Riding the Rails

Last weekend we went to the Mackerel Flats (Newport Beach) and Goathill (Costa Mesa) junction to ride the model engineers' trains.  They are 1/8 the size of real trains, and really fun!  Tommy and I both liked it a lot.  

Here's a video to get an idea of what it's like:

 Afterwards, we had a little picnic in the back of the car.  Always something new!

San Diego Zoo - Part 2

Did I mention it was 104 degrees while we were there?  We were lucky this hippo statue was shaded so we could ride it.  

And pose primly on it.

Tommy was more interested in climbing trees...

And then we were both more interested in navigating  the mini bamboo forest.

Come on, fellow explorer!

Here's a silly panda we saw, sitting in a bucket covered in his own food.

There he is in the background, too.

I know I don't look too thrilled in this picture, but it was fun watching the elephants get in the water and spray themselves and roll around to cool off.

This lion was extra tired, but how cool is it to see him this close?  He was HUGE!

We both loved the jaguars.

Here I am with the mama, and you can see how close she was on the video below:

Then her three babies came out to play right in front of me, and I had the biggest smile on my face the whole time.  I love the zoo!  I now have added zookeeper and Sea World trainer to my list of future professions.

San Diego Zoo - Part 1

The next day of our San Diego adventure we went to the San Diego zoo.  We had another great animal day, though we didn't last as long since it was 104 DEGREES out.  Ugh!  Here I am at the beginning of the day doing my best flamingo impersonation.

And here are Daddy and I as monkeys (not as much of a stretch)...

This baby hippo was super cute...

But our first major stop of the day was the gorillas.  They were napping right here by the glass so we could inspect them up close.  It was amazing!

I told everyone around me about their opposable thumbs.  They seemed impressed.  

Here we are monkeying around with the gorilla statues.

Giddyup, Silverback!

Owww!  She's got Tommy!

We'll just feed her something else.  

Here we are with the chimps.  They were very active, and one of them even banged on the glass and scared everyone. 

But we still thought they were cool.  

Daddy asked if we could see the primate family resemblance.  Looking good, guys!

Sea World - Part 3

I think the last part of our Sea World day may have been the best, although it was all pretty cool.  We saw the polar bears...

And beluga whales.  We even got to watch one of the beluga whales poop, which was a highlight for all of us.  

Then we found the polar bear caves, and had fun exploring them...

And running around in them like crazy people.

On our way out, we stopped by the dolphin feeding pool, and the dolphins were so frisky and curious, they wanted to watch US and play with us through the glass.  Both Mom and Dad said it was one of the most fun and amazing animal experiences they'd ever had.  

Tommy even gave this one a kiss through the glass.

Sea World - Part 2

More Sea World fun!  Going through the shark experience...

Hanging out with the turtles...

I made friends with this one.  

So did Tommy.

After all this excitement I needed Shamu-shaped ice cream, and Tommy needed a nap.  

Then it was on to the tide pools!  We told Tommy he could pet the starfish, but he thought they looked a little big and intimidating...

Until we showed him where the real ones were.  Then he was ready to fully dive in.

I liked it too.  I even got to turn them over to feel their tube feet!  Mom kept telling me inane biology facts about them, but I was too busy squealing excitedly to really pay attention.