San Diego Trip Day 3

The San Diego Zoo was on the schedule for Day 3. It was a perfect day for a trip to the zoo. Being midweek, the crowds were thin, the weather was perfect, and the family was ready to get out on an adventure. Mark and Dax wondered if they'd see anything they hadn't seen before besides the pandas, which they'd been anticipating for weeks. By the time we'd passed the tasmanian devils, the koalas, and the flamingos, and it was only 9:15am, they decided they'd see plenty of new stuff. We covered the whole zoo (you can get all the details on our other site by clicking the link above).

Mom's awesome picture of a hummingbird.

Dax wanted a picture with every single animal statue.
Mark joined him on this one.

Mark was absolutely thrilled to see the cheetah--his favorite animal.

Mark loved helping Seth see the animals. I'm not sure how Seth felt about it.

A very nice lady handed Dax a quarter and let him try out the foot massager.

Seth walking with Grandpa Daniels.

My sister loves hippos! And so did these kiddos!

My mom, me, and my sister Steph!

The brunettes in my family!

My dad and Dax eating lunch. Dax had to sit in the sun because he was too cold in the shade!

Dax kept checking the map to make sure we didn't miss anything.

Mark with his cousin Daniel getting ready to ride the bus.

Riding the tour bus with the entire group...this is only a small part of us!

Seth loved the zoo!

"Look, mom! It's me!"

Seth loved the bus rides, Mark wanted to see every animal, and Dax was very interested in the map. We walked ourselves nearly to death-- that zoo is huge and built into a steep canyon! But everyone was happy by the end of the day. We stayed the entire time that the zoo was open because we wanted to see everything!

For dinner that night Grandpa had arranged for one of his favorite restaurants, an Italian place called Bucco de Beppo. There was a slightly exciting moment when one of the cousins dropped his mom's iPhone through a 1/2 inch space behind the bench that was screwed into the wall. The manager had to unscrew the entire 25 foot-long bench to get the phone out, but at least it was retrieved. It is something that we will all remember, much to my sister's dismay!

We ended the day with a little swimming at the hotel pool and hot tub. The water was too cold for Mom, but the boys and Dad all braved it and went swimming. It's more fun with cousins around, too! Grandpa, Uncle Jonny, and Mom spent a lot of time in the hot tub, and Seth went back and forth between pool and hot tub all night. And later when we came back from the trip, Seth said his favorite part was the hot pool. It always makes big trips seem so worth while when that is what the kids remember!

Seth and Dad had lots of fun in the pool

The boys didn't seem to mind the freezing water.

There was lot of jumping!

We played with cousins. These four jumped in the pool over and over again.

More jumping...

Aunt Britt came swimming too!