August Adventures - Part 2 - California

After we finally got out of Adult Time Out, we made our way to San Diego.  We spent a couple of hours visiting with Anna's cousin until my sister came to pick us up.  (We were early since we got through customs so quickly.)  When we got to Janelle's house, her roommate had a Snow White dress and doll for Sara--and she didn't even know it was her birthday! 

Sara felt that Snow White should be in the picture.  

Tuesday was Sara's 5th birthday!  

She really didn't seem to know what that meant but she loved all the attention she got.  

We spent her birthday at the San Diego Zoo with Janelle, Anna, and Jonathan.  (I realized that he does not appear in one of my pictures.)  

Examining the turtles.

The panda bears were pretty much my entire motivation for going to the zoo.  

With the panda bear! (She was not nearly as impressed as the adults!)

Isn't that how everyone poses to check out the zoo animals?

The birthday girl on the SkyTram.  She LOVED it.  (Notice that the cute birthday bows are already gone.)

A little nervous at first.

Look what they gave to Janelle as we got off the SkyTram.  (I'm sure it was for Sara but it was a lot more fun to mock Janelle for her inability to wait in line.)  I wish we'd had it when we waited in line for the Pandas.  Sara does NOT wait in lines well.  She does not believe in personal space.  She will stand so her toes are touching the heels of the person in front of us.  Or, she will weasel her way through the line to find a new family to stand with.  She does it easily and then I have to try to squeeze through and get her.  She also likes to sit down and refuse to move.  When I pick her up, she flails and flops---inevitably kicking someone else in line in the process.  I think that waiting in line will be a skill that we work on for a while.  

She fell asleep on the bus tour of the zoo---which was kind of the point.  We were all hot and tired and wanted to sit.  There was a line of sleeping children by the time the bus stopped.  

She wanted a picture with the lion---as long as mom was in between her and the lion.

We had a stroller with us but this is definitely her preferred method of transportation.  She was not a fan of the huge hills at the zoo.

We went to Tommy's diner for her birthday dinner.  What more can a girl ask for than a hotdog and ice cream?

She makes some AMAZING faces in this video  

In our drives between San Diego and Janelle's house in Orange County, we passed through Camp Pendleton.  The sign on this tank on the highway scared me a little bit.

The next day they were blowing things up on the side of the highway.

On Wednesday, Janelle had to go back to work.  So, we went to Zoomars with Janelle's roommate.  It was the perfect place for Sara.  She loved it!

Mango Smoothie in a cute San Juan Capistrano coffee shop.  Perfect way to start the day.

A pen full of guinea pigs is almost my worst nightmare.  At least they hid in the corners so I didn't have to worry about them running over my feet or anything.

Sara clearly loved it!

She is so kind and caring.

She did NOT want to hold them, though.  Good girl!

She loved the train!  She waved like Miss America in a parade the entire time.

She spent a solid hour in the corn bin.  I wanted to my dad to build her one but he informed me that it would attract rodents.  If you know me, you know that I DO NOT like rodents.  (I found a dead mouse in my house once.  It took me forever to get the guts to scoop it up with a dust pan and dump it in the trash bin outside.  I then puked on it.)

Yesterday I did our laundry from the trip.  I found a kernel of corn in the bottom of the washer.  I wonder if that was the last one.

  

She was exhausted by lunch time.

Our flight didn't leave until the afternoon on Thursday so we spent the morning chilling with Anna and Jonathan.  Sara has decided that bangs are annoying.

Anna's teaching her all about Pinterest since her mommy refuses to begin another on-line addiction.  

Our flight home was, thankfully, uneventful.  We had a minor run in with some rude people at the airport who stole our prearranged taxi but we just squeezed ourselves into a tiny cab with all our stuff and made it home with no problems.  

I found this in my suitcase when we got home.  Of course the TSA searched the same bag as the fruit dog.