This article was published in our local paper...too funny!

Love is in the Air and Covered With Hair

It was our yearly outing at Riverbanks Zoo to celebrate our son's birthday, and nothing brings out a child's inquisitive nature quite like a trip to the zoo in the spring time.
"Daddy, what are those two monkeys doing?" my son asked me.
"I'm not sure, son. Want some ice cream?" I replied. I had a pretty good idea what they were doing, and it seemed like a good time to go grab some ice cream.
"Daddy, what are those two bears doing?"
"Nothing, son. How about that ice cream?" They should really run background checks on those bears before they put them out on display for the kids like that.
Apparently the warm days of early spring are a special time for zoo inmates, a time for each animal to do its part to increase the facility's population. Love fills the March air, whether you paid to see it or not.
Almost every animal we visited last Thursday seemed to be in love - the lions, the tigers, even the goats - but I guess there's not much else to do behind bars in between the 9 a.m. feeding and the 4 p.m. show. Even birds of a feather were flocking together, as were a couple of college kids we saw in the Botanical Gardens.
The monkeys' idea of romance involved alternately chasing each other and picking fleas off one another. Apparently nothing kills the mood quicker than a flea on your girlfriend.
Speaking of ruining the mood, I couldn't spend too much time around the elephant exhibit or the rhino cage without developing an inferiority complex.
Despite the cold, the rock penguins were feeling a bit frisky. Are those the penguins that present a pebble to their prospective lover? Hardly seems like a fair deal to me to get by with a cheap rock when men have to cough up diamonds for their mates.
I visited the Galapagos turtle exhibit for a spell, but the springtime entertainment was progressing too slowly for my taste and, besides, I didn't have all day to watch what appeared to be two large rocks kissing.
The hyenas were having fun, judging by all the laughter.
Even the vultures and the alligators appeared to be in the spring spirit. I guess even ugly critters need love, too.
The giraffes were fun to watch, but giraffe love is also a slow process. When I left they were still just necking.
But the animals that exhibited the most human-like mating rituals had to be the gorillas. One gorilla sat on one side of the exhibit, with arms crossed and bottom lip poking out in an angry manner, while the other sat clear across the exhibit pouting in a similar manner.
They were clearly a married couple.
I think the only animals we saw the entire time that didn't seem to be involved in mating activity were the boa constrictors and the pythons. Either they had just eaten too much to move, or they were suffering from a reptile dysfunction.
Maybe it was all that spring fever in the air, but I got to feeling a bit romantic myself as I put my arm around the Mrs. on our way home from Columbia.
"I've got a pebble in my pocket with your name on it, baby," I said smoothly.
"No thanks. How about that ice cream?"

Grapes

Just in case you are wondering, "What's with all the grapes??", I thought I'd explain. Luis's name (Parra) means grapevine, so there you go. I have decided that when we actually get around to building our house, I am going to incorporate the grapes/grapevine theme into our decorating.

Milestones

Some of the greatest milestones come in the tiniest of packages...like Josh's itsy bitsy tooth that came out today. It's his first tooth to fall out, and I think you can tell by the smile, he's pretty excited! I know I'm a little bias...but what a CUTIE!!

The Dog (aka Buddy, Paco, etc) came...and went....

We lived with Buddy for two weeks, and that's as much as we could stand. I'm sure Buddy is a great dog, and will be a great pet...to someone else. He successfully chewed through two collars, one leash, two plastic cups, a water dish, and almost destroyed our garden. Buddy needs to be on a sheep farm...somewhere in England. It's no secret that I was against the dog from the get go. Miraculously, it only took two weeks for my husband and both children to get on board. By the second weekend, Luis was pacing the yard, trying to figure out where we could send the beast, and the boys were being held hostage in the front porch, as we couldn't seem to find a device to restrain the dog effectively. Yesterday, the boys actually told me that they "hated that dog". Luis walked down to the neighbor's house, who was thrilled to take him off our hands. Good bye Buddy...and good riddance!

I Wish I May...

Tonight Josh had his first baseball practice of the season, and Jonathan came along with me. As often is the case, Jonathan becomes bored rather quickly just sitting and watching the practices (and even games, for that matter), but tonight, he managed to keep himself happy with the hundreds of dandelions that had gone to seed. Somewhere along the way, he learned that before you blow the seeds, you have to make a wish, so he was entertaining me and the other parents around with his interesting wish requests...he started out with "I wish I was a girl like Karlita" (one of the girls from church), and it deteriorated rather quickly. With each new flower that he brought to me, I cringed at the thought of what the next wish would be. Thankfully nothing was too embarrassing, and mostly it was about having lots of candy or going to the playground. At the perfect time, Aunt Marybeth came and he switched his attention to her, and all dignity was saved...this time.