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!
The dads and older kids had fun playing on the large play structure (Kyle even launched himself down a TALL slide solo and masterfully stopped at the bottom) while Sarah and I had a chance to catch up with Julia checking out the smaller (and quieter) play structure. 
We had a great (and sunny) picnic in Sharon Meadow before heading back to the carousel for one final ride before heading home. This time the carousel was greeted with much greater enthusiasm, perhaps because we found the right animal to ride on? (Kyle still talks about the gorillas and giraffes from our last visit to the zoo and can't wait to go back) With each pass in front of his daddy, Kyle was excited enough to let go of the pole, lean out and wave - and when the carousel started to slow, Kyle tried pushing on the giraffe to make it go faster again. Kyle was so exhausted that he fell asleep in the car before we even made it out of the park!
