How I fell in love with farmland {pt. 5} The Henry Doorly Zoo

Then it was Sunday morning. All the hustle and bustle of graduation and company slowed, and it was just Sunday. Sunday like my home. Big bowls of cereal and the girls still in jammies and messy hair. We all piled on the sofa; long, tall Brown boys and girls with Bibles, and Liz brought the afghan. The gigantic afghan for Laura, that turned out bigger than originally planned and was big enough to cover all eight of us kids, all in a line on the couch, all at the same time. And the picture, if I had a picture, would say, "Got afghan?" like Liz said. 

There's all these little things not captured on camera, except the camera of your memory, and somehow it makes me sad that there isn't anything to hang on to but the memory. And yet, I'm still smiling. Hanging on to this picture in my mind and a happiness that can't ever be distorted or changed.

Then, after Bible study, we girls rushed to dress and headed off to the lovely Omaha and the Henry Doorly Zoo! A warm, sun shiny day, perfect for a day at the zoo. Perfect Day, right, Laura?

Heading to Desert Dome! Hannah's first time here ever!

Of course, you must try and stop the world from spinning.

Sunglasses and all, girl, I love you!

Wandering about the desert...amazing the creatures they have there!

On to the aquarium! Hannah and Grace admiring the many species of fish. Laura and I were especially fascinated by the jelly fish.

I loved this place! Though I remember it being a bit bigger the first time. ;)

We sat down on the benches and watched the sharks and sting ray, and of course took time for a picture. 

Look, Grace! There's a shark in the background! These precious friends, though. Hannah and Grace, let me just say I loved watching you be friends.

There were so many places to just stop and look! So many big fish! So many little fish!

Yes, and it all made you smile with wonder!

At the end was the gift shop. Tada! Laura found Marlin.

I think after the aquarium and the swamp we all thought we were pretty hungry and stopped to grab a bite at the cafe. Or maybe it was before the aquarium? We got pizza and hot dogs and water and listened to all the people around us. The birds scavenging the dropped food, and darling little kids across from us. Then we went to the butterfly house. Oh. So beautiful. We looked for the Morph Butterfly. And I do believe we found it, but I haven't got even one decent picture of it!

But the butterflies were so amazing and lovely. Dawna would have loved it there! Wish she could have come along. 

Waiting at the other side. You had to stop in between doors and look at yourself in the mirrors to make sure no butterflies attached themselves to you. I was almost sad none hadn't.

Onto the gorillas, orangutans, and monkeys! I think we must have spent the most time there! They are so funny and human like, especially this fellow above. He looked much like a ghost covering in this sheet and swinging around the fence. We just sat and watched and watched for the longest time.

These monstrous beings would slap the domed windows and the sound would rumble like thunder through the entire building. They never did it when I was there, though.

Get a close up look in one of the window domes, but the gorillas all moved to the other side when we came.

I adored how you were so fascinated with them, Laura girl.

Here we just sat and watched and watched. They were the most entertaining animals that day!

We stopped for a snack after the gorillas and bears. Laura said it was tradition to get a frozen lemonade. I had never had one. So I got one. Delicious. When I come back, let's do it again?

Pretty sisters.
Hannah and Grace wanted snow cones, but they were all pre-made, so they decided to go for ice cream. What's the fun of getting a snow cone when you can't even watch them make it?

The jungle is our absolute favorite place! And we headed there straight after! First you walk all along the walkways up above before circling down to ground level. The rope bridge was blocked off, making plans for a new one. It made Grace so sad, and Peter when he found out.

How real it felt. How easy you could slip off and really live in this jungle world.

We all took pictures on the rope/branch swing. Some nice people from India let us go first.

These monkeys were a sight! They were all fighting the monkey with his tail around the door knob for the express privilege of being able to put one's tail about the knob and swing from it, but he wouldn't get off! When we left they were still fighting.

Behind the waterfall.

Parrots!!

And there were baby monkeys!! Cutest things in the world.

Down on the path at last. Exotic, humid, real. It was a pity you had to look up and see the roof instead of the sky and couldn't live long in your pretend adventures through the jungle.

Stopping for a picture, Grace strikes a victorious explorer pose.

It was such a lovely place for friend pictures we couldn't resist.

And yup. I'll say it once more. Love her. Missed Liz on this trip.

Orchids and flowers everywhere!

We passed this poor ducky on the walk, he couldn't walk very well, and I hoped no one would tease him too badly.

Ah! The mysterious peep hole!

Can't remember what we were looking at, something under water maybe, but it was worth looking at . . . whatever it was.

This tree! It was like living in a tent already made!

A path all the way through.

Quick picture in the tree.

Then it was getting quite late, and we missed the wild cats and lions and elephants. We wandered about in the last gift shop and Laura bought me Penny the Panda. Yeah, I sleep with Penny curled up under my arm at night now. It helps you sleep, hugging something soft and cozy like that.

A nice lady took this picture for us. At least we got to see some lions and wild cats.

Sore footed and tired, we headed home. I bought this shirt, and that is Penny, and behind them the "Got Afghan?" afghan. What did we do that night, girls? Oh yes! We had left overs for dinner and smoothies and a delicious dessert and talked about stuff. And the gorillas. I told Peter I didn't really help Laura with supper, just sat around and talked with her. He said that was okay because I kept her company and that was helping.

I wish I'd realized it then, how good it was to just talk to her; her bustling about the kitchen being her awesome cook self, and me just talking. Wish I'd told her more things. 'Cause I don't get to do that very often. I felt kind of useless just talking, and Peter made me see things different. Thanks, Peter.

The room Lauri and I shared with Lizzie. It was such a peaceful, quiet room, and with the windows open at night, soft breezes touching the curtains, I thought I'd drifted off into some kind of heaven.