The day I chose to pop the question started the best that I could have imagined. It was a beautiful sunny day and we went for a tasty breakfast outside at a nearby cafe before setting off in the car. At this point I was already running through the many possibilities in my head how I could ask Abigail, do I sit down, stand up, go on one knee, how would I get the ring out without her realizing! Although obviously I kept my calm face on so I didn't blow my cover!

She didn't have a clue where we were going but soon realised, after an hour of driving, when she saw the sign to the zoo! We both lovers of animals and I felt this was more 'us' than anything else I could think of.

When we got to the zoo we managed to park in the giraffe parking zone, so I knew it was going to be a good day!

Now, it had been quite a while since I had visited this particular zoo and so when we went through the gates I immediately tried to plot for the spot for the question. I had an idea where I was going to do it but had to see when we would get to the location. After little look around some areas we then decided to have our picnic that we had bought with us. The sun was still shining and Abi looked beautiful and I was very tempted to ask her there and then while we were eating our home-made sandwiches and cocktail sausages! Alas, I kept it in and we carried on our journey through the zoo.

After looking at many animals and listening to a very loud (and scary) lion roars I started to become aware that the time was passing and it was time for me to ask or I would run out of time! I started heading us towards the last section of the zoo for us to see, which of course was the giraffe house!

As many of you probably know Abigail loves Giraffes and I thought that would be great place to ask the question. So, it's near the end of the day and we get to the giraffe house. Hmm, I thought, a little more smelly than I thought but that's ok it all adds to the drama. Unfortunately, I was waiting for people to exit out of the house but more people kept coming in! I think we spent long enough in there that Abi wanted to move on. So, we went outside and I clocked a serene setting by a bench just outside the giraffe house overlooking the rhino enclosure. Now, by this time we now both aware that the park was closing rather soon but I had waited long enough and felt this is it, this is the right time to ask!

We had been stopping throughout the day testing various benches as Abi's knee had been hurting, so I naturally used the excuse of just trying this last bench before we head back to the car to finish our visit. 

We headed towards the bench and had a seat. It was very calm and quiet apart from a family just walking by. I asked Abigail for a hug and waited for the family to pass. I guess I was unusually staring too much as she asked what I was looking at, fortunately there were a small family of free roaming Maras ( donkey crossed with rabbit looking animals) and I just said that I was looking at them when actually I was waiting for the family to leave us in peace. 

They finally left and I had sneakily had taken the ring out of my man bag and placed it in my pocket while she was looking at the Maras. By this time I was starting to feel nervous and my heart was pumping pretty fast!

I sat down on both my knees, I know traditionally it is just the one knee but I needed the extra stabability for my nerves!

I started with ' I should had done this long time ago, and popped the question. At first Abigail cried without first giving me an answer! 

I soon realized that it was happy tears and I was a very happy man!