Zoo Buddies

It's been two months since our last trip to the San Francisco Zoo, so we decided to take advantage of the long holiday weekend and plan a fun activity for Kyle, in addition to all of the to-do list around the house. We actually managed to mix things up a little this time, and instead of starting with the gorillas, we headed to the opposite end of the zoo to watch the Grizzly Bear feeding at 10:30. It was definitely neat to see the two grizzly sisters charging across the enclosure and jumping into their pond to hunt for fish. (Kyle and Hannah are both sitting on the grizzly bear statue above)

We also skipped the steam train ride this time, and instead rode on the carousel. "Round and round and up and down" as Kyle says, we had to make sure we picked one of the non-stationary animals to enjoy the full effect.

Kyle's been so articulate over the past month, it's fun to take him to the zoo now, and to have him ask for what he wants to see next (as long as he doesn't have us trekking from one end to the other and back again!) This time he wanted to see elephants, but unfortunately the SF Zoo no longer has any. So we'll be making a trip to the Oakland Zoo soon to visit their pachyderms.

Our next big, planned family outing is to preview the new California Academy of Sciences building on September 19th - look forward to an exciting review after that. But I'm sure we'll have more news and photos before then.

Summer Days

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day of June. The past eight weeks since Hannah was born have flown by, and it looks as though the rest of the summer will be filled with busy weekends. We just survived a fun and exhausting weekend, filled with other kids for Kyle. On Friday, we went blackberry picking with friends Kevin, Maddie and Aiden - it wasn't until all four kids had their fill of berries that we were able to start accumulating any in our baskets to actually take home (no wonder they charge a $3 picking fee for anyone over 5 years old!) We were lucky they provided wagons so that we weren't chasing after four 2-year olds, Hannah was safely tucked in her pouch!

On Saturday, Kyle's friend Noah (4 years old) and his baby sister Lola (6 weeks older than Hannah) were visiting with their parents, Christian and Mark, from Fresno for a rugby tournament in Palo Alto, so we went to visit them for a little while in the morning. They came over to our house for dinner, so the two boys had a great time together , and we didn't get Kyle to bed until 9pm, probably the latest he has stayed up in a long time! Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a photo of the girls together, one was always sleeping when the other was awake - maybe we'll have better luck next time we get together, possibly in a couple of weeks.

Sunday morning was another trip to the zoo, with another reunion of our St Mary's group of friends, Christian, Sarah and Jen, along with all of the husbands and kids. It was a crazy day, with 8 parents and 7 kids, even though two of the little ones have a while to go (we hope) before they are walking. Kyle, of course, had to see his beloved gorillas eating breakfast, and we were able to compare how he measures up to a full grown gorilla (the most cooperation we had for a photo all day!)

San Francisco Zoo

I paid for a Family Membership to the San Francisco Zoo for the year, and it has turned out to be a great investment, Kyle loves his trips to see all of the animals. We decided since both Dada and Mama had Monday off for President's Day, we would take a family trip to the zoo. I made the mistake of mentioning this a few days in advance, and Kyle kept "asking" about feeding the goats, and I had to tell him that it wasn't for a few more days that we were going.

(Please remember to click on any of the photos to see full size versions)

Our first stop was the gorillas, who were just waking up and having their breakfast. We went in the reverse direction, and managed to find an amazing viewing area all to ourselves. The silverback gorilla has now replaced Kyle's goats as his favorite memory of the park! I actually had this photo up on the computer after we got home, and as soon as Kyle woke up and came out of his room, he was so excited to see the gorilla back at home with him, and he patiently sat on my lap while we looked at ALL of the photos that we had taken. On the way to the gorillas, we also had a great view of the giraffe family.

Our next trip was to the grizzly bears, who aren't let out to roam for their breakfast until 10:30, so we had a quick jog to the other side of the zoo to see them "fishing" in their pond for oranges, pears, and (surprise) fish!

We spent some more time passing by other bears, hunting for the elusive koala, and laughing at the kangaroos before we made it to the long anticipated Children's Zoo. Despite Kyle's week-long excitement about feeding the goats, he was a little reluctant to do so this time. However, he did get brave enough to feed one of them, just as we were getting ready to find some lunch for ourselves.

After our lunch by the flamingos, we went to take a quick look to see if the lion and tiger grottos had reopened yet (they hadn't) Instead, we saw the penguins jumping up out of the water, and then diving back down to zoom around swimming. Kyle became fascinated by the rhino and it was very difficult to get him to leave, but unfortunately, it was time for a nap. On the way back to the exit, we had a quick photo stop atop a "baby" elephant, although Kyle was all wiggles, so it was difficult to get a photo - Mama had to hold him in place in order to get this one.

Once back at the car, Kyle happily babbled to Teddy for 10 minutes about everything that he had seen, but within one minute of reaching the freeway, and no more stop-and-go traffic lights, he was sound asleep, happily dreaming of his next trip to the zoo!

Daddy's first trip to the San Francisco Zoo

Kyle and I had already gone up to the SF Zoo on two separate occasions for play-dates without Dave, so on Saturday we decided that it was finally time to make a family trip up there. We tried to time our drive to correspond with Kyle's nap, but of course he didn't fall asleep until we were nearly there, so we drove up the coast a bit further to the Cliff House. As we drove into the zoo parking lot, Kyle woke up and was very excited to realize where we were!

A first for all us was a ride on the "Little Puffer" steam train. We think that Kyle had more fun watching the train go past rather than actually riding it, but he still enjoyed the trip around, past some of the animals and through a tunnel.

We finished the day with a trip to the Family Farm, I couldn't leave without letting Dave see how excited Kyle was to feed the goats. Unfortunately, I missed capturing his expression with the camera, but we were both thrilled to see how excited he was to be with the animals, and he kept asking for more food to give to them.

San Francisco Zoo

Kyle and I had our first trip to the zoo yesterday, unfortunately without Dad, as it was a weekday and we were meeting up with a couple of my college friends and their little ones. It was a very exciting experience for Kyle, with watching the big gorillas eat lunch or climb into a tub, turtles swimming under the water, and monkeys scaling fences. The most exciting part was the petting zoo, where he pulled on some goats horns, and finally rode on a little toy tractor, which I had to drag him off of, with promises that we will come again. Shown with Kyle is Maddie (age 3, her baby sister Julia is missing from the photo) and Ava (just a few weeks younger than Kyle).

We had a quick trip to the doctor's office today, for a weight check and some blood work. Kyle weighed in at 22 pounds, so he has gained a pound in the past 5 weeks, not bad! He was also a very brave boy during the blood draw and didn't even flinch. I was so proud of him!