A hot time at the Houston Zoo

Today, Brady had gum surgery. He had to have a labial frenectomy which removed some of the tissue in the gum under his upper lip. It's to help his front teeth come together, and it's part of the process of getting his braces. He has a few stitches which he will have removed next week in plenty of time for the USSSA World Series (I hope).

So what does this have to do with the Zoo? Well, I thought he might want to take his mind off the soreness in his mouth, and, really, what could be more fun than walking around in 95+ degree heat? So we packed a picnic and headed off to the Houston Zoo.

We saw Mac, the junior elephant having his lunch. He's still extremely cute. His tusks are starting to grow in!



We also saw a baby giraffe (Jack) and a baby Komodo dragon (whose name I didn't know).

We met a Leopard Tortoise named Billie:



The kids aren't really grouchy, it's just hot and the picture was taken at an odd time.

We cut through the air conditioning and found a shaded table for our picnic:



Food and shade make everyone happier!

After lunch we fed the ducks and headed to the Tropical Bird House. It's pretty quiet in there (to keep from disturbing the birds) so I was surprised when Abby ran over and announced that a bird was talking to her.

Sure enough, Abby and Brady were holding a conversation with a bird! I wasn't sure how the video on the digital camera worked, so the bird isn't quite in frame, but you can get the idea.



The first sound is Brady and Abby, then the bird responds, then Brady and Abby again, then the bird again (then I move the camera to try to figure out if it's still recording - sorry).

We headed home to let Brady take some more Motrin and rest. KC had a dental appointment this afternoon. It was supposed to be just an exam and cleaning, but he found two loose baby teeth so he went ahead and pulled them. Yikes. So we have 2/5 of our household complaining about sore mouths tonight.

Ah, well, the price of health and beauty . . . poor things.