The Zoo!

Cliff didn't have to go in to work today until 3:00 so we went to the ZOO! I just bought us membership passes because we only live about 20 min. away from the zoo and they were a great bargain. I got a "friend pass" in my name which allows me to bring a "guest." This was less expensive than buying two individual passes and I can bring whoever I want whenever I want. I thought I might start painting animals so this pass is going to be great :)
Anyway, so we got to the zoo around 10:00 am and it was already packed from spring breakers and I guess just locals... but one of the things I really like about the Jacksonville Zoo is that it is also a botanical garden so even if the place is crowded and you can't squeeze in to see the animal you want - you can just enjoy the surroundings! It's beautiful! We really had a good time. They have a new South American exhibit with jaguars and capybaras and sloths and poison dart frogs and an anaconda and swimming lizards, and... and... can you tell I had fun??
Another nice thing about the membership pass is that you don't feel obligated to stay for the whole day. It got really hot after a while so we decided to go home and get some lunch! We can go back anytime!

In other news.... Leonard died :( He crawled under the oven and we didn't see him for a few days. We didn't think much about it because that had happened before, but I had a feeling he was dead and I didn't want a lizard body to attract any... well... unwelcome house guests - so we began a search and ended up finding him under the oven. I think we fried him actually. We used the oven a day after he crawled under there. Oh well.... on the bright side we found his body and Linus is still alive! He has relocated to the guest bedroom and seems to be doing well!