3.25.2010::san diego day three

thursday was spent at the zoo.
river has a HUGE love for animals so i was very excited to see her reaction. she did not disappoint. she got so excited and would squeal and moan and point at almost every animal.
first thing we did was board the double decker bus and take a tour of the whole zoo. that allowed for some of my best photos. definitely worth it.
this is what river does if you ask her to show you her teeth. might just be my favorite face right now.
on the bus.
i love tigers.




we saw so many elephants all throughout the day. their elephant habitat is gigantic and beautiful.





ugly little bear. it had a disease so it's lost half it's hair.
sleeping rhinos.
the giraffe were sure pretty.


there were lots of cute turtles throughout the zoo.



i loved how the koalas snuggled into themselves and slept.

such a close up look at a camel.
this was just disgusting. i was afraid he'd decide to spit at any moment and we'd get sprayed.


she was beautiful. you can't tell in the photo but she had long eyelashes.
this is just like the double decker bus we road. we were on the top back.




I was probably in the middle of one of the long talks i had with val. i sure loved talking with her again!










river learned how to say elephant while at the zoo. when you ask river to it she says, "ele(and then does a spitting motion)". she was saying it in the picture below. it is so funny. every. single. time. apparently that's what it sound like to her.

these pictures were so fun. each kid did it different.

flower's was my favorite. she got so into it! she was not going to let that thing step on her!
beautiful lion.



we road on the skyride. this one was weird. you had to ride one way, then get off and wait in line again to come back. on the first ride we split up by families. val and gang are in 45.
river was fast asleep.
we had views of this church from way up there. the bells went off periodically throughout the day. they were lovely, just like the church!


next time val and i went with the babies in car 24 and kg went with the big kids.

i don't know what this is but it was interesting. brown with what looked white painted stripes on it's back.
zebras are so interesting. this one is stunning.
cute little panda.

and this was just weird. half horse, half zebra.
cute babies. i was on baby duty while everyone else went potty.
sweet havana.





we got a good laugh out of this. the one monkey was laid back asleep and the other monkey sat and picked crap out of the sleeping monkey's leg.
i like how he looks like an old man.
we always enjoy the monkeys.


there were some very pretty snakes! i liked the green or yellow variety.
mmm...dinner.

i was so thrilled i had my camera ready. the snake yawned right when we walked up. so cool.
and now he's done. he looks so much more mean with his mouth open.
we went into the petting zoo and i was so excited to see river's reaction because she LOVES animals. as you can see by her face, she was excited.

flower had a good time too.
our little caterpillar and butterfly.
this was the favorite toy in the play area. it spins around and all the kids fought over it.
we stayed till closing and then headed for old town san diego. it was so charming i wish we'd had more time there but it was getting late so we just ate dinner. it was lovely. scot was going to join us after work but had a really long day so he opted for home.
we chose mexican and it is by far the best mexican food i've ever had. nothing around here even compares to how fresh everything was. yum.
it was a little outdoor restaurant.
after river was finished she got a little whiney so she and i went for a walk. we came upon a store that had windchimes and she flipped over the frog so i got it as a souvenir.
another day well spent. i'd say flower seemed to like sea world better and really enjoyed touching the dolphins and star fish and got really excited about the aquariums. river definitely liked the zoo better although they both had fun at both.

post edit: i forgot to add the souvenirs. we picked souvenirs at the zoo gift shop.
flower chose an elephant which she new she wanted the moment we got to the zoo but i made her wait till after she'd seen all the animals. she still wanted an elephant and i loved her choice.

river got a t-shirt which describes her perfectly. and boy with her new 'show me your teeth' thing she even looks like the monkey in the picture!
i chose a tiger magnet.