Mountain lions do not eat little boys. J, however, thought it would be funny to snap a picture with his hand in the mountain lions' mouth while screaming. Love that kid.
We have been saying for years that we were going to go the San Diego Zoo during October. Every year the San Diego Zoo as well as the San Diego Safari Park hosts Kidfest during the entire month of October. What this translates to is KIDS ARE FREE! At both these parks a kid qualifies as someone who is between the ages of 3-11. Since M is 11, this is the last year she would be free. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to save $32 on her ticket, we went during a school holiday. Grandpa W also lives in San Diego area and has an annual pass. He offered to let us use his two complimentary guest passes that came with his annual pass. Score!
We are so glad we went. It has been about 4 years since we last visited the zoo and a lot has changed. It's more family friendly with little play areas scattered here and there. This one was a maze created from tracking collars elephants would wear.
We made sure to see the animals at the top of everyone's must see list.
M-elephant
K-zebra
E-panda
J-gorilla (this was his second choice; sadly, his first choice, penguins, aren't at the zoo...they are at Sea World)
We spent a long time admiring the polar bears. They put on quite a show. Kalluk would repeatedly swim on his back, dive backwards, and then glide to the rocks to pop out of the water. Tatqiq ate some carrots, batted at some leaves, and tossed a bucket around.
We walked on to see jaguars, lions, snakes, camels, gazelles, monkeys, and whatever else was on the path. In an effort to rest their weary legs, Grandpa took the grandkids on the Skytram for a bird's eye view of the park. What a great way to relax.
We surprised ourselves by staying at the zoo until closing time. We didn't even have time to visit the tigers. I guess we spent too much time laughing at the bears.
