It's a Jungle Out There...

On Tuesday morning, I got up early and went for a run.   Running in a new city is always exciting; seeing new sights and taking in the personality of a town makes a normal run more of an adventure.  What I found most interesting were the varieties of trees and plants that look nothing like anything I would see at home.   Check it out!!

An entire lawn full of these

 Palm Lined sidewalks 

Hibiscus!

Returning from my run, I fixed breakfast for the family, and before we knew it we were out the door and on our way to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.   We were all pretty excited to experience all this famous zoo offered.  

One highlight of our day was the unexpected "Lorikeet Landing" which is an outdoor enclosure that housed a flock of Lorikeets.   We bought tiny cups of some kind of bird drink -  if you were lucky the birds would drink from it.  

Surprisingly, the gorillas were a bit aloof....

Runcie measuring up to a gorilla... I see some similarities... Haha

One of the highlights of our visit was the Safari Tram.   What made it even more exciting is summer means "Baby Season" so we were able to see some really cute animal babies...

The baby giraffe had to do widen her front legs to get a drink of water... also see baby rhino in back ground.

Leaving the safari park by mid to late afternoon gave us just enough time to come back to the condo and get changed into our swimsuits and head to the beach.   I'm so thankful I brought my good camera with me!   Something about sunlight and water and kids make a fantastic combo for photography...   Here are some pics from our evening...   

Elizabeth and Gigi

All four of our kids

Runcie bodysurfing a wave with E and G

G, E, and R

E, G and Runcie

Elizabeth being Elizabeth, Gigi and Runcie

Elizabeth and Gigi

Elizabeth's feet and Runcie

Francey building a castle

Sweet Francey

After looking at the pics, we all decided that Elizabeth was the most expressive in our pics... We had a good laugh.  :)