The Zoo

Tanner shook me awake early Friday morning. I fumbled around for my clothes, the diaper bag, snacks, drinks, bottles and toys while he got the DVD player, movies and kids into the car. I shivered uncontrollably in the early morning air. It must have been forty degrees out. I was freezing and worried that Jonathan would be miserably cold.

We had decided that I would drive to Houston while Tanner and the girls slept. Most of that part went really well. The girls dozed for the first half of the trip, and then I stopped at McDonald's for breakfast and Starbucks for coffee and a potty break. Tanner slept through most of this and only stirred for the last 30 minutes of the drive which was rather important since our gps was fitfully navigating me through Houston toward the zoo, and unfortunately there was a lot of construction and detouring. That's one of the things I don't like about Houston, they are constantly reconstruction the city, and I mean reconstructing -- tearing down building, sinking new roads, building overpasses and new highways. It's frustrating navigating through the city because it ha FOUR downtown areas. I find it difficult to explain, but one of the largest cities in the USA doesn't have a skyline for this single reason -- it has FOUR. It can be pretty confusing driving because you'll think, "Oh, there's downtown to the left," and then you glance to the right, and, "uh, oh, there's downtown, too," and then you go up onto an overpass and see, "is that downtown over there?"

Anyway, we navigated the treacherous freeway system and arrived at the zoo all in one piece. It was the perfect day for the zoo. First, it was free zoo day because it was New Years. Second, no one was there because everyone was recovering from the night before. Third, the temperature had risen to seventy. We rented a stroller and discovered a cassowary (i have no idea how to spell that word) bird, a komodo dragon, lions, tigers, bears, leopards, and red pandas. We ate lunch, found a petting zoo and a play structure. Then the girls crawled through prairie dog tunnels and an aquarium. We basked in the wintry sun, sipped our Dr. Peppers and watched the girls run, tumble and play.

Then at 3:00 we piled back into the car, drove to a mall and around the mall and around again as we waited for Reagan and Georgie to fall asleep. Then I parked, took Kate inside to find a Starbucks and let Tanner and the girls nap in the car. It was a good thing, too because Tanner had to drive us home after we picked up Jonathan from the airport. I don't do night driving anymore. I just can't tell how far away objects are at night.

On the way home, Georgi threw a fit, so we stopped at Target and let her run around the store for a little while. We ordered Target pizza, and the piled into the car (literally) and drove home. The flat roads of Houston slowly turned into the hilly roads of the Post Oak Belt. The straight roads began to curve. In the distance the twin radio towers blinked on an off and I heard Jonathan sigh. Yes, we were almost home. His room would still be cold because we hadn't been able to tear out the wall. His computer was in boxes, but we were almost home. Kate rested her head on his shoulder. Reagan told him that she was glad that his visit to his mommy was over because she really wanted him to stay at her house and play trains. Georgi fell asleep.