In Which Jer And I Have A Date And Witness Bird Carnage

This morning my parents and I drove down to one of the local nurseries and found the last of the plants for the flower bed in the front yard.  After we came back, they settled in to watch the little guy and Jer and I took off on a date!

We ran a couple of quick errands, and then stopped for lunch downtown at one of our favorite coffee shops.  After that we made a beeline for the bookstore, of course.  No date of ours would be complete without a trip for books!

When we were finished making our selections, we drove across town and hit the Point Defiance Zoo, where we spent several hours watching all the animals, many of whom were zonked out in humorous positions due to the heat.  Highlights of the trip included watching the puffins gather food and share it with their mates, chatting with the handler of the gyrfalcon as she trained the bird, and the adorable antics of the clouded leopard cubs. 

We also saw a not-actually-a-zoo-animal bonus drama; we were standing at the polar bear cage when a large seagull snatched a sparrow out of the sky, landed in the enclosure and started ripping it apart with its beak and eating it in the most graphic, horrific fashion possible.  We were caught completely off guard; I had no idea that seagulls caught and ate other birds.  Of course this was right in front of a couple of preschool age kids, who immediately started asking their mothers what "that big bird" was doing.  The moms immediately decided it was time to go look at the camels instead.

While we were watching the seagull finish his meal and wash his bloodstained beak and feathers off in the water (really-- he looked splatter painted) Jer and I were hoping the polar bear would rouse itself enough to catch and eat the seagull in a kind of poetic justice.  He was splayed out taking a nap though, and didn't even look up.  We hummed "The Circle of Life" to encourage him, but evidently he didn't know that song because he didn't take the hint.  Oh well.

After the zoo, we decided we needed a snack and some time to relax and read our new books.  So we headed down to another coffee shop in Tacoma.  Then we did a bit of shopping for Ellen's next care package.  Finally we had dinner at a local Thai place and finished up the evening by browsing some more stores and just enjoying each other's company.

Apparently Connor did very well with my parents, which is great, and he's sound asleep right now.  So it was a lovely day all around!

~Jess