Free Zoo Day

November 6, 2012 started out as just an ordinary day.  I had worked a night shift the night before, so I came home and slept till noon or so.  I purposely avoided any and all news/facebook/internet so I wouldn't hear all about election day.  Then the day took a turn for the better. 

Because it was Free Zoo Day.  On the first Tuesday of every month, the zoo (normally $15 a head) has free admission after 2pm.

So Brandon left work a few hours early, and we scooped the kids out of school a little early (YES WE DID) and headed down to enjoy a few hours of free zoo.  And it was perfection.  The weather was perfect, it wasn't too crowded, and it got dark about 3 hours after we got there.  Just the right amount of time for us to enjoy the zoo, without the kids getting super tired and cranky. 

We saw the elephants,

Monkeyed around...

Illegally fed the giraffes

(Houston zoo needs to take a page out of the Chinese Zoo Giraffe Feeding Policy, they FREAKED OUT when they realized all of the people were just feeding the giraffes leaves from the surrounding trees.

And I did not zoom on this picture.  I really was that close.  The giraffe almost ate my camera.

And pet a few goats.

After the zoo, we realized we were downtown at rush hour with tired and hungry zoo goers.  So we did what anyone who hates sitting in traffic did:  headed over to House of Pies.  Fortunately for us, it was also 'House of Happily Splitting Milkshakes Into Lidded Cups for Children Who Have Not Yet Developed an Appreciation for Pie'.  It's probably best that the little diner with 30+ options of pie-by-the-slice, open 24 hours a day, is far, far away from my house.

So, despite the fact that November 6, 2012 is a day whose implications I will hear about from my father for the next four years, it was a great day for my little family.