Zoo!

Zoo Trip

We went on a zoo trip with Ah Mah and Ah Kong when they were here this past week and this time one of the favorite stops for the kiddos was the insect house.  In addition to the live stick insects, giant cockroaches and tarantula, they found this board with mounted insects to be fascinating.  Look at that spider!  It was called a "bird eating spider"....

Zoo

 Miss Independent wanted to carry the picnic blanket all by herself.

Checking out the new coati exhibit at the zoo.

We went to the zoo yesterday and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  One of the highlights was the new coati and cotton top tamarin exhibit which recently opened.  We toured quite a bit of the zoo and enjoyed a nice lunch of a baguette, goat cheese, olive tapenade, yogurt and mandarins on one of the benches in the shade.  I was told that this would be a great lunch for "every time we visit the zoo in the future".  Agreed!

Oakland Zoo

A few weeks ago we enjoyed the zoo on a very chilly day.

Zoo Time!

We enjoyed a few hours at the Oakland Zoo the other day, before heading to our favorite, Guadalajara for a yummy lunch!

Oakland Zoo

 The zoo tour guide showing us where we were going on the train.

 Mimi and the tour guide

 On the carousel.  In this pic, Julia was upset because she wanted the camera, which she had been carrying like a purse.

 Having fun on the tiger.

 Checking out the flamingos and pretending to be one.

 Julia loved the goats this time.

She and the goat were about the same height.

I took the kiddos to the zoo this morning, hoping to escape from some of our heat over here.  It is cooler today, but still a little bit warmer than I would like my Fall to be!   We hit up most of the animals in the zoo, as well as the train and carousel.  It was Julia's first time on the carousel, which ended up being less than successful.  I put her on the animal next to Alex and strapped her in.  Once the carousel started to move and her animal started to go up and down, she freaked out.  I took her off and then thought just got up on the animal with her, only to be chastised by the keeper of the carousel, who told me that there is only one person allowed per animal.  Really?  I cannot go on with her? (Weird rule, in my opinion, but not worth arguing, so we just stood for the rest of the ride.)  She did, however, love the goats in the contact yard.  She walked right up to the goat and started petting it.  Alex was a good tour guide as always and helped to show Julia all of the things to see at the zoo.

Zoo Time!

We had a fun afternoon at the zoo yesterday with Lara, Avery and Cade.  Julia seemed to notice the animals a bit more this time and especially liked the monkeys, elephants and tigers.  Avery was such a good helper, pushing Julia in the stroller all around the zoo, and Alex and Cade had fun pretending they were monkeys and climbing trees.  Always a fun time at the Oakland Zoo!

Let's Go to the Zoo!

 Enjoying La Farine sandwiches

 Keeping herself occupied in the stroller

Riding on the tomato frog statue

Alex, Julia and I went to the Oakland Zoo the other day, while Daddy had the fun job of painting the kitchen ceiling.  We stopped at La Farine in our old neighborhood to pick up some sandwiches for a little picnic, before heading over to the zoo.  It was quite a busy day, so the parking was crazy, but eventually we found a spot and got all settled with all of our stuff and the stroller.  Typically, Julia does not go in the stroller.  Actually, she's never been in the stroller, so it was an experiment.  It turned out to be partially successful, but it seems that many things are not so viewable from the stroller, so it was kind of a half in stroller, half out of stroller kind of day.  Julia enjoyed the giraffes, most likely because they were so much easier to see, than anything else.  Alex was bummed that the lemurs were taking a nap on their platform.  I thought there were quite smart to be just chilling out and frankly, I would have liked a nap too ;-)

Due to a ticket line which was just way too long, we skipped the carousel, but that will be on the list for next time!

Oakland Zoo

This driving is serious business

Quick wave

Fun on the carousel

Train ride to the Outback to see emus and wallaroos

After school yesterday we met up with Carrie, Johnny and Teddy at the Oakland Zoo.  The weather was fabulous and the boys had a great time exploring and playing at the zoo.  We ended up the visit, as always with some rides and an outing on the train, which is always a favorite.  

Speaking of the Zoo...

Silverback Gorilla

He came right up and just posed for the camera for about ten minutes

The penguins

Mr. Rhino

A good view of the anteater's nose

One of the many peacocks....clearly Alex's favorite on this visit

We went to the San Francisco Zoo on Sunday as well, with Daddy.  We had not been there in a long time and although it was a chilly, chilly summer morning, we were able to see many animals which we do not normally get to see at the Oakland Zoo.  I've included some of Daddy's nice photos so that you can all see them too!  The gorillas were quite amazing, and the baby was really cute!  Alex especially loved the peacocks, just like he did when we visited the farm on Friday.  In fact, he loved them so much that we purchased some peacock feathers from the gift shop on the way home.  Thanks to Rhonda for those!

Zoo Time!

Cool!  Johnny and Alex were quite excited when they realized that we were all going in the same car for the trip to the San Francisco Zoo.

Alex measuring up to the gorilla

Cuties

Watching the penguins swim by

A fast, fun train ride. 

Back home after a good day at the zoo and a nap in the car

 

We had a fun day with Johnny and Carrie on a trip to the San Francisco Zoo.  We decided to carpool and the boys were quite excited about that decision.  Who doesn't love to ride next to their buddy on a roadtrip?  We saw lots of animals, with the peacocks being Alex's favorite, and the lions coming in as Johnny's favorite.  There was a train ride before lunch, some playtime on the playground and then a couple of naps in the car on the way home.  What a great Tuesday!

Zoo Friday

And the tortise was this big!

Climbing up the spider web.  A bit different than this post when he was trying to climb on it.  http://smaskensbaby.blogspot.com/2009/01/another-zoo-trip.html

The view of the giraffes from the SkyRide

Look!  You can see the elephants from the SkyRide too!

First time on the cars.  Finally tall enough.  Drove the fire engine first.

Drove a blue Mustang next.

We've been going to swim lessons every day this week and this morning when we got in the car, Alex thought we were going there again.  He realized that we did not turn on that exit, so then he wondered where we were going.  Once we got closer to the exit for the zoo, he had figured it out, and as we approached the entrance to the zoo, he was quite excited.  "That's why I was talking about....the zoo!  I am so happy to come to the elephant zoo!  I was surprised Mommy!"  I knew it had been awhile since we had been to the zoo, but I didn't expect quite so much excitement. 

Along with seeing a bunch of his favorite animals, including hornbills that now have a little chick in their nesting box, we rode on the SkyRide per Alex's request.  It was alot of fun and he enjoyed the view more this time than any of the other times that he has been up in it.  Afterwards, we headed to the ride area and he was lucky enough to finally be tall enough to go on the little cars.  He was quite thrilled about this turn of events and took the firetruck for a spin and followed it up with a spin on the metallic blue Mustang.  Certainly a fun morning at the zoo for Alex.