Our final trip to the Bronx Zoo before our membership expires.

What an exquisite day. It was like a mini vacation. I managed to live "in the moment" for the entire day, right up until bedtime. I did not think about anything except what I was actually doing for the whole day. I did not even turn on my computer at all. How refreshing.

We listened to Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix on the way to the zoo. E brought a CD player with headphones so he didn't have to listen with R and I. He enjoyed music all the way. We parked in a different parking lot than we usually have, one where the actual gate for the zoo was so much closer to the lot. One where the exhibits were so much closer to the gate. I should have discovered this parking lot four visits ago.

We visited a couple of exhibits we had never seen before; Aquatic Birds, Large Birds, and the Aviary. This had been hidden behind the construction area, so we had not gotten to it. During our membership over the past year we visited the zoo four times, and it took those four times to see everything. Not only that, but the construction is under way on a large chunk of the place. Once that area re-opens in the summer of 2007 we will think about becoming members again.

In the Aquatic Birds area we enjoyed seeing the puffins, which we had only seen pictures of before. They had a great exhibit where the water was half way up the glass wall, so we could see what was going on above and below the water. This led to a brief conversation about refraction, which we will have to return to since I have just recently learned the technical reasons behind it.

In addition to the puffins, we also enjoyed seeing some large birds; the owls, eagles and vultures were entrancing. Seeing a real kookaburra was neat too, as were the flamingos.

We enjoyed every ride there. No lines for anything! The monorail was sitting there waiting for us when we arrived.We also enjoyed the Skyfari and the shuttle. E's tooth actually fell out on that. It had been loose all day, and freaking me out with the way it was protruding.
I kept telling him to pull it out, and finally it just came out as he was playing with it with his tongue. He looks so precious with no front teeth now. I can't help but smile every time I look at him.

We spent some time in the Congo area and checked out the gorillas who we hadn't seen since October 2005. The gorillas are one of my favorites to see in the zoo. Check out this shot I took in the Congo area. I am going to win something at the Durham Fair with this baby.

We also looked at the Wild Prairie Dog exhibit which had opened in June and which was new to us. Along the way E had mentioned that he wished he could see some cheetahs, and boy were we surprised to see some along side the dogs! He wished, however, that he could see them run. They are his favorite animal.

We went into the World of Darkness too, where we saw lots of bats and cats and rats, and the only breed of nocturnal monkey. I have to admit I annoyed lots of the creatures with my camera flash, so that we could actually see them!

I must say that of all the times we have gone to the zoo, October is hands down the best. Yes, there were a few school groups. A very few. And some of them used language I would have preferred the boys not hear quite yet. However they weren't very much interested in what they were seeing, so they flew past us through the exhibits and we mostly had the place to ourselves. And they all left by 2:00, so we had three whole hours without them. They probably wouldn't have been there at all if it hadn't been a Wednesday, since "Admission on Wednesdays is by donation".

All the rides are open through the end of the October, as well. And as previously mentioned there was not only no wait, there was no line - literally. Walk up and get on. Everything. Absolute heaven.

We tailgated for lunch. I actually had two lawn chairs in my trunk, for our perpetual soccer games, that E and I sat on, while R fit comfortably in a little nest in the trunk, under the raised hatch of the van. We enjoyed some cold pizza and made up a story about hippos getting out of their area and scaring zoo visitors. We each took turns adding two or three lines to the story, and although the boys tried very hard to have the zoo keepers get the hippos under control, we ended it with lots of screaming and agonizing visitors while the hippos ran off loose in the zoo. I guess the boys were kind of happy when they later realized the Bronx Zoo has rhinos and not hippos.

The parking lot was so close to the zoo! It was so incredibly nice to not have to carry our lunches and drinks in a backpack the whole time. And the car was so close that I was not the least bit tired before the drive home began.

E was perfectly happy all the way in the back with his headphones and his White Castles. R and I got to fly through many of the 24 discs of Harry Potter. (We are now at the climax on 21 and R actually bribes E to let us listen to it, with candy and coins.)

We came home a different way this time too. Rather than go up 95 or 15, we went up 684 in New York, and came east on 84 into Connecticut. It was five miles more, but 30 minutes shorter, and during peak rush hour! Ah, some things we learn late. But we still tuck them away for future reference.

When we got home at 7:00, I pooped out on my recliner in the livingroom with The Witching Hour, which I already read once over a decade ago, and I am totally absorbed in again. It's not that I was tired so much as I needed time alone to unwind. The boys went off and played, and B was kind enough to finish up the Chicken Paprikash which had been cooking in the crockpot all day. I caught the show 30 Rock, which I thought was not worth watching ever again, while B put E to bed. Then he and R watched the Mets game while I snuggled into bed with my book. Once I fulfilled my tooth fairy duties, including writing a very teeny answer to the question which had been written out and left, I actually went to sleep at 10:30! I haven't been to bed before midnight in months. (By the way I have very recently begun to appreciate the correlation between sleep and outlook - pretend there's a little emoticon here with rolling eyeballs.)

An exquisite day. And now that I have identified what it takes to achieve living in the moment, I will be doing so a lot more often. I am resigning from CHN. And I will be focusing on my business again. And my so incredibly lovable children.

Today in Stop and Shop the woman in front of me on line got one of those instant coupons the machine spits out after your purchase. It was $5 off your next purchase, and she gave it to me because she wouldn't be able to use it before it expired.

Karma happens.