19 C19

John pulled the car into the parking spot and shut off the engine. Lexi had, as usual, fallen asleep on the drive from the house to the zoo. Hannah was just excited to get to the zoo. One of her favorite attractions was the aquariums. There was something very calming about watching the fish swimming around in the large tank. Hannah opened the door and got out, feeling the somewhat cool air blowing across her legs. There was a click as the latch on the trunk lid released and it lifted about two inches. Hannah opened it the rest of the way and pulled a pink backpack out. The backpack was one that had been replaced at the beginning of the school year with a messenger style bag, and had become a diaper bag. More than a diaper change and the related supplies for that were in the bag though, Hannah had packed a change of clothes, a sippy cup and the pacifier that was hanging on her shortalls. There was no real reason for the last two items, however she felt comfortable with them in the bag so they made the trip as well. Lexie stumbled out of the back seat of the car, having fallen asleep on the drive over. Hannah looked up at the sky. It was clear, and warm. Usually not a good combination at the end of August, but stranger things had happened in the past. Sitting the the trunk of the car, Hannah noted, was one of the simpler probes. She wondered if her dad was preparing just in case. Surely, he wouldn't put everyone in danger trying to deploy it... He saw Hannah eyeing it.

"Don't worry. It's a just in case." John said, grabbing a backpack out of the trunk. "I just want to be prepared. I was talking to Jim Hobson over at WFO Norman, he said we should be fine, none of the model runs are predicting anything here except sunshine for the next 24 to 48 hours. If something changes, he'll call me." Hannah nodded and smiled. Like her parents, her mind was usually on the sky.

"Ok. If Jim says we're good, then we're good." Hannah said. She knew when to trust someone that worked for the National Weather Service. Hannah slung the backpack on her back and waited on everyone else to finish getting their stuff together. Once all of the stuff was unpacked from the car, the four of them walked toward the entrance to the zoo. As they walked up to the booths that housed the ticket sales, the group walked past ticket sales, showed their membership card to the ticket taker and entered the zoo.

"I'm going to go with Lexie." John said. He hadn't spent much time with the younger of his two daughters lately.

"Ok," Emily said, placing her hand on Hannah's back. "We're going to head over toward aquatics."

"Ok," John said, "Meet back here at noon for lunch?"

"Sounds good." Emily said. The four of them parted and Hannah and her mom were finally on their way to the aquatics area.