Embrace the Camera: August 25th

San Diego Zoo...

   Our vacation was finally winding down, and we were preparing to return to our daily life. Yet, on our last day before checking out, we decided we would treat Lily to one more quick adventure. We explained to her that we were leaving, and that we were heading back to see her grandparents, cousins, and friends. She seemed excited to leave, but she couldn't walk away just yet. She insisted on spending a little more time on the balcony watching the scene below as she had many times during our vacation.

We waited on the balcony together as my husband loaded the car, and prepared for our departure. She was quite chatty that morning and kept asking to see monkeys and tigers. She's random, and will bring up many subjects without warning. The week before  we were watching "The Jungle Book", and she turned to me to proclaim that she wanted to go to the jungle and dance with a bear.

I love the way her mind works...I can have conversations with her forever.

The glass elevator was another one of her favorite past times during our stay. We must have ridden that elevator more than a dozen times. At one point, we kept running into the same people, and I'm sure they were wondering if we were lost. The fact is that we kept using the elevator as our own personal amusement ride since it reached 10 stories and the view was of a beautiful waterfall. 

Let's not forget the mirror...she made sure to dance and jump every time we walked by.

Once we reached the San Diego Zoo, we bought Lily a hat and headed straight for the smelly flamingos. Why do they always insist on placing the flamingos in the front? Luckily, on the way out of a zoo I know I'm near the entrance by the stench of the flamingos. This time though, the baby flamingo made the stench worth standing still for...at least for a quick photo.

This little guy was too cute to pass up. I caught him walking out of the pool, pull down a towel, and begin to dry himself up. I whistled at him like I would a dog, and he gave me this look.

We were then off to see some colorful birds...

We entered the new bird exhibit, and it was amazing. You are literally placed inside a giant cage with all these exotic birds. Some were so large that when they flew above us their wing span stretched as tall as me. The blue bird above was feeding so close that we would be able to touch it...but we didn't of course.

This yellow beauty flew over my head and perched itself on a branch inches away. Even with a camera in its face the bird didn't attempt to fly. Such an awesome experience!

My monkey...ready to make our way down to see her favorite animal.

It was a LONG and STEEP trek down to visit the monkeys!

Though she enjoyed every single primate...the Orangutans captured her the most. 

This was the only photo I was able to take of the lazy tiger, I mean they do sleep longer than they are awake. Once he woke up, he sprayed the walls with urine? He smelled every single spray on the wall as to make sure it was really there. Must have been due to all the strangers camping out so close to his territory.

The elephants instantly reminded Lily of Dumbo...of course! She kept asking to sit on Dumbo, so that little tiny person on top of the baby elephant is Lily as excited as can be. lol

The Giraffes kept following my camera...they were more than ready for a photo opt. 

Can you tell someone was EXCITED to see the polar bear?

I LOVE THIS PICTURE! She's smiling from ear to ear and showing her dimples.

...and with that intro we entered the Polar Bear Research exhibit.

Flying a WhirlyBird

Here were are with a seal...but she's ready to move on.

I wanted to see the Tiger so much...and it was asleep of course. Isn't it still so beautiful? There was nothing but a small chain link fence between us though. Yikes!

My Koalas were all asleep too...except for the tiny baby on the left. Toddlers never sleep when we want them to so I can relate. Poor mom on the right looks exhausted. I could be making all this up though. lol

Our last planned stop was the Reptile exhibit...I take WAY too many pictures of reptiles so I limited myself to my two favorite.

Just when I thought we were done...Lily discovers a petting zoo within the zoo. 

She came into this adventure with a smile, and I can call it a success knowing she left this place with an even larger smile. I, on the other hand, will not be visiting another zoo or animal for the rest of the year. ;)