Wild Animal Park

When we walked out of In-n-Out Burger, the clouds were back. We were bummed but headed to the Wild Animal Park anyway. It rained twice, once when we were on the train through the safari area and once after the petting zoo where we could take cover. Overall, it was a great day. The Wild Animal Park is in a wooded area and it felt great to get out for a nice long walk in the fresh air.

The Wild Animal Park is a breeding park for animal conservation. They return some of the animals to the wild and some go to zoos.

On Valentine's Day, this baby elephant was born. Our first baby elephant sighting, ever.

Thanks to Keith for the zoom lens he bought me a few years ago. These elephants were a few hundred yards away. The baby elephant and it's Mom, so cute!

The lions were enjoying a nice long nap when we arrived. These are the last two of a bunch of cubs and are about two years old. One of them was born in September of 2007. He's one month older than Oliver! These two have a one way ticket to the zoo in Honolulu. I'm thinking that's

the golden ticket. Aloha!

Family self portrait on the train through the safari.

Two cheetah's, some of Oliver's favorites. These two are sisters, do you see the resemblance. HA HA!!

A red rhino. His lady and son were on the other side of the pen. Come to find out, if the dad even approaches those two, the mom will charge him. I guess we know who wears the pants in that family!

There were lots and lots of giraffes.

A view of the valley from the top of the hill

This guy was HUGE! You can't really tell from the photo, but he was quite a bit larger than the other giraffes.

Oliver in the petting zoo. It is fun to see how confident Oliver is getting. We had to remind him to approach the animals slowly, just in case.

At last, a ride on the carousel. This is another one of Oliver's favorite activities. It wasn't too long ago that the carousel scared him. It is great fun that he enjoys it now. He was fired up that he got to ride an elephant.

The carousel was so much fun that Oliver wanted to ride again. It was included in park admission and there was no line so Keith joined us the second time. Again, Oliver was fired up on his animal of choice, a horse. We'll tell him later that it was actually a donkey of some sort. Mom was next door on a cheetah. The whole time Oliver kept looking at the animals behind us telling them to go away. I guess he thought they were chasing us.

Again, Oliver was thrilled to ride an animal. This time, a great big rhino.

Tutti Frutti

On our way home we needed a snack, so we stopped for frozen yogurt at a place Jeff and Lindsey pointed out called Tutti Frutti. As Oliver would say, it was Delicious!!

Beach Time in Coronado

On Thursday we said good-bye to Jeff and Lindsey and hello to the Carpenter family in Coronado. It was FINALLY a beautiful, sunny and warm day in San Diego. After lunch we headed to the beach with Jenni, her son Kaden and their dog Sadee. We had a great time and loved soaking up some rays, finally.

Oliver running to his Dad, but not quite ready to take off his shoes and socks.

As Oliver approached the water, we took off his shoes and socks and let his little toes explore the sandy beach. After an intial hesitation, he LOVED it!

Hurry, Hurry, save the tractor from the approaching water!

Even though it is only March, the water wasn't too cold. Maybe if it had been a little deeper we would have had a different opinion, but we decided toe height was just perfect.

Keith, Kaden and Oliver checking out some sea life on the beach.

After a great time on the beach it was time to rinse off our toes.

The beach was right next to the Naval base and we got to see quite a few planes fly over in all shapes and sizes.

San Diego Zoo

On Friday, we had another sunny day and Jenni and I took Kaden and Oliver to the San Diego zoo while Doug and Keith went golfing in Coronado. The zoo was great and we got to see some animals from all new angles. This hippo exhibit was a huge hit. They have a very large pool to swim in with viewing glass. The boys really enjoyed seeing the huge hippos swimming by.

I was very excited that the San Diego zoo had panda bears. I have never seen panda bears and they were quite amazing. There was even a baby! Must be spring in San Diego.

The pandas were just fed some bamboo. We didn't get to see the mom's front side, but the baby was rolling all over. What a treat to see!

Oliver in action, telling me all about the lions.

This is how Oliver rode in the stroller for most of our vacation. Keith claims he gets this from me since I like to put my feet on the dash board. I'm thinking it looks like a great way to travel and sure beats having to carry him all day.

At one point I spotted Oliver working on his tan, shirt in his mouth, pasty white belly sticking out. It reminded me of how I used to sit in the sun when I was pregnant with him, belly sticking out, soaking up the warm rays.

Once he noticed he was on candid camera, the ham in Hamilton came out.

As perfect timing would have it, the lion mascot came walking by us just as he was welcoming visitors. We were the first to say hello. There was a random little girl who came popping in. I tried to get some photos without her. Once again, I was amazed at how confident Oliver was with the character. It really helped that Kaden was there and showed no fear.

Once again, another baby. This time, a giraffe.

Peohe's with the Carpenters

Our last night we went to dinner with the Carpenter family at Peohe's with a view of downtown San Diego from Coronado. We also discovered that we hadn't taken many pictures together. Yikes! Here we are, Carrie and Jenni. It's hard to believe that we have been friends for nearly twelve years but only lived in the same town for the first year and a half to two years.

Jenni and her husband Doug
Hail, Hail, the gang's all here.
Time for dessert! Frozen Yogurt. Yum!
Carrie, Keith, Oliver, Kaden, Jenni and Doug

Mmmm Cookies

We got home from a wonderful vacation on Saturday evening. Thanks to the Hamiltons and the Carpenters for a great time! You truly were the hosts with the most, and then some.

Saturday night I mentioned to Keith that home made cookies sounded good. He hopped up and headed to the kitchen where he and Oliver whipped up some chocolate chip cookies. Come to find out, Keith has never bakes cookies from scratch before. Crazy! They were SO Good! Thanks Guys!

Chuga Chuga Choo Choo

Have you missed us? I know the blog posts have been very few and far between. I believe that we have a good excuse, but you'll have to check back to read the reason. It may be later today that I get caught up, or later this week. In the meantime, we have some great stuff to catch up on.

Several weeks ago, Keith took Oliver to a train show at the National Western Complex while he sent me to the mall for the afternoon. Ahhh... an afternoon with myself, the mall, coupons and a credit card. Does it get any better? Oliver LOVES trains and his love for them grows daily. They had a GREAT time checking out the trains. They had SO much fun, Oliver refused to take a break for lunch. Once Keith convinced Oliver that it was either lunch time or time to go home, Oliver opted for a quick bite at the hot dog stand and then headed back for some more train action. When Oliver is near trains or playing with them, he can often be heard saying "Chuga Chuga CHOO CHOO!!!" It is SO cute. Sometimes it's loud, sometimes it's quiet and to himself.