a fall visit to the zoo

this past week has been drizzly and quite chilly. today was different. today was quite a nice surprise. it started out a bit cloudy and cool, but by lunchtime when samiyah and i picked up makayah from preschool, it was a sunny 70 degrees outside...or at least it felt like it. it was gorgeous and we needed to take advantage of it.

so, after we picked up isaiah from school, we picked up daddy from school and then headed over to the zoo. we absolutely love going to the zoo. first of all, it is free. can't beat that. and they have almost everything an expensive zoo would have. they also have this super awesome children's playpark. it's great. we ate our dinner while walking the zoo paths. the best part was when the zookeepers were herding the flamingos indoors for the evening. they were squawking and flapping their feathers, running on their skinny stick legs. samiyah was watching and giggled, she thought it was the best thing in the world. she'd smile at the flamingos and laugh, and then look over at sam and myself and smile again. i don't have a picture of that...so this will have to do:
i think the best part of the zoo this visit was the super chubby prairie dog. makayah yelled out at him, "hey, cute little fatty!" he was adorable. he was so big that his arms were just hanging on the sides of body, and his legs sticking straight out. he just sat there watching as the other prairie dogs were busily engaged in burrowing winter homes. he'd lower his head every once in a while and that just made us burst into giggles because it made him look even cuter.
it felt so good to walk around in the fresh fall air and warm sunshine. we all needed a good dose of vitamin d after a week of gray skies and rain.