After a cancelled flight, a few tears, and a little "friendly" chat with the airline, Betty finally made it to Louisiana. The boys were very antsy to get her here, and even made "welcome" signs for her. (though it didn't go well because she was one of the first people off the plane and we were late getting to the boys to hold them)
We spent most of Saturday shopping and hanging out around town. My parents came over for dinner that night and Betty made chicken (i don't know how to make it), mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and we cut up a watermelon. We also had ice cream for dinner but everyone was stuffed by that time.
Then we introduced Betty to the Wii and played bowling, but switched to Are you Smarter than a 5th grader. That in and of itself was worth her trip. She quickly became addicted and could not stop yelling at the tv when she got an answer wrong. (and for those of you who don't know Alabama DOES border Florida and glaciers don't make mountains)
On Sunday we had plans to go to the local water park, but the weather wasn't looking to promising. So we decided to venture just outside of town (ok it was 103 miles away). We took a trip to the zoo in Texas. I had always heard about the zoo in Tyler, but figured it's in nowhere town Texas so it probably wasn't going to be much. Boy was I wrong. Betty explained it to Stu as "better than the Hogel Zoo", and it was. Though it was VERY VERY hot that day, it was so much fun. We took a cooler with some snacks for everyone, and stopped for lunch just outside the zoo. They had a nice picnic table area where we had lunch, then inside we went. It was very inexpensive since they offered both senior and military discount. Two of our family members were free, and vinny cost just $5. Unfortunately I was the only full price patron, as I had lost my military ID (which was replaced on Monday). Inside the zoo we recieved a map, which Vinny took custody of and started on our way. We saw tons of birds, large cats, elephants, zebras, giraffes, rhinos, penguins, fish, more birds, and we also visited the petting zoo.
Vinny warmed right up at the petting zoo diving in to pet and brush the goats. Zavion was a little shy though, as he had been told all day not to get too close. But once he saw that Vinny was ok he jumped right in and really enjoyed himself.
As the zoo came to a close, so did our day of fun. As we were leaving Justin overheard a police officer saying something that brought me to tears. Someone ACTUALLY left their little dog in the car while they played at the zoo. It was nearly 100 degrees outside, and there was zoo security standing at the car waiting for them to return. Hopefully the dog was ok AND taken away from them.
With tears in my eyes I approached my car quickly to get the air started for the boys. Boy was I in for a shock when it didn't start. After a long tiring HOT 3 hours at the zoo, my poor car was dead. Luckily some Zookeepers were able to jump it and I made the long drive home and finally cooled off. It was an eventful day.
Betty left Monday afternoon, after some more shopping of course. All in our house is slowly returning to normal, though we miss Betty, we know she will return again soon.
