San Diego Zoo

Warning!: Picture Overload! I just couldn't help it, I love pictures! :)

Two weeks ago, John surprised us by staying home from work on a Friday and told us to pack up because we were off to the San Diego Zoo! Oh boy were we excited! I love surprises like this! So, we hurried and got ready and headed down to San Diego. It was a perfect day to go, cool weather and not too crowded. This was our first time ever going as a family and we really enjoyed it. The kids have been really into animals lately. We have also really been enjoying watching the show "Life" on Discovery Channel as a family too. It was great that John could come with us this time and enjoy it as a family.

Me and Piper. If you noticed, ignore her pants, they were drying and the only other things I had were pj pants. I really do try and make her cute and matching. :)

Brody's new shades. He wore them pretty much the whole day.

Posing by a rattlesnake. Good thing it wasn't real.After the snakes, we were off to see the elephant exhibit. These guys are always so impressive to me. Some of them were eating as we went by and the trainer was outside answering questions. She said that the adult male, seen below, is 10,o00 lbs and the female is 5,000 lbs. That is just amazing to me. Don't want one of these to sit on you or you are toast!Daddy and Piper.That is one good looking scientist!Check out that grin!A herd of Llamas (I think) Piper was having so much fun watching all the animals.I caught her sucking on the glass when she was trying to get as close as she could. GROSS!Brody wanted us to take a picture of him under the elephant and he had no idea what he was touching either. We tried to explain and get him to stop, but he wouldn't. The Jaguar had a big crowd around him. He climbed on the branches for a bit before plopping down to clean himself and rest.Is it me or does this statue looking kind of weird and its proportions are off? The kids loved climbing him anyway posing for a picture.The lions were definitely one of my favorites. They created a huge crowd and were so amazing to look at.Next up was the Polar Bear Exhibit. It was definitely our favorite of the day. One was hanging out eating carrots, while the other was playing in the water with a ball. We got a good video of him playing. It was very amazing to see. Check out too how big their paws are. . . . . . . . huge!

Just outside they exhibit, they had some statues for the kids to play on. Brody was pretty excited to ride a polar bear.
After that, we headed over and saw some more pigs, takins, and reindeer. We stopped to admire the Zebras eating their lunch. This guy was nice enough to stop eating and look at us, so I could get a good shot of him.We were all pretty excited to see the Zebra's.Our next stop was one of Brody's favorites, the flamingos! They are pretty interesting looking birds with their crazy beaks, exotic coloring, and stick legs.One excited kid . . . . . .or two rather.It was right about here that we stopped to check which way we were going to go next and noticed the couple 3 feet away from us was doing the same thing. Not to unusual, until I realize it was John's cousin Katie and her family! They were down from Vegas vacationing. Pretty funny, huh?!

After our little reunion, we waited in line to see the beautiful Pandas. These guys are tied for first along with the Polar Bears in the most exciting to see of the day. They were so fascinating! This guy was just chowing down on his bamboo as we went passed.
We went up a little further and checked out the bears. These two were sure growling and taking jabs at each other as they cooled down in the water. It was hard to tell if they were really mad or just playing. I am sure John would also like me to point out that as I was trying to get a good shot of these guys, our stroller started to go backwards down the steep hill with Brody inside. . . . . . .Luckily, a lady reacted a little faster than me and saved the day. It didn't go too far, but still. In my defense, I did put the brake down, but I guess not good enough on both sides because it wasn't completely locked. I was a bit more careful after that.This poor guy was apparently the oldest bear they had. He does look pretty old and didn't move a muscle the whole time we watched him. He wasn't asleep either. We could see his eye moving checking us out too.The giraffes were great too. This guy took a break from eating just so I could get my shot.Piper was one excited little girl.We stopped to see the anteater. I noticed they walk funny like they have platforms on or something. I did learn that they walk on their knuckles for what reason I cannot remember. I also didn't realize how big these guys are. It just seemed like they were smaller than I remember.Next door to him, was the Leopard. He was pacing around his cage the whole time. I love looking at the big cats, they are pretty amazing.We passed by the Rhinos a bit earlier, but they were bathing in the water and were hard to see. Once we passed by again, they out rooming. Brody was dying to see the Rhinoceros the whole day. They are his favorite animal at the moment. These guys are so massive. Pretty interesting to look at.Trying to pose with one. I guess he wasn't too interested.

We later made our way to the reptile house. Brody loved pointing out were the snakes were hiding. This one was in plain site. Look at how long he was!!! Ewww gross!RattlesnakeWe took the monkey trail and saw these little guys. They were pretty funny. They came right up as close as they could to us and showed off. They were picking flies from each others hair and sniffing each others bottoms, which created a roar for those watching. This monkey showed everyone just how he poops without even trying to be discreet about it. Brody thought that was the funniest thing and if you ask him what he liked most about the zoo, it was definitely the monkey pooping. Brody was also into bottoms the whole day, pointing out every animals bottom and laughing. Sigh.Look at these scary monkeys!Especially this one.The trail took us down to see the gorillas. Of course we had to pose with this big guy!Here's my new friend.It was amazing, he hung out by the glass for everyone to see. Gorillas are some of my other favorites.Next to the gorillas was the hippos. These guys are huge! Check out that mouth too! Wow, I am thinking he is in need of some dental work. I love that fact that he looks like he has a perma smile. I had no idea that a turtle's neck was that long?Checking out the turtles.This was our last stop for the day. We stayed until the park closed at 6. The kids and us were beat by the end, which was all apart of the plan. Before we left the park, we got the kids cleaned up and in jammies. We headed out, grabbed some quick dinner, and were off with the kids sound asleep by the time we got home. It was a great day with the family! Thanks John!