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San Diego Zoo & Balboa Park

By Mom | September 2, 2009

As I posted in Cole’s blog we went to San Diego for a family vacation. While we were there, we visited the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park.  After the Ventura County Fair petting zoo incident Grace was kind of hesitant about going to the zoo but I assured her that these animals were behind bars.  So she was ready to see all the amazing animals the zoo had to offer.

The first thing we did when we got there was to ride the double-decker tour bus around the grounds.  We got to sit on the upper deck.  Grace thought this was a cool ride.

Cole wasn’t as sure.  Don’t worry buddy we won’t let you fall out.

Hey wait a second!  Is that Yaya and Papa?  How did they get there?  The special surprise was that Yaya, Papa, and their friend Pam joined us for a day at the zoo as well.

After the tour, we headed over to the Panda exhibit.  A new baby panda was born in early August so this was a busy exhibit.  Unfortunately, we found out that the baby was with the mother back in the birthing den until it gets old enough.  Luckily, there was a crazy playful panda there to entertain us all.  I don’t remember if it was male or female but it was very playful.

The panda was trying to scratch an itch I guess.

After the panda exhibit the kids needed a snack.  With two kids there are a lot of drink and snack breaks along the way.  Grace and Cole are enjoying their goldfish in the double stroller we rented from the zoo.

Another fun exhibit were the gorillas.  If you recall, Grace had a serious fear of gorillas when she was younger.  I think she has since forgotten because she was giggling at their every move.

This picture looks familiar….

Blast from the past.  Grace, 17 months, at the Santa Barbara Zoo.  This was when she conquered her fear.

After we all had lunch we headed to the Elephant Odyssey section.  Along the way we stopped at the Children’s Zoo.  There, Grace and Cole played at the playgrounds for a few minutes while the parents got to rest.

And wouldn’t you know it there was a petting zoo there too.  Do you think Grace conquered her fear of petting zoo animals?  Not yet.  It was a no go.  Off we went to the Elephant Odyssey.  Because the zoo is so huge and spread out and the elephants were clear across the zoo, the ladies decided to take the gondolas over.  Dan and Papa walked with a napping Cole to meet us.

Yaya is a bit fearful of heights so she was hanging on for dear life.

Grace wasn’t afraid.  She thought this ride was the coolest by far.

While we were waiting for the men to get there we hung outside the Polar Bear Plunge.

Finally we got to the elephants.  The purpose of this exhibit is to show how present animals relate to prehistoric animals.  Grace thinks she would have been a great cave woman.

Cole really enjoyed watching the gigantic elephants.

By the end of the day we were all pretty exhausted from all that walking.  But not as tired as this guy.

The next day of our vacation we went to Balboa Park.  It happens to be right next to the zoo and we saw that there was a carousel and train ride for kids.  But Grace had her mind of this ride.  Grace wanted to soar like a butterfly.

Cole was too small but he liked watching Grace pass by.

The train ride was next and the whole family piled in.

Grace and I were having a great time on the mini train.

Cole, however, wanted to sit with Mommy and didn’t feel as happy.

Thanks San Diego for a wonderful family vacation!

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