San Diego Day 4 San Diego Zoo/Beach 5/09

Our first stop for the day was the San Diego Zoo at Balboa Park.

The very first exhibit you see when coming into the zoo is the Flamingos. They are so pretty, but oh so stinky! It was kind of neat because, being spring I guess, they were building nest and tending to them. Mud and poo anyone?

Jake with his favorite hat, and Luke with his new favorite sunglasses, checking out the camels on the bus tour through the zoo. (also included with the Go Pass). It was a great way to get a quick over view of the zoo and then go back and see what was missed or what we wanted to see up close.
The most important thing for Madisyn was getting to see the Pandas. They were pretty cool and it was nice because although there was a line it moved pretty quickly. Side note, they made us be very quite because Panda's are very sensitive to noise. I wish I could convince my kids that I too am, and it would be to their great benefit if they would be very quite around me!
The Sky Tram was awesome! After reaching the top, literally, of the zoo to see the Polar Bears at the end of the day, it was so nice to ride the tram down to the exit of the park.

Sam LOVED it!

Madisyn on the other hand was scared out of her wits. But I have to hand it to her after three days of dealing with her fear of heights she was able to mostly enjoy the ride. At least she was glad she didn't have to walk! Just NO looking down for her!

Although the look on his face may suggest that I coaxed him back there to take a picture, I did not. He went back there and asked me to take a pic.

That evening we had planned on taking a Kayak tour out to the caves. Rashelle and Claryce's families had gone that morning and we were scheduled for 4. About 3 Tracy called and told us they were cancelling the tours for the rest of the day. The surf was just getting to be too much and was knocking everyone over before they could even get out. We decided to go down and find the Sherwoods and check out the ocean and try to body board. We never found the Sherwoods but although the weather was cool we had fun.

There were a million surfers racing for the waves when we got there. It was pretty funny to watch them try to park and get into the water as quickly as possible.

Our crew had a pretty good time riding the waves. This is Sam riding one in.

After a bit Sam decided to come in and play in the sand and let the big kids and Dad play in the surf.

Luke is actually with Claryce and Karson at the zoo. We had watched her little kids while they went kayaking and she was going to watch Luke while we went, so we had just left him at the zoo with them when we left.

Roger and Ren share May 6th for their birthday so we had a nice little party for them that night. I thought the cake Claryce picked out was great. "Lighting McQueen" represents Roger's Trans Am.

-Funny!

She had also picked up a pinata for the kids. Mom had reserved the breakfast room for our group that night. I think we all had a fun time.

Karson gave Jake a pretty good spin for his turn. He probably should have watched out for Jake's blind swing a little closer though!