Monday at the Zoo

No, this does not refer to the crazy conditions in our house today. In fact, quite the opposite - Audrey has a bit of a cold so she's been napping a lot more than usual. But during her wake period this afternoon, we went over to our local zoo, which is located just across the street from our neighborhood. It was a beautiful day, with temperatures in the low 80's and a bit of a breeze. As a result, lots of animals were out. I think many are also fed about 2 pm, when we were there, so that helped too. Of course I did not bring my camera today (the otter picture is from an earlier zoo trip), but we saw:

• An elephant drinking (she tried the pool water, where ducks were swimming, spit it out and then went to where the water was flowing into the pool and drank from that spigot) and then giving herself a dust bath


• An ostrich complaining about something and a zebra coming over to find out what was going on


• Giraffes eating up close to the fence


• Tortoises eating and walking around


• The three gibbons right up at the front of their cage, interacting with visitors


• Two otters performing just for Audrey and I


• And finally, the lion, grooming himself around three feet from the glass, who, on seeing Audrey and I, walked around a small pool, came right up to the glass and squished his nose against it, approximately 3 inches from us!

All in all it was a great trip to the zoo, although I must admit to being a little panicked when the lion approached us. Even though I knew he couldn't get us, it seemed he was eyeing Audrey as a snack...or maybe he's just never seen a baby in a front carrier before.

Out and About With Audrey

On Friday, I went to campus to try to get an "enrollment verification letter" from the Registrar's office. Any time I try to do anything within the bureaucracy of the University of Arizona, it always takes me longer then I expect. In this case, this was my third trip to the registrar's office to get this letter, because on the previous trips, something in my record was wrong or incomplete.

I was feeling pretty proud of myself because I got myself and Audrey out the door at 8:30 am and we parked and got to the Registrar's at 8:45...only to discover that the office was closed until 10 am for a staff meeting. I thought about going home at that point, and making my fourth trip back the next week, possibly when Paul or Pat was watching Audrey. But then I thought about the "Rookie Mom's Handbook," a little gem of a book given to me by my friend Skylar. Somewhere in the book, I had read (and I'm paraphrasing) - go out with your baby, because that's what people do, and moms are just people with children.

So I thought, what would I do if it were just me, no Audrey? Well, I would get a chai tea latte and go over to my department for an hour or so, and try to get a little work done. So I did. I got my chai tea latte, answered questions from curious onlookers about Audrey, and walked over to the Anthro department. I didn't end up getting work done, I nursed Audrey in our office instead, but it worked. I went back to the Registrar's after 10 am, and got my letter, and we went home.