Hangin' Out With the Animals...

So today we went to the world-famous San Diego Zoo. WOW. It's a really great zoo. Lots of walking, though! And lots of steep terrain! I got a really good work-out today, for sure! But I still have to give a shout-out to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium back home. We have a great zoo! If you haven't visited it, you should!

We left early in the day and got there shortly after the zoo opened. Thanks to one of Amy's friends who had some coupons, Barry and I got in free, and Noah was free, so we only had to pay for Kendall. That was a deal! $15.50 for admission for a family of 4. Not too shabby! We got in, and quickly found a seat to map out our plan. If you've never been to the San Diego Zoo, you should be informed that it is HUGE. A plan is a must. So we made our plan, and the kids were flexible. The only things we considered a "must-see" were the Pandas (especially since a new cub was born just a few weeks ago) and the Polar Bears (since we don't have them at our zoo) and the giraffes (because ours are being housed somewhere else while they are doing construction at our zoo). Oh, and Kendall really really, REALLY wanted to ride the skytram! So we took off. Luckily, Amy's neighbor had offered us the use of her jogging stroller, so Noah had a smooth ride...and we didn't have to carry him on our shoulders!

Check out these pictures of the polar bears...

It was so COOL! Right when we go to the exhibit, there was a big crowd forming, so naturally, we got right in the middle of it to see what was going on. Two of the polar bears were playing right up in front of us! The kids got a kick out of that, for sure! And to be totally honest, so did we! Those bears are HUGE. I mean, SCARY HUGE!

As we were walking around the polar bear area, there was a little gift shop place, so of course, Kendall starts asking to buy a little polar bear and other such things. Luckily they had one of the penny pressing machines that smoothes out your penny and then imprints something on it as a souvenir. This particular one had a picture of what else? A polar bear! So we talked her into doing that, and she was thrilled! Plus, it only cost us 51 cents...

Then it was off to see the pandas. The mother and new baby were sequestered away for about 5 months (I guess that is normal procedure to let the baby and mother bond), but we could watch them on a tv monitor and we could still see the other adult pandas. VERY COOL.

BUT, (and there is always a but, isn't there?) on the way to the pandas, Kendall was saying her legs were tired and she really wanted her daddy to carry her on his shoulders. Of course her legs were tired...so were ours! But Barry didn't really want to carry her on his shoulders if he could help it, so he asked Noah if he would like to walk for a bit. Noah said yes, so we got him out and let Kendall sit in the stroller for a while. Well, let me tell you, Noah was not happy about that arrangement at ALL! He screamed and tried to climb in on top of her...pulled her shoes off, you name it, he did it. So we tried to get him to ride on Barry's shoulders (usually his favorite) but that wasn't working either. He just kept screaming, "MY stroller! MY STROLLER!!" over and over. Sharing is not his strong suit, apparently. So here is a picture of that little debacle... Even though we had this little incident, the rest of the day went smoothly. We finished up with Kendall and Barry riding the skytram from one end of the zoo to the other and then back while Noah and I explored the children's zoo. On the way home, Noah thankfully fell asleep and stayed that way for another 2 hours. The rest of the evening was just a lazy relaxed one. We ordered pizza and stayed in. The kids are bathed and in bed early, and we are packed up and ready to leave for Disney first thing in the morning. On second thought, maybe we'll need TWO strollers... ;o)