San Diego Day Three – Wild Animal Park

Hi. It’s Mommy this time. I haven’t fallen asleep yet so I get to be the family blogger.

Today was more full than the rest of our days have been. It’s Sunday so we went to church. We visited a Sovereign Grace church in Escondido. It was called Grace Church. The worship time was such a blessing. Lots of our usual favorites. During the “Say hello to the people around you” time, Matt met a guy that went to Master’s and is related to some of our PBC missionaries. He just got back from Uganda. If you know my husband, you know that that is always a point of interest. Meanwhile, I was approached by a lady that I instantly recognized. She said, “Hi. I don’t think I’ve met you before. I’m Elyse.” Um . . . ELYSE FITZPATRICK! Cool! We had a nice little chat. Anyways, while we were having a lovely time with the adults, Jack was in the two year old class. Guess who his teachers were? Do any of you remember Danny and Laurie Frese? Laurie was a fellow Hotchkiss lady with me. Then she got married and moved to Israel. When Dave and I were at IBEX, we made one of our funniest memories with Danny. We helped him CARRY his new sofa from one side of Jerusalem to the other. Random. So besides the fun people, we were thankful for a good message from Ephesians.

While we were in church, God decided that San Diego needed some rain. Not just SOME . . . TONS!! It was POURING when we ran to our car. Matt wanted to go back to the hotel for a relaxing day out of the wet weather, but I wasn’t about to let the weather stop us from making a memory and having an adventure. It’s a good thing, because by the time we got to the Wild Animal Park, the sun had come out. God is good!

The Wild Animal Park was way cooler than we expected. It’s like a zoo except that somehow it feels more natural. I think it’s because the animals aren’t as segregated. As long as they’re not the eating type (like lions and tigers), they get to co-exist in the big open plains. Yes, open plains. Not as many tiny cages.

A few highlights:
- feeding the water fowl. Jack loved this. Any excuse to throw things is good for him.
- the baby monkey. The mama was swinging around like crazy while her baby clung to her for dear life.

- lunch overlooking “Africa”

- the lions. Jack kept pointing and screaming, “La. La. Li. Li. La. La. Li. Li.” Maybe when we get home we can post the videos of it.

- our tram ride through “Africa.” This was the cool “natural” part. Lots of neat giraffes and rhinos and zebras. Jack kept pointing and “Ooooo”-ing. Very cute. Sadly, we didn’t get many good pictures of this part because we were too busy enjoying it. You’ll just have to visit the park yourself if you want to see how cool it is.

Because of church, we didn’t get started at the Wild Animal Park until after noon. Not great for little ones. So we pushed the kids until we knew they were done enjoying themselves. We didn’t get to see the Asian part of the park. So I guess we’ll have to come back again.

Jack fell asleep on the way back to the hotel and is still “out.” He’s currently snuggled up with his new Shamu. After two Shamu shows (or as he calls it “Bub-Bows), Shamu has quickly joined Mickey, Dolphin, and Gorilla as his favorite sleeping friends.

Katie, on the other hand, decided to seize the moment to have some one-on-one time with Mommy and Daddy. So the three of us had some fun in the other room. She just figured out how to make “raspberries” with her tongue. She loves it. Not very lady-like, but still adorable. Again, maybe we can post a video later.

Alright, another wonderful day. Sad to have to leave tomorrow. But so thankful for this lovely family trip. It’s our first “Just Us” family vacation so it’s been very special. Thank you, Jesus, for providing for all the details. And thank you, Daddy, for making it happen. We are blessed.