Our BIG adventure was a drive down to San Diego and a trip to the zoo. The drive took about 10 hours (with a couple long stops along the way) and was fairly uneventful. We had planned to start out about six since we figured the boys would wake up around 5:30 but of course on that day they slept in. So we didn’t leave until almost 8, but that had us going through LA mid-afternoon which worked well. Unfortunately, after we checked in to the hotel and headed - on foot - to find dinner, we took a wrong turn. By the time we found an acceptable place Jacob had reached that way-too-tired-I-can’t-stop-moving place which meant we needed to have them pack up our food so we could take it back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel, he was so excited that we were all staying in the same room that we ended up pulling chairs into the (luckily very big) bathroom and eating our dinner on the counter by the sink.
The next day we got to the zoo at 9 - again right when they opened. We brought a stroller that either Jacob or Alex could ride in and a Moby wrap for Alex. We figured Jacob could walk or ride in the stroller and Alex could either ride in the stroller or in the Moby wrap. The zoo is huge and very nice. We saw all sorts of animals and did a lot of walking. We took a bus tour which covered a large part of the zoo. We didn’t get to see everything there but we got to see pretty much everything we wanted to see. Jacob had a few relatively minor meltdowns - especially as it got later in the day. We stayed until 4:30 which made for a very long day, but it was a lot of fun. My favorite part was in the petting zoo. The petting zoo area had a space set aside where the animals could go if they didn’t want to be bothered. All of the sheep were over in the roped off area. Jacob walked up to the rope and yelled “BAAA SHEEP!!” thus proving why such an area is necessary.
By the time we left the zoo we decided to head straight to dinner. Our main plan was to head to the beach and find some seafood. We didn’t make it out of the zoo parking lot before Jacob was out cold. We found a nice little outdoor restaurant so we put Jacob in the stroller. He didn’t even open his eyes in the move from the car seat to the stroller. I did not want him asleep for the night since he would likely wake up at 3:30 am looking for something to eat. So I kept poking him and asking him if he wanted dinner. I was not at all successful. Finally he opened his eyes just a little and I put a coca-cola cup in front of him and woke right up. He had a little bit to eat and stayed up until about 8 which is normal bedtime. This time though we all went to bed instead of hiding out in the bathroom.
The next morning we got back in the car and headed home by way of the Kern County Museum in Bakersfield. It’s a neat little place, though it was both hot and almost completely empty. It is an basically a historic village with buildings from oil was first discovered in California. They had a very nice exhibit on the history of oil in the central valley which admittedly I knew very little about. They also had a small children’s museum which - while not as flashy as the Children’s Discovery Museum - was a nice way to take a break from driving. We definitely have to go back some time.
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