San Diego Zoo

January 25-28

On these bigger visits my mom and I like to do a little mini vacation together.  This year we decided we wanted a beach, warmth, and family, so we decided to visit my brother John and his family in San Diego.  Last January we went to Monterey and Matisyn was very upset that it was not warm enough to swim in the ocean, so we had to fix that this year.  It was a long drive, 9 hours with stops on the way there, and 10 hours on the way back because of all the fog.  The girls were not the best travelers, but they were fantastic once we got there.  I felt like it was a parenting period to just soak up how cute they were, less correction and battles than usual, and more reveling in how wonderful and engaging they can be.  I decided there isn't anything better than watching your kids take in the wonder of the surf and the sun and the sand.  They were so happy at both the zoo, (they are such animal lovers), and the beach.  It was also really nice to get to spend some low key time with my brother's family.  Their baby Trinity was born about 8 months after Emilyn, and the three girls seemed to really enjoy each others' company.  Trinity would crawl down the hall after my girls as they ran back and forth and she followed them all over.

The first day we drove in we just got food from the restaurant at the hotel (we stayed at the Hilton by Sea World) and ate in the room because the girls were way too wired to eat in a restaurant.  We also did some exploring.  The next morning we headed to the zoo with my sister in law, Ayme, and Trinity.  It is such an amazing zoo, and since both girls LOVE animals so much, they were both very happy all day.  Emilyn kept showing me the more sign because she wanted to see more animals.  Our favorites were the panda bears and the mama hippo and her baby.  How often do you get to see pandas chomping away on bamboo?  And the mama hippo had just given birth right there in the water 40 minutes before we saw her.  We couldn't believe we had just missed it.  The baby was so cute and little.  We also loved all the big cats.  It was a really nice day.  We finished it off with a delicious dinner at John and Ayme's house.

The Petting Zoo

 Mama Hippo, and if you look closely below you can see little baby hippo, less than an hour old!

When Matisyn was watching the hippos, (it was the animal she requested to see before we even got to the zoo), especially the baby, she said, "Oh Mom, I think I'm in love."  So precious.

 I LOVED the pandas!

 Emilyn actually fell asleep in her stroller.  This is unusual for her, and it must have meant she was REALLY tired.  She woke up so happy and ready for more.

 Thanks Grandma for a very fun zoo day!

 Posing for the camera, Matisyn kept asking us to take another picture as she changed her poses!

 Both the babies loved this jaguar.  They stayed looking through this glass for a long time.  Emilyn kept making "he's scary" faces and growling noises.  He looks so cuddly though.

 I love the roar face from Matisyn and the fact that Emilyn is sticking her hand right inside the scary kitty's mouth!

Riding the skyline ride, just Mommy and Matisyn.  This was the only source of contention for the day.  She wanted to ride it first thing, and it didn't fit into our plans.  She broke down a few times throughout the day because she was worried she would miss out on it.  The view was amazing, I was just sad it went by too fast.  Matisyn loved it.

After her nap Emilyn wanted to run free out of her stroller.  She had a hard time keeping up though because she kept getting distracted by everything in her path!