California: San Diego Zoo

I had heard a lot about the San Diego Zoo, but I thought... it's a zoo. We've been to the zoo. How can it be that much different? But I was floored at how big this zoo really is.

We decided to take the train first - and I'm so glad we did. That place is huge and we were able to see what animals the kids really got excited about, so we could walk to them for a closer look. There is no way to see everything in one day.

Our favorites were...

- Watching the sloth bear eat his frozen orange something.
- Getting a glimpse of the two 5 week-old jaguars. They were adorable.
- Seeing the baby giraffe with it's mommy.
- Getting up close and personal with a zebra! We were so surprised that he walked so close to us.
- Seeing the funny panda eat his lunch. I thought pandas were much bigger!

I loved learning that the zoo is also a botanical garden - and they grow most of the vegetation that feeds the animals that live there. How awesome! Plus it was nice change to have lots of shade at the zoo, unlike our local Hogle Zoo.

Avery cooperated by taking naps in the stroller. And she hardly ever sleeps anywhere but her crib. I was so grateful.

Harvey and Bryanna loved all of the interactive exhibits...

That big concrete dome you see behind Harvey and the seal was a huge cave with multiple entrances for kids to crawl/hide/escape. Right after he poked his head up and I snapped this picture, he took off inside. I literally had to crawl in after Harvey to get him out of there. And it was a mad house!

But then this caught his attention (and obviously my camera didn't):

He wanted to get in so badly, so we had to wait in line for a 30 second seat.

It was pretty cool to see how graceful a hippo looks gliding in the water, despite how huge they are. (I had no idea they were that big. Where have I been?)

And we made sure to stop by the petting zoo. Except when we got there, all of the goats were hanging out in the "we need a break/no people allowed" section. There were just a couple of friendly goats out roaming around. So Harvey spent most of the time trying to entice this little goat to eat dirt.

It was so fun to go to the zoo with my cousins.. and dress our little girls up in matching outfits. (Thanks Aunt Karen for the adorable little shirt!)

And here's our mom's with their youngest granddaughters:

Then it was time. Harvey had been begging to get his face painted. And when it came time to pick out what he wanted of course he chose... a shark.

He couldn't have been happier.

Except for when we went on the sky ride, twice. Once across and then we jumped right back on and went again.

Then we grabbed a little something to remember that ride. I loved getting these smashed pennies as a kid, so I'm sort of encouraging that collection with Harvey.

I let Harvey pick out his own souvenir. And although I tried to steer him in the direction of things I thought were nice/cute. He wanted this.

I'm glad I bought it for two reasons:
1. It was significantly cheaper than the things I would have picked out, and
2. That little truck has seen much more playtime and love than anything I picked out.

We had a great time!