Sound Bites & Snap Shots

We know how to do full days when we are at AAP and today was no exception.  First the boys and I participated in the annual fun run at 8 AM. 

The run non-competitive and meant for all members of the family.  Walker raced ahead and Mason and I hung back with the walkers. 

He and I chatted about sundry topics and along the course, we met a pediatrician from the San Diego area.  Somehow we ended up discussing dogs and specifically her Dachshund. Mason was so busy chatting her up and down about the Halloween costumes their dog wore that before we knew it, we were at the finish line. 

We owe this lady a lot.  Mason had one of his best and more enjoyable races ever because he was too busy conversing to focus on the kilometers.

(There is colorful and fun art in San Diego!  This piece is too big for my backyard but I love it.)

After the run, we traveled by taxi to the San Diego Zoo.  We took the tram and made a loop around the entire zoo.  It’s a big place. There were a lot of smiles on this adventure.  We saw plenty of animals but I’m only going to highlight the ones wearing clothes and ambulating on two legs.  If a real animal enters the viewfinder, it’s a bonus.

Coco, Frankie’s monkey, came with us all the way from home.  He was a mischievous guy.  He wore Mason’s hat, flew through the air in fits of glee and basically kept us all entertained.  We all started to include him in the kid count.

Hey, look! Papa’s favorite animal jumped in the picture. 

At one point we stopped to take the tram again and Mason found a resting spot on the massage chair.  I wasn’t going to feed it coins but another guest did.  Joy pulsed through Mason’s body as the chair worked its magic.

Towards the end of our visit, Papa dug deep in his pockets for change to treat the kids to the best souvenir at the zoo. 

Soon after everyone had his or her smashed penny, Frankie piped up that she thought Papa needed one too.  She picked it out and made one just for him.

After the 4D movie, we hopped on the air tram and headed back to the front. I wonder what banter was took place in Gondola number 14.

In ours Grandma gushed it was probably one of her best zoo trips ever. 

We called it quits just about as the zoo closed.  As we exited, a volunteer peddled for contributions to his cause.  His repeated chant of “Donation, donation, donation” became one of the earworms we took home as a free souvenir.  I’m sure it was one of the “you had to have been there” incidents but I didn’t want to forget the memory.

We met up with Bill for our last meal together as a whole big group at one of our favorite family restaurants.  We made the final turn back to the hotel for 31 Flavors and a combo early birthday celebration for Monique and some indoor trick or treating.  We made the rounds from the harbor to the zoo and back and had a fantastic day.