Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!

After our visit with grandma in December, we made our way to the zoo. In lieu of buying Christmas presents, we prefer to spend our resources to go on small family vacations and make memories together. Bright sunny San Diego is what comes to mind when thinking of the state of CA and not the cold northern part that we now call home.

It was a special joy to take my husband and children to a place I loved as a child. I lived in San Diego from seven to nine years old while my father was stationed here with the Navy. My clearest memories (or picture snapshots) of the zoo were the flamingos and the bronze gorilla. We found the flamingos as soon as we entered and then spent the rest of the day hunting for that shiny climbable gorilla.

The day was enjoyed all the more because the four of us entered for free! My friend was able to generously give us two free admission tickets, E was under three, and N got in through their active duty military promotion. We could actually afford lunch at the park and a few little treats.

Baby E wants to see the kangaroos.

It was a perfectly beautiful day!

Dear Mom, I am sorry that you do not get the joy of seeing your grand daughter's dressed in every color of the rainbow at the same time in patterns of hearts, stripes, and florals :) Why go bright when you can go white?  hehe. Or classic plaid?

I LOVE going on these skyrides. Now, it wasn't a horse drawn hay ride, but it was wonderful ;)

We were strollerless at the zoo! It is always a gamble to stroller or not to stroller in a new place. I wasn't sure how it would be, but in the end it was the best decision because of the stairs, hills, and crowds. Plus, all of us minus baby got a great workout.

Seeing this picture reminds me how delighted I am to be able to smile again after my bout with Bell's. Many times in my head I have thought up a post about my Bell's experience, and I hope to write it down for real one of these days and share with you all that I went through and felt.

Look at those eyelashes

This was as close as we got to the amazing Balboa Park. I had hoped we would be able to explore around, but the zoo is all we could handle for one day.

Downtown San Diego and a beautiful bridge

Sleepy polar bears

The zoo boasted a several waterfalls throughout the park.

A tiger cub lapping up some water! One of my favorite animals

Brother cub

Mama tiger watched her cubs like a hawk.

While we were exiting the large exhibit, the tiger cubs rounded the corner of the smaller viewing area and we got more close up views of their beauty.

Even baby enjoyed the sights.

A silly hair day

Smiles for lunch

 

 Being bjorned is tiring

I didn't realize till after I uploaded this picture that the hippo was sculpted from sand.

We found the bronze gorilla!

Three monkeys on the gorilla. See the real one in the background!

M and her little piece of the zoo

VA Friends in CA!

After visiting visiting with Grandma for two days, we were on the road again and traveled a few hours to see these friends. Once I heard the word that we were moving to CA, seeing these smiling faces was on the top of my list of things to see in CA;)  We met at our VA church back in 2008. I felt that she was a friend at first sight. From the moment I met her with her first little newborn son wrapped in her arms and her Navy husband by her side, I knew she was a kindred spirit. I wished we could have  more time together in VA, but baby timing made our visits few but sweet. By the time one of us was recovered from birth and ready to face the world again with an infant, the other was newly pregnant and home bound and then the cycle repeated :)

Together we chatted a million miles a minute as we walked to the park.

A seesaw! They still make them?!

E loves the swing and her daddy's silly faces. We are enjoying seeing more of E's personality. She is as adventurous as they come while M was cautious. It is not too far off to say that M just started to enjoy swings.

I adore this silly shot.

It was a joy to see these friends and an all-around perfect day. We originally had different plans, but these were far better as it freed us to catch up on life while walking to the park and hanging out in her living room. As the Navy would have it, her husband was on duty that day. But thankfully N was able to go visit with him on his ship that evening.

After we left their house, we drove into a shopping center. As we rounded the corner, we saw a Chick-Fil-A! I almost shed a tear at a sight I hadn't seen in 100 days; it was as if the earth had shrunk and for five minutes I was back home. An even more funny side note~ While I am going through the drive-thru, my husband decides to make a phone call to someone he hadn't spoken to in a long time. I had not yet ordered and was hit with the conundrum of what to do. Do I shout "An order of number 8, a fruit salad, and a watered-down lemonade" just as his friend picks up, or do I wait in the line and drive around the Chick-Fil-A without ordering at all? I decided to keep quiet and drive around the building and then drive around and order once he got off the phone. Lesson learned.

What I was Given this Christmas

brought tears to my eyes. It was not wrapped with bows and tucked under our tree with my name on a tag, yet it was wrapped with joy and the memory is now tucked dearly in my heart. I had the pleasure of seeing Grandma meet her great grand babies for the first time on Christmas Sunday morning during service at her own church. She had mentioned repeatedly how much it meant to have us worshiping with her at her church.

She lives six hours ( or so Google says) away from us in California. We drove halfway down Saturday night and stayed at an Air Force Base so that we would be able to wake up, drive a few hours and worship with her and God's people Sunday morning.

M is such an affectionate little one. We told her this was another grandma, and she was thrilled to be with her. When we had left for the day, M said, "She is a new Grandma Ajji." It made me smile that she was thinking of her other great grandmother that she had been able to visit with while we crossed the country.

After church supper, we drove a few minutes to Signal Hill. The view was a treat for Grandma just as much as it was for us because although she lived a few minutes away she had never been there.

It was an exceptionally clear view for the Los Angles area.

Being a few hours south of home, we noticed and enjoyed seeing many more palm trees.

Beautiful! This was no white Christmas, but it was gorgeous!

Monday afternoon Grandma suggested we check out one of her favorite diners in town.

Another tree ~ another picture

After lunch, we enjoyed a stroll on the beach of Long Beach.

There are a sparse number of sights that are more wonderful in my eyes than seeing my husband bjorning our daughter.

 

On the beach was a wide sidewalk. It was a pleasure to walk on solid ground and be sand free while enjoying the sights, sound, and smell of the ocean. 

The oil rigs are designed to look like highrises.

This is the only Lone Sailor Memorial to be placed overlooking the ocean. This spot meant a lot to Grandma~ and there she was with her very own sailor.

 

We had a wonderful time with her, and I am pretty sure she loved being with us. We brought her little gifts and trinkets, yet our main gift was framing pictures of all six her great grand babies up on the wall. I usually take forever to get pictures printed, framed, and on our walls, yet I picked up my pace  for grandma as I was able to put pictures on her walls which we took that same day.  Presently, I walk the earth in a body that is twenty-five and a face that thinks it is sixteen again, but I often feel that I have a mind of an eighty year old. I know that in a heartbeat of life I will be that woman wishing and hoping to see my family's families. I can imagine the joy of meeting my M's grand babies for the first time. And seeing that joy first hand this Christmas morning was a tearful joyful experience.