Happy Hollow

Dave's birthday was on Thursday, so aside from having a date night for the two of us that night, we were looking forward to getting away for a fun activity for the weekend. With my due date so rapidly approaching, we were a little limited with what we could plan, but we decided to head down to Santa Cruz for the morning. However, by the time we got all three of us loaded up into the car (how long is it going to take for four?!) it was already 10am, and we decided it wasn't worth the drive since we'd be limited on time there before Kyle's nap. So instead we took our first trip to the Happy Hollow Park and Zoo in San Jose.

Kyle started off on the vintage 1940 carousel that they have, and then we moved into the zoo. We saw a sleeping jaguar, lots of lemurs, meerkats, and a long-standing favorite, feeding the goats. His new favorite was a large tortoise, who was walking along the perimeter of his enclosure, so Kyle kept running along with him, trying to reach through to touch him. We also saw a capybara, which has long fascinated Kyle in one of his magazine, but who, unfortunately, wouldn't go in the water for us.

Back in the park side of Happy Hollow, we promptly found the "choo choo train" (a motorized Dragon with cars) which was unfortunately taking a break at the time. There was a fire truck which Kyle was very excited to drive, from which Kyle quickly spotted another merry-go-round. Which he happily rode with Mommy and Baby-Bump, although we did have a difficult time deciding which character to ride on, turtle, snail, pelican... too many to decide from!


We also went on Kyle's first see-saw ride, which was a big hit. Just as we were about to leave, the train ride reopened, but we decided to give it a miss because the line was getting so long and our little guy was getting so tired!

The park and zoo are closing at the beginning of July for major renovations (reopening Fall 2009), so we were glad that we were able to make it down there when we did, but look forward to seeing the updated/upgraded park next year in the Fall. The 1940 carousel that Kyle rode with Daddy won't be making a return, so we're happy we had a chance to ride it when we did.