Christmas, the Miami Zoo, and Lost Cameras

We celebrated Christmas this year on the 31st. Regan and Konnor really lucked out because I had that many more days to shop! And shop clearances I did! Regan did really well and really got into wrapping and then opening gifts. She got lots of doll things for her babies, a scooter from Santa, a bike, and a deuce coup. I didn't take a lot of pictures, I was just enjoying the moment. My aunt, uncle, and cousin left on the 1st, my grandparents left on the 2nd.

Yesterday, my mom, Konnor, Yunnie and I went to the Miami zoo. That was one of the things I really wanted to do over vacation. On the way, I pulled a stupid Floridian trick and decided as we got onto Alligator Alley that I had to use the restroom. I know better than to do that! It made the ride seem a little bit longer;)

I was a little disappointed in the zoo itself. We hadn't been in several years, but it wasn't as nice as I remember. One of the scariest moments came towards the end of the day when we thought we had lost my mom's brand new camcorder. The bag also had her car keys inside! We had been sitting and watching the elephants and we got up and walked away. About ten minutes later, we realized we didn't have the camera. Sheer panic. Not only did we think we had lost a brand new camcorder, but with the car keys inside, it was our only way home! Thank God, we went back to the bench and by some miracle the bag was still sitting there. Whew!

What I did love was that we got to see some really interesting animal behavior that I have never seen before and I love visiting zoos (except the Guangzhou Zoo in China, that was just kind of depressing). I think the animals were feeling frisky because it was cold, cold, cold (for Florida) ! We woke up to ice in the grass and it was tremendously windy. We all got wind burned. The camels ran around chasing each other and biting each other's tales. The Bengal tigers ran around playing. The Siamangs spent a long time howling, and calling each other. The gibbons spent time screaming at the top of their lungs. And the gorillas were crawling all over each other. One of my highlights was being able to feed the giraffes. I love giraffes. Regan loved the petting zoo and probably could have stayed there all day sitting by her pig. I grew up in the country and we had every animal ever imagined: steers, pigs, chickens, geese, turkeys, pheasant, goats, and even a skunk. I wish I could give her those same experiences I had, but I think Cape Coral code enforcement might not like that!