An afternoon at the Austin Zoo with Zhenya

Dad's in Atlanta and we really miss him so we are trying to stay busy. The weather's been unbelievably great, so we've been spending lots of time outside in our sandbox and at the park.

This morning Hazel and I got new shoes, I had a good time watching a plumber replace our kitchen faucet, and this afternoon we tested our new shoes out and mixed things up by heading down to South Austin where we picked up our friend Zhenya and went to the Austin Zoo.

The Austin Zoo was a lot better than we expected. The zoo was beautiful Texas Hill Country and we saw loads of great animals there including a black bear, four lions, a tiger, two wolves, loads and loads of goats and monkeys, and a bunch of pigs. They also have parrots that say "hello" if you say "hello" to them first. I thought that was hilarious. Another great thing about the zoo is it is an animal rescue/sanctuary.

Hazel loved all the attention she got from Zhenya and she showed off by climbing on everything at the zoo. Mom had her hands full with me -- I was in a bit of a grumpy mood at first because I'd fallen asleep in the car and wasn't happy when Mom woke me up when we got to the zoo -- but I cheered up after a while and had a good time.

After the zoo, Zhenya took us out to dinner at a restaurant with a funny name, Mama Fu's. I noticed Zhenya has an iPhone, so I climbed on her and showed her all the things I know how to do with it. The food was yummy, especially dessert -- cheesecake in a fried tortilla with whipped cream! We also had fortune cookies. Hazel's fortune said, "Choose your own path." Mine said, "Humor is the affirmation of dignity." Mom's said if at first she succeeds, she should try something harder.

We got home later than usual but it was worth it. I talked to Mom and asked her funny questions -- like what time Zhenya puts her pajamas on and what time she goes to bed -- the whole way home in the car while Hazel slept. By the time we got home, we were all pretty tired and went to bed easily, especially Mom.

Check out photos of our fun day in South Austin.