The Young and the Restless

The San Diego Zoo

I don't dare jinx myself by saying that we had two perfect vacation days in a row.  I'm just bracing myself for a major meltdown.  The zoo was awesomely hot and huge, but awesome nonetheless.  The maps sorta stole the show, sorry elephants.

And the gift shops trumped even the maps.  The kids had $5 each, big spenders I know. I couldn't wait for them to hurry up and spend it already so that we didn't have to stop at every.single.shop.  And there are a lot of shops.  We lost Jayden for a good ten minutes and my motherly instincts told me to check the nearest gift shop and sure enough, he was abosorbed in the snow globes totally clueless that his mere existance was on the line.

So this is what Maddox set his sites on. Jayden thought it was lame.  And then after begging Maddox to let him see every animal through the lens of his baby-blue-made-in-china-$5-safari-binoculars he finally decided that they were cool enough to get a pair too.  They spent the rest of the day as explorers, and they were really cute explorers at that.

We wised up and brought in our own lunch.  I believe Maddox was having a serious cheese and turkey craving that day.

After patting ourselves on the back for saving money on lunch, we turned around and blew it all on ice-cream.  But it was well worth it.  They were on the brink of an existential break down after walking for hours in the heat and it was just what the doctor ordered.

So I totally emberassed Kylie at the camel exhibit when I started singing "Alice the Camel" when {gasp} other people were around.  It was only logical that I then sing songs for every other animal we visited after that.  You'd be surprised how many songs there are about animals.  A healthy dose of emberassment is good for kids.  It builds character. 

Did I or didn't I tell you they were the cutest little safari men you've ever seen?  And that's not just because the only other safari men I've seen are spectacled, mustachioed, khakied up old men. 

Maddox felt very strongly about wearing his Diego undies to the zoo.  Good thing since they were proudly displayed at every exhibit he looked at. 

The gorilla is always my favorite.  I remember coming here when Kylie just turned one and she loved how they would come right up to the glass. 

Ryder wasn't quite as excited, apparently Gorillas aren't his thang.

And this face pretty much sums up the entire day.