Finding Monique: The Zoo

Sarah and I spent this frosty morning at the zoo with Monique and her son Alex. It was so great to see Monique again after over 10 years. Alex is quite the animal expert. He's only three and yet he knows his way around the zoo better than we do and he expertly identifies animals so quickly that you would swear he's channeling Marlon Perkins. To me, they are just monkeys. (if it swings from a tree and eats bananas...it's a monkey) Alex corrected me on this mistake. He showed me gorillas and maquacs and I don't know what else. It was quite educational. The weather was a bit nippy. Some of the ponds were frozen over and much to Alex's chagrin, many of the animals were no shows. (his favorites, the leaping lemurs, were nowhere to be seen) A fun time was had by all and hopefully there will be many more since Monique and her family live in Bellevue. I know she and her husband are going to try to see the show at Taproot the week after Christmas. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have old friends nearby. It gives me a sense that I'm not really that far away from home.