San Diego Day 1

We left Wednesday morning around 9am and went straight to the Safari Park in Escondido.
We had been pumping Liam up for days and he was so excited we thought he was going to burst. We had to buckle him in his car seat even though we weren't done loading up the car just to appease him and assure him that we were finally on our way. For a kid who used to despise the car, this is saying a lot. So we set off fully equiped with our elephant and farmer's tan.

At the park, we saw a bubble show that Liam watched in it's entirety with his jaw dropped. Then we walked around and looked at some of the animal exhibits. Liam really liked the elephants and we watched them walk around and eat for a long time. He is still talking about the baby elephant.

Then we went to the petting zoo which consisted of deer only. Little berries were falling from the trees so we picked some up and fed them to the deer. Liam was a bit nervous about being so close to them and didn't really want to touch them but he couldn't pass up feeding them.

Then Liam got pretty tired so we headed to the car for lunch and a nap. 

When we were all feeling a little more rested we went on the Africa Tram which is a guided tour through "Africa." This was the highlight of Liam's day because he got to ride the choo choo and see "Joo-raffs (Giraffes)."

One thing we weren't counting on was how far the Safari Park really is from the Zoo and our hotel. It's about forty minutes north which means it's about forty degrees hotter. No, really, it was about 95 and we were all sweaty and sunblocky and then we found a water park. Liam played with the other little ones in the water for the remainder of the day.

And I didn't think to take his shoes off so they spent the evening sitting in the sun drying out.

We checked into our hotel that evening, took a dip in the pool, ran to Target for more water and shorts for Paul. (He split his straight up the back as we were leaving the park. Hee hee.) We went for chinese then came back to settle in for the night. Now, here is a story for you. Paul was unloading the car and Liam and I were up in our room. I thought it would be funny to scare Paul when he came up. As I was looking for a good hiding place in our hall, the elevator doors started to open. I swooped Liam up and ducked around the corner to wait for him to walk by. I hear voices and recognize one of them as Paul's so I wait for the perfect moment to make my move while Liam dangles in my arms. An older woman with a British accent turned the corner and jumped and gasped. I was standing right in front of the door to her hotel room. "I'm so sorry," I say, "I was trying to scare my husband." She is still a little shocked then her husband and mine both round the corner and look at me with confused expressions. The first one to speak is Paul who says, "That's what you get." Then we all had a good laugh and the older man makes a joke about me being a stalker then we part ways. As we are walking away, Liam, who has remained silent and confused this whole time finally clutches his chest and says, "I scared," which makes all four of us laugh again until we entered our respective rooms. This concludes our first day in San Diego. To be continued...