California Vacation Part 1- San Diego

In June Josh's parents took the whole family on a California vacation for a week to celebrate Robin's retirement.
We all flew out together from Atlanta and our first stop was in San Diego. San Diego is a great city, and if it weren't so expensive we might consider relocating...
We got checked into our hotel, since we had the two boys with us our family was lucky enough to get the big suite and it was a very nice room! We were there for 2 nights.
We had a quick bite to eat when we arrived at the hotel
Brad with Uncle Matt and Aunt Jayce
Sitting in the high chair was a newly acquired skill, tested out once before the trip!



The next morning we headed out for the San Diego Zoo. It is world famous for a reason, it was incredible. We even skipped nap time so we could stay longer and Luke did great! Brad took a couple of snoozes in the stroller.

Ready to go



GQ Josh wondering why I am taking his picture. But I did capture the tour buses behind him, which was the first thing we did. The zoo is so large we took the tour first so we could get a general idea of everything we wanted to go back and see up close.



Grammy and the boys



Something scared Brad on the tour bus, not sure what but his face was priceless!



Some of the animals we saw

Polar Bears



Elephants







Rhinos



Koalas





Meerkats (this guy was that lookout)



A dog and a cheetah. Yes you read that right. The zoo has a program that pairs up a 3 month old dog with a 3 month old cheetah so they become buddies. The trainers are inside with them.



And then take them for a walk around the zoo! I trusted them but still was thinking little Brad may look like food and we should get moving.



Brad, seemingly not sure what to think.



My good friend and bridesmaid Beth and her boyfriend Ben who live in Los Angeles drove down to meet us at the zoo. Here they are with Brad



Luke, who is usually shy around people took about 30 seconds to warm up to Ben. Then he was his new best friend for the rest of the day, I don't think he would have noticed if me and Josh left. He still asks about Ben!



We went to see the gorillas close up and one walked right up to the glass where Luke was sitting. Luke didn't see him approach and when he turned and saw the gorilla right there he was quite startled! I was right there with him so I didn't get a picture of that with my camera.

The view from our hotel which was right on the marina





We loved San Diego! Next stop, Cambria and the Hearst Castle, of which I have no pictures :(