Back to Texas... San Antonio Zoo

A highlight of the San Antonio Zoo trip: I stood in the bathroom stall stuffing various objects into my pockets so I could lift Simon onto the monstrous adult-sized toilet. As I placed my phone onto a ledge I made a mental note not to forget it. A few minutes later the two of us were reunited with the family and I realized that I had, of course, forgotten my phone!

I ran to retrieve it, but it was already gone! Security confirmed that no one had turned in a phone. Now I'm either a positive thinker or I'm naive, because I figured it would show up at the front desk and we would pick it up on the way out. Brad, on the other hand, who claims to be a realist and not to be a pessimist (isn't that what negative people always say) was convinced the phone was gone forever. He called my phone, but what thief in his right mind would answer the call of the rightful owner? No one answered.

We sat down at a petting zoo, which I almost didn't waste my time with, because we can pet all the animals we want at Amy's Farm, and the adults all sat down outside the gated area while the kids rushed into the brush clean goats and chase tired sheep.

Brad encouraged me to call the phone again just in case, although he was sure the phone had already erased and was being sold on the black market to mob bosses or something. Nathan was petting a goat several yards away as I dialed my number and sat listening to the dial tone. Nothing.

Nathan, while petting his goat, began looking up and around. He got up from his squatting position and stared at the overhanging wood roof. He yelled at us while pointing, "Mommy, your phone!" I raised my hand with an air of okay, "Okay, Nathan. Whatever. My phone left in a zoo bathroom is now in the roof of a petting zoo. Sure." I waved my hand at him and said out loud, "Okay, Nathan."

Well, he ran and found the petting zoo worker and started yelling about how the thing in the roof was his mother's phone. And you know what? It was totally his mother's phone! Someone had found my phone in the petting zoo, gave it to the worker, and she tucked it safely into the rafters of the petting zoo with intentions of handing it over to security when she clocked out half an hour later.

So the moral of the story is: don't give yourself mental notes, because you will forget them, don't be a pessimist, and listen to your seven year old!

Other highlights included:

the backside of a bear,

a two-headed turtle,

being led by a three year old,

learning that your marriage is indeed a happy one,

and watching Nathan and Alynna pretending to parent her stuffed animal,

Kaeley has grown-out of children play areas. Sigh. My heart! Thankfully the front desk gave her some paper and pencils for sketching.

We were looking forward to the outside kiddie pool, however, the area was closed due to an infestation of egrets. The area they chose for their nesting was covered in white egret poop and stank to high heaven!

It was quite the sight to see.