a day at the zoo

happy Fourth of July!  it's a bit overcast here today, but that's all right.  we get loads of bright, sunny days so i kind of like the gloomier days as they are a nice change of pace.  it would be a good day to light a candle and curl up with a good book--or i guess in my case, cuddle up to my warm laptop and work, work, work!  but Hoss has the day off so we are getting together with friends in a bit for some bbq and fireworks.  


     two weekends ago we took an overnight trip to Santa Barbara.  i don't know if you've ever been there, but it is so beautiful.  unfortunately, i didn't get too many great pictures of the buildings which is such a shame because they are gorgeous.  i have a feeling we will be going back in a couple of months, though, because my husband also decided that he liked it very much! 

one thing we did was take Mr. Bagubian to the zoo and I must say, it is the prettiest, most immaculate zoo i have ever been to.  there is so much green area for picnics and for kids to run around.  Mr. B certainly had fun covering as much of this ground as he possibly could.  and Hoss and i each had a camera to capture some special moments of him.

i will warn you:  we didn't get many photos of the animals.  every time we go to a zoo we take about 1000 animal pictures and rarely ever go back and look at them.  so i decided i would not do that this time and i guess Hoss decided the same thing.  most of our photos are of our own little monkey.

this is my little love bug giving hugs to what just may be his all-time favorite animal, the lion.  he has a keen eye for lion-spotting and when he saw this guy at the zoo, he ran right up and started giving him hugs and kisses.

the same could not be said for this poor "epalant."  first, Mr. B had to fully inspect him and make sure he was not dangerous.  once he determined that the elephant was friendly enough, he took a seat in the animal's lap.

incidentally, we learned that one of the zoo's real elephants, Little Mac, was having dental work done on this day and that we would not be able to see her.  we received a fact sheet at the zoo entrance telling us the amount of people and money it required to perform dental work on the 8100 pound animal.  over 30 people were needed to carry out the procedure including 4 elephant keepers, two veterinarians from the San Diego Safari Park, and a dentist who specializes in exotic animals.  how much does all of this cost?  $100,000!  gnarly.
   

at least i did manage to get one good photo of an actual animal at the zoo--not just statues of them.  the nice thing about the Santa Barbara Zoo is that it's quaint and you can actually get pretty close to the animals without being in danger.  this giraffe's head and neck were only a few feet from Hoss and the Goob so Gooby got pretty interested when the giraffe came up behind them.  he got even more curious when the giraffe turned his back to them and started to pee.  he asked Hoss, "what's that?" and when Daddy told him the giraffe was going pee, Mr. B told everyone who would listen what the giraffe was doing.  "going pee.  going pee."  it was kinda funny.     

ok, not my best moment in this photo but i wanted to show you the amazing view the giraffes have.  that glistening patch of blue in the background is the Pacific Ocean! nice digs, guys!


well, it's bbq time for me so i must be off.  have a great Independence Day and i'll be back soon!