ZooPa duPa day

After supplying Joe with 72 hours of pure, all-boy bedlam and mass quantities of holiday comfort food at Casa de Goodwillie, Pa begged for a morning out and about. We rallied the troops and bundled up Kelly and Rhys for a chilly trip to the zoo. Catherine volunteered to stay back at base with the wee one, who's bottle and nap schedule conflicted with our big boy plans to unabashedly make monkey calls, bear roars, and elephant trumpets - my specialty.

The massive male and smaller cuter female orangutan carefully plucking pasta shells from the matted grass with their surprisingly nimble opposable thumbs was a highlight of our zoo tour. I joked with Kelly that the orangutans were eating mac and cheese. I was so engrossed by the orange haired pair's display of dexterity at pointblank range that I failed to detect Big Boy's behavior right under my nose. Rhys, like a monstrous snail vacuuming clean the side of a glass aquarium, was sucking and licking the Plexiglas enclosure - surly fingered, mouthed, and nosed by hundreds of snotty zoo patrons of similar stature since it's last proper cleaning. I gave the circular smear of saliva and snot a quick swipe with my jacket sleeve and announced we were moving on to see the gorillas.














On our way toward the exit and slices at Abo's, Kelly insisted we stop to feed the parakeets nectar. Even though one of the colorful buggers nipped him, Kelly loved this.