Chronicles of Disneylandia ... (Day 7)

WHEW ... to make it to a new day and not have another sick person was a HUGE relief! (especially since I am the last one - it was like this dark cloud just following around, looming over my shoulder ... "you're next" it taunts - and I just hope each day to dodge the bullet - someone needs to keep this vacation going - ha ha)

We woke up this morning finding out all about the devastating earthquake in Japan - we didn't quite grasp the extent of the damage, as we were only catching snippets of information here and there. But we did hear that there were tsunami warnings along the coasts - so we opted out of Sea World and went to the zoo instead. We would go to Sea World tomorrow.

It was a good choice - we were feeling okay enough - the kids were pretty good - Bert was still struggling - he was pretty sure he dropped 10 pounds in one day - we would find out when we got home that that might have been true as he ended up losing 18 pounds altogether with this bug he caught - INSANE! And as much as I would love to drop 18 pounds - I wouldn't wish that method on anyone. I am still just so grateful that I never came down with all this garbage - what a blessing!

So, on to the zoo - this really is one of the most wonderful places to visit - I can't get enough of this zoo - we have to stop there every time we make it down to the lovely San Diego area. And isn't it great to be met by lovely elephant bush sculptures?

We went straight to the koalies ... The King couldn't get enough of them - he just kept giggling and pointing and saying, "Awww - look at the cute koalies". I am not sure who was cuter ... the koalie or the King. In fact, we gave the kids little disposable cameras to use that day, and I think The King took all his photos at that first stop with the koalies.

But can you blame him - look how darn cute and cuddley they are!

Then there were the flamingos - my goodness - they are just so striking - I couldn't keep my eyes off them!

And, we got a great view of the pandas.

In fact, we like the pandas so much we had a photo taken with them!!!

LOVE the moving sidewalks to get you up and down those steep hills at the zoo - such a great feature!

And now, the reason I go to zoos in the first place:

We watched one of the zookeepers feeding this sweet elephant - I loved how she interacted so tenderly with the elephant and the elephant responded with the same kindness. I was just mesmerized by the whole process - I really need to get a pet elephant someday! They are the most amazing, beautiful, emotional, intellectual creatures - I can't get enough of them. And since they have been my favorite thing as far back as I can remember - well - my family just gets to put up with my little obsession because it isn't going anywhere anytime soon!

Oh, and the Condors - such amazing ugly and fascinating birds - so great to see them.

And the meerkats - they were totally hiding until the kids started making funny little noises. Then, they were all over the place and posing for the camera - such silly little things.

And speaking of silly things:

The kids were finding favorite things all over the place - I can't wait to see the photos they all took - but I keep forgetting to get their film developed.

And then there was Bert, he was there for the tigers - and luckily we got some fantastic views of the tigers, too!

And toward the end of the day we made our way up to the polar bears. This guy gave quite a show - rolling and frolicking and taking a HUGE dump right in front of us. (yes, I do have photos - no, I will not be posting them here!)

It took everything out of Bert to make it through the day - so after the Polar Bears we jumped on the little tram and floated back to the entrance and took our leave. It was a beautiful day and we were all thrilled with what we had experienced - it really is one of my favorite places to visit.

With that, we went back to our lovely suite, spent some time in the pool and hot tub, The Boy almost drowning when a girl took his floatie away - sheeeeese. Thankfully Bert was on it right away and all was well. We ordered Megamind from the hotel PayPerView thing and nestled in for a great nights rest. It was a good day!