San Diego Zoo

Our next stop was the San Diego Zoo!  I just love going to the zoo!  This zoo was huge and it definitely didn't disappoint!  To say that Nathan and I got a workout would be an understatement.  They actually have buses that shuttle you around because it is that big.  We only got on the shuttle bus once at the very end of the day because we didn't think it would be very convenient to collapse two strollers, load all the kids and our stuff onto the bus, and then reverse the whole process once we got to our destination.  It seemed too much of a pain so we roughed it the whole day.  Right before we got on the tour bus a man who works there said to imagine the zoo as a bowl.  Ya, he wasn't kidding about there being really steep hills!     

Video of some monkeys (holler monkey?): 

This monkey along with another monkey were pretty loud and entertaining with their sounds.  I didn't get the second monkey on tape but it seriously sounded like a fire engine.  Easton was pretty good at impersonating that monkey.  I should have got Easton on tape. 

The crew ready for the bus tour.  If you decide to do this I would suggest not sitting in the back.  I got a lot of exhaust sitting back there and it gave me a headache.  Sitting on top was definitely nice and we were able to see a lot.

Leopard was saw on our tour.

Elephant we saw on our tour.

I think we all enjoyed watching these monkeys/chimps.  They would randomly come up to people standing close to the glass and pound on the window.

I only included this picture so you could see the man pounding on the window with his fists.  Easton saw him doing this and thought it would be a good idea to do it himself.  I'm not a fan of banging on glass and I thought it was strange they didn't have signs anywhere saying "Do not tap on the glass".  I'm not sure why but I let it slide this one time.  I guess I was a little curious how they would react to Easton.  Anyways, it was interesting that the monkeys seemed to like it when the man banged on the window.  They would come and put their chest right on the window where the man's fists were pounding and just stay there until he stopped.  It was almost like they were getting a free massage.  It was a different story when Easton did it.  The monkeys basically freaked out and it looked as though they were trying to attack Easton.  I don't think they liked Easton very much.

Video of Easton and the monkeys:

The monkeys actually attacked Easton before he even started pounding on the window.  Don't you just love how bossy Blair is in the background?

Easton acting like a monkey.  The monkeys really didn't like Easton standing up next to the glass.  Maybe they felt threatened? We left soon after this because I didn't want Easton pounding on the windows anymore and I didn't think it would be easy to tell a 5 year old he couldn't pound on a window when a grown man was.  Easton's all about things being FAIR!

The kids loved the gorilla statues.

Blair was so sweet with this statue.  Right before I took this picture she was rubbing the baby monkey's head and said, "It's okay little monkey, you're mommy's got you."

Piggy back ride!

I thought this one was cute too!

Real gorilla

Easton really wanted to take pictures of the croc.

And then of course he had to pose with one too!

Orangutan

Tortoises 

Blair and Easton

We took the sky lift up to see the polar bears.

Easton on the sky lift

Dyer on the sky lift.  He was a little unsure about the whole thing at first.  After a while I was afraid he might fall because he kept trying to stand up on the seat.

Nathan and Blair rode together.

Video of the view we saw from the sky lift:

Blair and Easton popping up!

Dyer stretching his legs for a little bit.

Blair

Nathan and Dyer taking a break!  Can you tell that Dyer isn't excited about getting back into the stroller?

Elephants!

Dyer riding an elephant.

Giraffes

Rhinos

Panda

I'm pretty sure this was Dyer's favorite part of the whole day.  He had a lot of fun petting all the goats.

Video of Dyer petting the goat:

Blair posing

Silly picture of Easton and Blair!

I had to snap this picture of Blair with her "friend"  We just happened to follow this family around for quite a while and Blair kept calling this little girl her "friend".  "Where's my friend?"  "Look, there's my friend!"

We all had a great time and we were all very tired and ready for bed after this!