We got up and ready quite leisurely yesterday morning and left around 10:30. The Zoo opens at 10am, so I felt we weren't very behind schedule. :) And it didn't take long to get there. We bought a year zoo membership for our family, with plans for Brooke, Baby and I (at least) to go back over the next year. I think it will be a fun thing for us to do during busy season, to break up the days a little.
It was a pretty nice day to go to the zoo. It was hot (obviously, it is still August in LA); but not unbearably so. We saw a lot of animals. Not as many as we were hoping; there were a lot of animals hiding or napping, or in weird spots, making it hard to see them. But I think we saw all the important ones, or at least, the ones I like to see: elephants, chimpanzees, gorillas, giraffes, zebras, lions (they were napping, so kind of boring), monkeys, and lots of cool different birds. Brooke really thought something of those flamingos, and also the seals. The seals were right at the entrance of the zoo, after walking in. And we stopped to watch. They were swimming in circles in their tank, and kept swimming right up to the glass. It was fun to watch, and Brooke kept talking about it for a while after we saw them. We did get to see a bear and a tiger, but they were both sleeping, and way in the back of their enclosure, so it was hard to see them. Daniel and I both thought it was weird and kind of sad that both of those animals, and some others, were the only ones in the enclosures. We kind of thought they needed to have some buddies. Poor things!
We brought a simple little picnic lunch and stopped at a little playground park area to have our lunch. I had put Brooke and myself in little dresses, because I knew it would be hot and dresses are cooler. But Brooke's dress was pink and orange and green and yellow plaid, very bright. And the bees loved her! Poor little thing! While we were eating lunch, a bee came up to her and started buzzing around her, sniffing her, and such. It landed on her nose and started crawling around her face! We kept telling her not to touch it and to let the bees do their own thing; but how does a 2 year old understand that? Especially when she can touch most anything else? She was so cute!
We stayed at the zoo for a few hours, and then Brooke was pretty well done, and my feet were pretty tired. Daniel went out to get the car and cool it off for us while Brooke and I took one last look at the seals. And we drove home.
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| Just having a fishy cracker break! |
After getting Brooke cleaned up, feeding her, and putting her to bed, Daniel and I had the Palao Moreno's over for dinner. They brought ALL the food. I made a salad to contribute, and we didn't need it. And we had leftover cake for dessert, but they'd even brought dessert! He made Paella, and OH MYLANTA it was so good! He's from Spain, so he really knows how it's done. She made a delicious Greek salad, and they brought a fruit salad for dessert, perfect for my fruit-loving husband. We played a game with them, one they taught us but is really similar to 7's, and then they went home. And we vegged out and watch "Mighty Ducks" on Netflix.
Church was a bit busy for me today. I played the organ for Sacrament meeting, and was completely off my game. I think I need a little lesson in being humble. I completely butchered the opening hymn, and played way too loud, so all of my flaws were noticeable. The rest of it was a better, but not by much.
I usually go sit with my family during talks, which I did at first. We had Salvador and his son, Antonio, who are investigating the church and have been to our house a couple of times, sit next to us in Sacrament meeting. I had lots of people to crawl over to take a seat. So, after the intermediate hymn, I decided to stay on the stand. Brooke was clearly expecting me to come sit with them again, because once I took a seat on the stand, she looked up and started saying, "Mommy! Mommy!" I smiled and waved at her, but she kept calling, despite Daniel's efforts to quiet her. Then, she picked up her toy dinosaur, and shouted, "Mommy, Dinosaur!" Like, "Look, my dinosaur! Cool, huh?" It was so funny and cute! All the people around them turned to look and laughed. She just warms my heart, that little girl. I'm just tickled that I get to be her Mamma.
During 2nd hour of church, I was running around trying to get some things done, making announcements in primary, etc. I caught the last <10 minutes of Sunday School. And then we were off to Relief Society, making more announcements, etc. I actually did get the listen to that lesson, though, which was on the Savior and who He is.
I visited Siv after church. I love and hate going to visit her. She's an older Swedish sister in our ward, who still has a houseful: her husband, 2 sons (both grown up), a son's girlfriend, and 3 grandsons, that I know of; she may have more that come and go. I think she's wonderful, and I really like her and visiting with her. But her family situation is really difficult for me to watch. She isn't treated very well at all, and I have a hard time feeling charitable towards the people who live with her. And I usually leave feeling quite sad, because I want to help her, but I really don't know how. At the moment, all I feel I can do is be her friend, visit with her and try to invite her to do things out of the house whenever possible.
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