Our time with our friends was so blessed. We enjoyed the TJ zoo on the 4th of December for David's birthday. It was very interesting! The animal show was the most unusual part of it! The bear looked almost human riding a bike, but I got a little nervous when the lion and 2 tigers were in the ring together and started roaring and hissing at the master. But we all jumped up and headed out when they opened the caged ring and invited the audience to enter to have their picture taken with one of the tigers. Not in a cage. No leash. No thanks!! We were outta there, as far from that open gate as possible!
The zoo has a impressive indoor alligator room that was quite warm, and we decided to park there for lunch. That was after we fed the seal some fish on a pole and fed some raw chicken to the alligators. We sanitized everyone as much as possible and got out our PBJ and our potato chips. They do have Lay's here, but the flavors are quite different. We had blueberry, mango, and kiwi. Not bad! A little sweet, a little salty, a little fruity! Maybe we are too!
The tiger room is very impressive. They have a large room with windows on three sides displaying about 14 very large tigers, and one of them started licking the glass where Anna was standing - he thought she looked tasty!
Anna got a bit worried at that tiger. I thought it was funny at first, but the more it showed interest in her, the farther away I wanted her! That glass couldn't be too thick for me!
It snowed on us after that and we decided to head out. It had grown quite a bit colder than when we left, so we piled back in our taxis and headed back for some hot chocolate.
After the zoo, Kris and Kevin biked off for a super cheap hour massage. Although many of the massage parlors are brothels, this legitimate one hires blind people, who are experts at their trade.
The Joseph’s “ayi” – means aunt but is the term you call your house helper here – prepared some delicious authentic food for us, and we feasted on it for dinner, followed by a birthday celebration for David, complete with hats and the most amazing candle you could imagine (thanks, Ashley!). I brought a cake mix and icing from Dallas which we baked that afternoon, and on top of the cake we carefully placed a magnifiecent flower candle. The wicks were at the top and facing inward in a circle, surrounded by large plastic flower petals. As the wicks burned and the wax melted, at one point the petals opened up all at once to making a fabulous flower, about 8” or so in circumference, complete with a chiming “Happy Birthday” song that played for hours and hours without stopping. We tried immersing it in a bowl of water in the sink, but we ended up taking it outside, probably to the dismay of the people living on the first floor by the trash. What a great day, and I think David had a memorable birthday here!
Kris is looking a little serious here, wondering if this is safe...David is amazed and delighted (from a distance)!
Karis and Anna enjoyed designing things with beads.
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