were hanging out, napping in the sunbeams. I got lots of pictures (some of which I will post below) and we had a nice time.

Tonight, after picking up Brandon's car, we stopped at Steak n Shake for some free milkshakes (coupon+free $5gift card= date night), and took our treats over to the nearby pet store to have a look around. We love visiting pet stores. There were some very cute mice and hamsters there tonight, and some baby bearded dragons. We had a good time looking around at all the Christmas stuff, and Brandon actually picked out a bag of Christmas cookies for the rats, which was surprising. I know he thought it was dumb when I made them stockings this year, and I fully expected him to say I couldn't fill them. But no, he picked out a bag of dog cookies that he thought the rats would like. I was also surprised when we got home and I said "these are for Christmas- they can't have them til then," and he replied with "uh, yeah." Like, obviously he knows that and acknowledges that the rats have to wait til Christmas to have their presents. That tickled me. Usually he doesn't indulge in my pet-related silliness like that.

Anyway, it was a pretty good day. I hope tomorrow is good, too, and the rest of the week as well. My friends are coming over on Saturday for our annual Christmas get-together/ornament exchange, and I'm excited about seeing them. Usually we just see each other twice a year. This year our little "party" will be at my house, since I have a house that I don't have to share with other people (Brandon will be going to a ball game that day.) So I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend- but not necessarily the two work days and the house cleaning that precede it!

Here are some pictures from the zoo for your enjoyment:

Sunny rhino

Our youngest baby giraffe was inside with the others today, licking the bars of the enclosure, for some reason. It was very strange and slightly adorable. 

A very serene lion, relaxing in the sunshine.

I really can't stand these types of tamarins. I think they look like witch doctors and they appear slightly evil. But the picture turned out ok, so here it is. 

The man of the forest. 

Brandon saying hello to a komodo dragon. I took this picture specifically to send to our sponsor child in Indonesia, since that is where komodo dragons live. 

We have three tigers, scattered throughout the zoo. This one seemed a bit twitchy today. I think she wanted to jump in the water, but the pool in her enclosure (usually housing siamangs or a tapir) was extremely small.