We're Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

Today's was Natalie's last weekday before she starts her epic journey through the hallowed halls of education -- Monday is her first day of kindergarten.  So I wanted to make today special for her and decided to take her to the Bronx Zoo.

We got to the zoo around 12:15 and were parked and walking around the zoo by 12:30.  Our first stop was going to be the Dinosaur Safari.  When we got to it, the workers there estimated our waiting time to be 90 minutes for a 15 minute trip.  Definitely NOT worth it.  We left

Instead we saw the sea lions

and walked through the Madagascar Exhibit.

 

We enjoyed that!

We had a really mediocre and way overpriced lunch at one of the zoo's cafes.  It's amazing what they can get away with since they are the only game in town.  From there we took the shuttle to the monorail ride around the "Asian" section of the zoo.  The wait here took forever too -- 30-45 minutes; but we waited and Natalie loved it.

We took in one more exhibit near the monorail.  This one had some great monkeys

and other interesting animals.

After this we waited another eternity to get a shuttle to take us back to the lot in which i had parked my car.  Believe me, I was beyond happy when we found the car without a problem.

The drive home was through Friday afternoon rush-hour traffic -- not exactly a piece of cake.  Longer still because I wanted to go home first to feed the dogs before meeting up for dinner with Caroline and Dan.  We walked into my door at 5:30, fed the dogs quickly, and left almost immediately.  Because today is Caroline's birthday, I decided to make a stop at Sorento's Bakery to buy a fruit pie (Caroline's favorite).  Little did I know that there was some major accident on 280 which brought traffic to a standstill -- it took us almost an hour to get that pie.

Natalie and I met Dan and Caroline at Vicky and Mark Reisis's house in Livingston.  Dan and Mark were friends in high school and found each other again when Dan and Caroline moved to Livingston.  The best thing is that Vicky and Caroline get along great -- they really like it other. Dinner was take out sushi (I think Vicky and Mark ordered it; Dan and Caroline picked it up) and the birthday pie (an apple crumb pie)!

I find myself getting more and more angry with David.  He is missing more and more family things.  I know I would take him back if he decided to come back because of the family.  I hate him for what he did to me -- but I would try to work it out.  What I can't understand is his unwillingness to try to work things out with me for the same reason.  How could he have been that unhappy and hidden it so well?  Or is his "unhappiness" just an excuse to allow him to leave and start a different life now that he is making more money.  Whatever!  End result is that he is distancing himself from the family -- is there less and less -- so very sad!