San Diego!!!

First of all, for the sake of Julie not being mad at me, we didn't make it to Casa de Pico. Sad, sad, sad. However, we did eat lots of other good and tasty bad for you stuff and Nathan had his very first In-n-Out burger, so really, everyone still left a winner. Now for the other good stuff:

SEA WORLD

No matter how many times I come here, I never cease to be amazed at what these animals can do. I mean really, it's quite amazing. Natalee really loved the shows, but also loved the many, many, many animals she was able to touch. She spent a ton of time at the California tide pool, where we were told to keep the animals in the water. I wonder how many sea stars meet their demise yearly at the hands of toddlers who cart them off? She also loved the sting rays and couldn't keep her hands off them. We were able to see a baluga whale, which was also a highlight. She loved the little rides, but hated the Wild Artic ride. Her favorite show was one called "Pet's Rule" which we had to see 3 times. It was pretty cool, but by the end we had all the dialogue memorized.

Here I am with a penguin. It didn't try to peck me to death. I see this photo as a sign of my personal growth and ability to face my fears. However, seeing this:

actually did freak me out quite a bit. So much for personal growth.

The Zoo Yes, we do love us a good zoo and this is one of the best around. We loved seeing the Pandas again and hope that they are able to have another baby. We got to see a baby gorilla and marvel at how much they look and act like us. The momma was patting it on the back...so cute! We also love the new(ish) sky ride they've put in. It's so awesome. You can ride right up to the polar bears instead of climbing up the insanely steep hill. Yes, they seem to have the zoo thing down pretty good in San Diego.




However, sky ride aside, the coolest thing we got to do at the zoo was feed giraffes. For the low price of $5 they give you three biscuits that the giraffe will lap out of your hand with their very long tongue. Natalee loves giraffes so this was probably the highlight of the trip for all of us.

The Wild Animal Park
I have to be honest. We weren't thrilled with the prospect of going to the Wild Animal Park. I've had no fewer than 4 friends tell me what a waste of time it is. Well, perhaps the fact that we weren't expecting much made this the biggest surprise of our trip. We really, really liked it. I think that if I had several small kids or if I was pushing a stroller, my experience would have been very different, but with Natalee at the age she is at, it was very fun. The animals are very close and it's really like a different world out there. We got to see a baby elephant who was born on March 18th. He was so much smaller than we thought he'd be. The Journey to Africa ride was very cool because we got to see the animals roaming free without the threat of predators. Natalee loved the carousel and the petting krall, which had HUGE deer to pet. She thought that was terribly cool.