We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo... how about you, you, you...

Today we went to the world famous San Diego Zoo... and if I felt like i walked 1000 miles yesterday, today I walked 2000 miles!

Well... what can I say about San Diego Zoo... there is a reason why it is world renown... it is amazing! Firstly, it's huge! Beth and I spent 4.5 hours there (and I reckon of those 4.5 hours, 3 of those hours were spent just walking!) and whilst we saw most of the zoo (and all the important exhibits), there were lots of things we missed, like the children's zoo, the galapolgas turtles, the reptile park, the meerkats... There is just so much to see... lucky we're going again with Phan later in the week... It's also a multi-tiered structure... so there are lots of slopes and hills and boardwalk things through treetops/rainforests... It's been amazingly designed to make it feel as realistic/natural as possible.

Our favourites animals -

Peacock - There was a peacock just randomly roaming the park grounds (not in an enclosed cage) and it was the first thing we saw when we got to the zoo. That pretty much set us up for the day... Beth was captivated for it... I was trying to put sunscreen on her and she sat in her stroller yelling "Peacock! Find Peacock! Peaaaaacock!" over and over again until I actually went and hunted down the peacock so we could stand there and look at it!

Flamingos - I've never seen them before in real life and found them fascinating and their colours so beautiful and vibrant. Beth found the sight of them standing on leg one of the funniest things she'd ever seen.

Monkeys - (Emmi, you won't like a lot of this part of the zoo... more monkeys than you can poke a stick at!) We saw alot of different types of monkeys.. small ones, big ones, gorillas, orangutans, baboons, cute little spider ones, ones that had characters and were cheeky, others that just sat in one spot... Beth loved them all... Her favourite was the swamp monkeys that kept playing with each other and there was one that couldn't handle the antics of the other monkeys and kept putting his hand over his eyes... so cute! The gorillas were also fascinating... we got right up and close to one, it was sitting right up against a glass wall and eating grass... I love looking at their feet that are like hands.

The Hippo - We got as close as we are ever going to get to a hippo... It fell asleep in the water with it's head on a rock right up against a glass wall... The only stopping us from touching it was the glass, it was soooo amazing... You could see every single little whisker on it's face... You would hope that glass is really strong, in case it ever got angry and decided to ram the glass!

Zebras - Beth loves zebras... I don't know why... they are beautiful though.

There were also so many other animals we saw... giraffes, rhinos, hairy pigs/warthogs, tigers, lions, bears, fish, turtles, snakes, lizards, hyenas, wallabies, gazelles, camels and other strange animals I've never seen before... honestly, we saw so much... Beth missed out on some of these animals because she had a nap in the afternoon... so I'll have to take her to see those animals again when we go with Phan. The only thing we missed out on seeing were the elephants, which was a shame... The Zoo has just completed a $45 million new complex for the elephants called "And Elephant Odessey" and it opens this weekend, so all the elephants have been transitioned to their new home and we just missed out on seeing them!

On the whole it was a great experience... apart from the occasional toddler meltdown (she drank all her juice and wanted more!), the only grueling part was the fact it was really warm and there was a lot of walking up and down slopes (hard work on the legs!) and also it gets a bit weary-ing have to continually get a toddler in and out of a stroller so they can see the animals and then because Beth is super safety-conscious, I had to buckle her back up everytimg I put her in the stroller... so I was a bit over having to do that over and over again... But it was so worth it... such a great place to visit.

Speaking of buckling in... Beth last night talked in her sleep and started saying "Stroller... Buckle in... Buckle in"... it was hilariosu! She's even safety conscious in her sleep.

Okay... SeaWorld for us tomorrow... but I really need to rest up so I have enough energy to walk around again!