San Diego Zoo

Did you know the San Diego Zoo is one of the top five largest zoos in America? It's 100 acres, has over 4,000 animals and requires really good walking shoes. I'm not going to lie I was a little envious of the girls riding in their strollers. Just kidding, the walking wasn't too bad and the girls actually enjoyed running around too. 

Out of all the animals we saw, I think Rebekah enjoyed the reptiles the most. She liked seeing all the big snakes and lizards and her little voice was  laced with concern whenever Andrew or I told her an animal was endangered. 

We even met a lizard willing to strike a pose for us. This little guy was just too cute! Probably because he looks like a little Godzilla. 

After leaving the House of Reptiles we saw a tortoise, some alligators, an Iguana and a Komodo Dragon.

Somewhat recently Andrew and I had a conversation about Komodo Dragons. I can't remember what sparked the conversation all I remember is it resulted in me looking up YouTube videos of Komodo Dragons and becoming thoroughly creeped out. If you had no knowledge of what a Komodo Dragon looked like or how it behaved would you believe it could be vicious if I showed you this picture? The YouTube video I watched said they will infiltrate villages and sometimes sneak into people's houses. Once inside if they feel threatened (or are just hungry!) they'll group together and corner you. CREEPY! Luckily, the closest I'll ever to get to one is at the zoo, while I look at it safely from the other side of the fence. 

Rebekah, Charlotte and Emily all enjoyed looking at the monkeys too. The monkeys were so energetic, it made it hard not to smile when you saw one of them swinging around or climbing the fence. 

This little guy liked striking a pose too! His little eyes kept arching up making it look like he was contemplating life or maybe just plotting a way to escape. 

Elephants are majestic, wise and beautiful creatures and I think that's why I love them so much. I felt a little guilty making my family wait for the elephant area to be cleaned out so I could get a few pictures, but they didn't seem to mind. The girls had fun playing with the little pebbles they found and running up and down the path. 

Here's another one of our little animal friends that was ready to strike a pose. I'm not sure the girls would believe me if I told them this was Timon. They were really excited to see Simba, but the lions were all sleeping in the shade when we got there. 

However, we did get a really good view of this Cheetah! We were across the rode getting pictures of Rhinos, when I looked across the street and found her staring at us. 

Before leaving the zoo, we made one last stop to check out the Koala and Panda bears. The girls didn't care too much about what we saw at this point though. They were exhausted from our long day at the zoo and all of the walking we did, but Andrew and I sure enjoyed seeing the Koalas and Pandas.