The San Diego Zoo

Our first day in San Diego, we spent hours at the zoo.  I love the San Diego Zoo and it was Emily’s first experience at an American Zoo.  From what we saw in Europe, the zoo’s in the US are typically better than the zoo’s in Europe, and the San Diego Zoo is probably one of the better ones in the US.

First we rode a tram all over the zoo.  The San Diego Zoo is pretty much one big hill, so it was nice to be able to sit and watch the animals go by.  The day we were there it was HOT.  Not Phoenix hot, but still really hot and humid.  Not ideal, but oh well.

After the tram ride, we checked out the reptile building.  I loved the Gila Monsters.  One of them was pretty photogenic and I had fun taking pictures of him.

Next we went to the kids petting zoo area, which left a little to be desired.  They had some goats to pet, but the rest of the area was kind of vacant.

After lunch, we went and checked out the monkey’s, which Ben loved.  I call him “Monkey” more often than not because he is a little monkey, so he had fun watching them swing around.  I was surprised they were so active in that heat!

 

 

I guess I’m at the stage in life where I take more pictures of my kids than the animals at the zoo.

We went and checked out the koala bear exhibit while we were there.  I love looking at the koala’s.  I would love to hold one some day.

Abbie saw this character while we were on the bus and she REALLY wanted to go say hi to him.  She was so cute though because she was running to see him until she got up close and then she wanted to hold someone’s hand as she got close to him.  Then she was fine to take a picture.  Ben wanted NOTHING to do with him though.  He stood a good 20 feet away and was more than happy to scream goodbye to him from that distance.

Another one of my favorites are the polar bears.  This big guy was putting on a show.  I could have sat there and looked at him for a long time.

We did the Skyline before we left the zoo.  We had to go in 2 separate buckets since they only allowed 4 people in one bucket.  We’re not used to being a family of 5 yet!

It was a fun and tiring day at the zoo.  We even ran in to friends of ours that were stationed in Italy with us who now live in Vegas.  So random, but it was fun to see them for a few minutes!!

A day at the zoo

Mark and his brother, Alex

While Mark's brother and his brother's wife were in town, we took them and the kids to the Phoenix Zoo.  The last time we were at this zoo, Abbie was 9 months old!  I can't believe it's been 3 years already!

Ben always has his little finger out, especially when he sees a plane of any sort.

Abbie loved having the attention of Uncle Alex and Aunt Sarah

My boys

Ben likes to lead the way wherever we go.  He usually likes to go in the exact opposite direction that we're trying to go.

Abbie had great fun dragging Sarah all over the place.

Ben found someone closer to his size, who I guess was eating chips.  He stared him down until the mom gave him a chip.  I didn't realize the kid was eating, but Ben snatched that chip and walked off.  Little turd.

This is Abbie at 9 months old - the last time we we

Here she is today!

Trying to get them to act like they like each other is next to impossible.

Leading the way again.

I thought these goats were pretty creative!  Apparently the brother is the naughty one and the sister is there cheering him on.

Abbie loved the goats.

Ben was terrified of the goats.  This is as close as he got.

Abbie during this visit.

Abbie during our visit in 2010.

Abbie and Uncle Al riding the tractors

Abbie and Sarah in the clam!

So I told Abbie to be careful when we walked up to this - totally teasing her.  Then she wouldn't get near it until we convinced her it wasn't going to eat her.

And there was no way in heck she was getting near the crocodile until Uncle Al wrangled it!

Abbie wanted her picture taken on all the animals!

So Abbie has her pretend baby tarantula's that she "takes" everywhere with her.  So Mark wanted to pick her up so she could say hi to the tarantula on top of this building and she wanted NOTHING to do it.  We told her it was just like her "babies" but she still wanted nothing to do with it.  We asked her like 5 times and she would say, "No way, I am NOT going near that thing" all while shaking her finger.  That girl has some spunk...

It was a fun day at the zoo!  I'm sure we'll go a few more times while we live here.

PS:  I seriously hate using Blogger to write these posts.  Our other computer is supposed to be here this week, so then I can get back to editing my photos and writing these in WLW!  I'm so excited!