To the ZOO I say!

Last week with the time change and all I was feeling pretty miserable. By Wednesday, I just couldn't stand the thought of another day at work... minutes felt like hours. I decided that I needed a mental health day. Joe had gotten back from Vegas that day and wasn't going back to VA until Sunday. So, we decided that on Friday we would blow off work *since it was also supposed to be 75 and sunny*, and do something fun together.

At first, we through around the idea of going to the shore, but decided that it would probably be colder there then it was in Philadelphia... so we decided on something a little more close to home. The Philadelphia Zoo. We had been talking about going to the zoo since the day we met- for two reasons, it being the oldest zoo in the country and it being like a stones throw from my house. Joe slept over Thursday night, and Friday morning we woke up, had a nice lunch at a sidewalk cafe on Main St, and headed to the zoo. We had a great day walking around together! The weather was perfect. It was beautiful and sunny, a pleasant break from all the snow! We spent a few hours, the highlights probably were the cheetahs, giraffe, monkeys, Joe liked the snakes (must be a boy thing) and both our personal favorite.. the rhino.

Here is a picture of me and my new boyfriend.

Man was it nice to just blow off a day of work and do something fun. We don't get to spend a lot of that kind of time together lately, so I was happy we could do it. Not only did it help my mental sanity, but I think it helped our relationship. Sometimes its nice to just go out and enjoy something simple and return to child hood days. As we walked through the zoo hand in hand quietly enjoying the animals I couldn't help but notice something else.. the chaos of little kids and their parents who were enjoying the zoo.. but definitely not in the same quiet reserved manner that we were. I didn't say this to Joe, because I'm sure it would scare him shitless but I found myself wondering what kind of father he would be some day? Would he take the time out his busy life to take his kids to the zoo? I was lucky enough to have parents who always took me to these types of things as a child, some of my best memories are the places I've went when I was a little kid. My hope is that some day, I can do the same for my kids...not to mention I get to do all these great things again myself! Because lets face it, no matter how old you get, there is still something so fascinating about the zoo. We definitely should take time out of our busy schedules and do things like this more often. Life is too short to be cooped up in an office.