Nighttime Zoo!

Last week Lisa and I took the kids to Nighttime Zoo. Every year for the summer the Zoo is open later and has all sorts of little shows. Since it is almost the end of summer it was not crowded at all! Charlotte and I got there a bit early so that she could ride the little train next to the zoo that she loves. We have reached the point that the only time Charlotte sits in a stroller is at Stroller Strides, so since I was going to the Zoo alone that meant I didn't want to carry my backpack, a cooler AND my camera bag, so phone pictures were the solution! We stopped first in the little Japanese gardens to look at the ducks, fish and turtles!

Lisa and I couldn't figure out why Charlotte was walking with her hand behind her back like an old lady with an aching back. When I told Chris later that she was doing that he told me that she does that so when he chases her if her hand is there he can't tickle her! I don't know who she thought was going to tickle her but that makes so much more sense now!
The kids loved the giraffes, and Charlotte loved being a big girl with Joli!

We watched some frog acrobats and ate our dinner, then we continued on. We stopped to look at the bear. (He is in the left bottom corner!)
Charlotte loved running down the hill, making me very nervous and constantly reminding her to walk!
We got to the bottom and watched some Chinese acrobats twirl bowls on sticks while holding the sticks in their mouths. The kids were fascinated. Lisa and I had seen enough after about 30 seconds!
The waited patiently afterwords for some more beads!
We took the lazy route and went on the moving walkway up the big hill where we finally ended for some ice cream! You can't really get soft ice cream in San Diego easily, but the zoo has great soft ice cream! Charlotte and I split one and it was delicious!

I wish nighttime zoo didn't end with the tourists!!!

Hot Hot Hot!

Today was a hot one... apparently the rest of the week is going to be warm too. Charlotte woke up from her nap in a wonderful mood. We went right out to play in the water! She of course had to torment Baylie too!
We saw frog acrobats at the zoo last night. Charlotte was very excited that there was a frog on her water block!
We played in the pool for a while. Charlotte kept getting in and out to get Baylie's toys and take them. The grass had just been mowed so she kept getting grass clippings in her pool. She was not happy with that!

She finally had enough of her pool and then I made her pose for pictures. She didn't think this was such a great idea.
Then she started getting goofy. (Yes that is a little bruise on the bridge of her nose, Lisa hit her with the stroller last night and she went face first into the pavement. Ok well, she was running in circles after Joli, and we had told them to stop running. Joli listened, Charlotte thought it was still a game. Then she ran in front of the stroller. Wham. I picked her up and hugged her, then explained the best I could to a two year old that Mommies are always right and that's what happens when you don't listen. ) Anyway...
I kind of bribed her with some "num num's" as Charlotte calls any type of sweets. She thoroughly enjoyed her two gummy bears.
We sang some songs, and she smiled because she loves "neigh songs". She requests Yankee Doodle and She'll be Comming round the mountain at least 20 times a day.


After I was somewhat satisfied, I hooked up the snake sprinkler. She was beyond excited! She immediately started drinking the water.

Baylie likes to drink the water too.
She had a great time running through the water!




She started to move on to other things so I turned the water off. Both she and Baylie sat looking at it for a while hoping it would come back on!
Once she realized it was done, she started to pick up. She is so her fathers daughter!

Choo Choo

Saturday morning I rolled over to look at the clock and it was 8:45! I was so excited that not only did Charlotte let us sleep in, but I could actually sleep past 7:30! I got up and doodled around, and by the time Charlotte and Chris got up it was 10:45! Holy smokes! We got dressed and figured there wouldn't be a nap for Charlotte, so we decided to go to Old Poway Park to visit the Train! Charlotte was very pleased with this idea and made sure to let me know how happy she was with us!We stopped for a yummy Greek lunch on the way, and then finally made our way to the train. I have not been incredibly enthusiastic about putting up this post because I didn't like the way most of the pictures turned out. As excited as Charlotte was she was not very cooperative!

After we went around once, I told Chris we should probably get some more tickets. So he got two more, and we each took a turn going around with Charlotte.

First Daddy went, then it was Mama's turn!
It is a really neat place, each weekend they have a different train that runs too!
After we spent about an hour on the train, we told Charlotte the train needed a break, and we went to the other side of the park so Daddy could teach Charlotte a science experiment!
They put their pennies on the track and then we patiently waited for the train to come!

Charlotte was so thrilled with her flat pennies. She wanted to go home and put them right in her piggy bank!
One not so great family photo before we left... The lighting is all off, Charlotte is making a goofy face, and Chris looks like he is posing for a family Christmas card!!! I guess I look the best!!!

Del Mar Races

Yesterday we decided to take Charlotte to the races here in California. She was so excited to see the "neigh race". We didn't hear the end of it. So excited that I don't think she took a nap. She is getting very good at playing VERY quietly in her room for about an hour and a half, then making noise. So, we got her up and got ready to go. We haven't taken a family pictures in a while so we took a quick one before we left.Charlotte was less than cooperative.


We told her that people at the races wear all sorts of silly hats. She wanted to wear one too, of course, and chose her witch hat!
Once we got there Charlotte was thrilled with the amount of horses. We very quickly determined she had definitely NOT napped based on her behavior! If we weren't starting at a horse she was not happy!
We watched the horses get ready for the race. She very desperately wanted to hop on one too!

Then we walked down to watch them run. Now, I grew up 15 minutes from the oldest race track in the country, and arguably one of the prettiest, so I was less than impressed with this SoCal race track. Usually Chris tells me to stop complaining about things being different, but he was right on board with me yesterday! He didn't like it either! We went to the fence to watch the race, but the fence was so much lower than the track it was hard to see much!
Of course Charlotte had to pee before the first race started. Then she had to poop right before the second race. Then pee again on our way out after the third race! It was a good thing I was prepared!
She loved yelling "Go Neigh Go!"
We got some flavored ice which she thoroughly enjoyed and watched the horses walk by again.

Before the third race she started getting very silly, which means she is exhausted and was waving to all the horses. One jockey waved back to her, she loved it!
We decided that we had enough of the races and headed to get something to eat! We did manage to win $14 on one race! Big spenders! It was a fun but tiring afternoon, and we heard about the "neigh races" all the way home!