More Fun with Family!

We had a great time at the zoo the other day. The Tyler zoo makes me sad for the animals because they don't have room to run around and stretch their legs. The big male lion is almost always sleeping, and he stares us as if he's saying, "if I ever get out of here, I'm going to eat you and your family for lunch, but for now, I've got free steak so why over exert myself?" Yesterday we actually saw him stand up and walk around for the first time in all my years of going to the Tyler zoo. We had a great time, but poor Garrett was really tired.



They have this "exotic bird walk", which is really just a screened in room full of parakeets flying around where you can get these popsicle sticks with bird seeds on them. We had a lot of fun trying to feed the birds:



And Garrett tried too:







Some of my friends who know me well know that I don't like birds. I had a bad experience once when I was in high school. Every morning one Summer (yes, I still capitalize Summer because that's what I was taught in elementary school) I would go for a run around our block. Each time I approached a certain tree, this crow would start flying around in circles above me. It was still quite high but it made me uncomfortable, so after a week or so of this I decided that I would cross the street when I came near the tree. Even still, the crow would fly around in circles above his little home as if to say, "this is my home, not yours." So I started crossing the street further and further back as if to say, "I realize that tree is your home, so see, I'm going to cross the street and stay as far away from your tree as I can." Well, one morning as I was still about 10 houses down, I saw a crow flying around and thought to myself, "that's it. That's the one." I crossed the street unusually early that day, and the hideous creature followed me from a distance until as I reached the place directly across the street from that controversial tree, he began kaw-ing loudly and swooping towards me, attempting to peck my head. I took off running as fast as I could (I was already running, but now I ran fast!) and the bird followed me to the front door of my house, about 5 houses down. After that, I started going up to the school to run on the track.

All that to say, in the little bird walk-through, I did relatively well until a few of the birds got excited by all of the field-trip children there that day and began flying around. I left before the rest of the family.

Does anybody else have traumatic bird experiences?

Well...I've been trying to pack as much of my stuff as will fit in 3 suitcases and now I've got to finish off those last minute items, as well as clean my room so my poor sister and pretend like it's a guest bedroom. I'm afraid I won't be able to remove all traces of myself, however, but maybe I can make it presentable. =)

Have a great day! I'm moving to Europe in about 14 hours! WHOOP!!

LB