Day 2: San Diego Zoo!

And another day began, bright and early.  Did I mention that I was also trying to continue potty training with Natalie on this trip?  She did great the first day at Legoland, and used the toilet a few times at the Zoo, but in the end it was too stressful (and the accidents too challenging to handle with 3 other kids), so after Day 2, we switched to Pull-ups for pretty much the rest of the trip.

Here's Lukas doing the dishes after the first morning's breakfast in the hotel.  We had a little kitchenette so I could make breakfast each morning as well as a pack lunch for the day.  For me, this is so much easier than navigating a restaurant for breakfast (cleaning up sticky pancake syrup) or the fast food line at the zoo (are we going to eat fast food for 5 days straight?) and unfamiliar packaging and food types for young children means more prep for the parents...besides it being so much less expensive.  We went out for nice dinners each night, and the kids started to get used to waiting for their food after leaving the order with the waiter (can you tell we go to Souplantation a lot, where there is instant gratification?)

The meercats didn't know they were getting visited by monkeys that day.

Dominik has a hard time NOT smiling.

Konrad wearing his meercat shirt in front of the meercat area (of course, this shirt was first worn by Lukas 3 years ago).

I was glad to see from this picture that Natalie saw the giraffes (she was asleep when we saw the giraffes later in our trip--I wasn't here for this picture because I was changing Dominik).  Giraffes are her favorite.

Lukas thought this was a great picture BECAUSE his ears are sticking out.  Yes, he's 7.

Kids, this is what a snake looks like, in case you ever see one while we're camping.

Natalie LOVED watching this video of elephants in action...as usual, she watches at close range.

Lukas on top of the statue of a secretary bird.

Konrad...

Natalie's picture is the best, don't you think?

Dominik found him quite interesting!

The kids were always more interested in the animals they could touch and climb on...

...but we finally got Natalie to leave the large climbing elephant and see the real thing.

We also have a story of NOT getting on the aerial tram because a certain child was fearful...but it can only be told in person.  The San Diego Zoo tram has many stories in our family, so it wouldn't be a real Happy Ones trip without adding another one.

Come back soon to see what we did the next day...