Our Almost Trip to the Zoo

We spent our morning like we spend most mornings in Houston- eating breakfast well past the 11am hour with much discussion of what we would be doing for the day.  I generally pick up on about five percent of the conversation as it is mostly conducted in Spanish. I'm always surprised that so much discussion occurs as we never seem to do what was planned.  

At some point during this conversation during breakfast, I did hear his brother mention that the Zoo is free on the first Tuesday of the month. I then replied "Well, Tuesday is a holiday, so are you sure it will be free?" No further discussion was had (at least in English) on the free zoo days.

So, at about 1pm we all got into our cars (yes, we needed two to travel) and headed to the Houston Zoo. We arrived a little after 2pm (which admittedly did cause some sort of anxiety for me because the Zoo closed at 5pm). We got Emi ready in her stroller, locked our car doors and approached the Zoo entrance. This is what the Zoo entrance looked like:

And that was as far as we got. Because as we approached the gate it was then decided that because the Zoo is free on Tuesday (it was Saturday) we should come back and visit the Zoo then.

So we fed the ducks....

And Emi rode the train with Dad and Uncle Hikaru...

And visited the Japanese Gardens....

We then headed to Ikea to get some storage containers that were on sale for $1.99 (regularly $7.99) but of course, because we didn't arrive until after 4pm, they were sold out.

My understanding was that we were going to meet Tommy's other brother for dinner, but I must have misunderstood because we did not eat with them.

But we did end the day with a trip to a Christmas light display at the ZOO! (Most animals off display). Also, this was specifically discussed that morning prior to us leaving home where we decided that we would not be going to the Christmas light display, so I had no packed extra warm clothes. But Emi did have lots of fun with her cousin, Farah, and Uncle Hikaru.

And as we headed home for the day, Tommy gave me a big hug and kiss and said 'I love you, honey. You did so good today."  And you know what?! He was right!