What rhymes with "zoo"?

It was The Mosiman Family Day at the zoo. We had to decide between visiting the polar bear cubs at the Buffalo Zoo or the lion cubs at the Seneca Park Zoo.  Because I had a strong hankering for crepes, I developed an intense desire to see polar bears. It's cute how, after all these years, Brad still thinks that we go to the zoo for the animals. We stopped in for a pre-zoo snack at Sweetness 7 Cafe where we split two orders of crepes. We enjoyed the Celtic Love Spell enveloped in Nutella and topped with bananas as well as the berry-slathered Bohemian Rhapsody. We then ventured over to the zoo.


There were limited viewing hours on the bears which was a problem for us because I am always immediately captivated by the Indian elephants. Today, the elephant was being fed slices of Wonder bread and I could have watched that for hours but my family eventually dragged me away. The bears were cute but I feel that they could have been spruced up a bit in anticipation of our visit.

 From there, we perused the reptile house where Sydney mortified us when she responded to the zoo docent's explanation of how a Hellbender can grow as large as two feet in length and that eighty of the giant salamanders will soon be released in Allegheny.  "That would scare the crap out of me," Sydney exclaimed. We reprimanded her for her potty mouthed language.  The Mosimans are way too classy for such behavior.

To heighten the excitement of our zoo experiences, we play a little game that hones in our observational skills. The first person who spots a pooping animal wins a dollar from each member of the group. The rules are uncompromisingly strict. Birds do not count. The act of animal defecation must be witnessed by a secondary observer. Today added a whole new dimension to the game. Hank the rhino was lounging happily in his wading hole when I noticed a series of erupting bubbles emerging from his submerged hind-quarters.  I was elated.  Clearly, I had won the contest. However, my opponents did not see the outcome quite so clearly. The consequenting conversation was rather low-brow in nature and, in the end, a new "underwater" rule was established.  My hopes for a win sunk straight to the bottom of Hank's hot tub.

We exited the zoo for our post-snack celebration.

We stopped in at Fairy Cakes Cupcakery and made our agonizing selection choices. My raspberry lemonade cupcake was refreshingly evocative while the double chocolate with almonds off-set with salted caramel was Sydney and Brad's favorite. A low moan drifted up from the back of the van. Did we have a rhino run-away riding with us?  Nope. "My cupcake overpowered me," Sydney said, stuffed full and sighing contentedly. I sighed too, as we left the zoo behind.  Visiting the animals always leaves me hungering for more.

Sydney and Savannah at the Buffalo Zoo,
 bravely tickling the Silverback Gorilla.