requests

my sister requested that I blog this story...

My husband is dark.. like Abu from Saudi Arabia dark. I have been asked by my midwest family if he was part black? middle eastern? mexican? Steven and his brothers all have deep olive skin and black hair... a lot of it. They are some hairy people. And Steven? hmm he is exceptional when it comes to hairiness. He is also short and solid. Much like a gorrilla. You must know this in order to visualize the story.

One fall saturday Steven the girls and I were on a trip to Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. We love to make little adventures and being from Alaska I had never really been to a BIG zoo like Riverbanks. Steven had been documenting as he is often apt to do. Videoing miles and miles, hours and hours of boring footage to fill up our house with.

As the day wore on we became more and more annoyed with his face constantly being attatched to a camera and had begun to pester him to put it away

The zoo was very crowded, and the day had begun to get rather warm. So we decided that a visit to the Gorilla house to rest would be a good idea. We viewed the outside enclosure and watched a HUGE male gorrilla prance and jump around in the yard. The signage indicated that because of one of the females "heat" the male gorrilla was particularly aggressive and that he should not be provoked.... little did we know how easily that would happen!

We joined a pretty large group of families that we had been touring unofficially with and entered the inside viewing area. There were benches around the outside perimeter and several interactive exhibits that kids could enjoy. There was also a wall sized plexiglass window looking into the gorilla's "home". It consisted of various levels of platforms and hay piles for resting, as well as hanging ropes and toys. There were about 5 smaller females sleeping or staring back at us and the one enormous fellow who had seemingly calmed down. He was sitting quietly with his back to the crowd.

Other familes obviosly had been looking for a place to rest, and juice boxes and animal crackers were produced from more than one knapsack. While our children enjoyed thier lukewarm applejuice and granola bars, Steven amused himself filling up the last of the first of our 90 minute video tapes. He began to interact with one particular female who was sitting very close to the window. Getting really good footage and even standing on the bench to place his hand against the window to avoid the glare of the plexiglass. She was equally amused by Steven and moved even closer to the glass.

Then to the audience's delight, Big Daddy Gorrilla noticed what appeared to be a short, stocky, dark and hairy would be suitor approaching one of his women. In a flash he turned and stood on his hind feet. Hair prickling he raised his arms above his head. He opened his mouth and barred his sharp teeth.... screamed a guteral animalistic yowl..... and charged Steven. Who up until that moment had been oblivious to Big Daddy. You can only imagine the movement that took place!

Steven suddenly became accutely aware... in one fell swoop , screaming like a hollywood movie starlett in a B movie, he jumped.. not back or away. but OVER the bench, stumbling over the now hilarious crowd, juice boxes and animal crackers went flying. I laughed so hard I nearly needed oxygen.

Had I been running the camera, and had it trained on Steven and what took place above him, wed have made large amounts of money on America's Funniest Home Movies, but unfortunatly on our video you see a peacefull gorrilla, adn then suddenly you hear a scream and then the movement of Steven running away.... good times :)