We're back in the saddle again. Other than a stray cough and pint of snot, everyone is healthy again. Hooray! Just in time too, we had a 3 day trip to San Diego where Mommy had a conference (at the Omni, where we were upgraded to a junior suite- Sweet!), and Daddy got to play daddy with Petra! With travel times, we really only had one day, a morning, and an afternoon, but we made the best of it. The half days were spent wandering around with Petra in the Kelty-Kids backpack (she loves being up high), chasing birds at Seaport village, riding her first Carousel (she loved it! Though she got too enthusiastic rocking at one point and banged her head against the bar on the horse- ouch!), and eating pizza. 
The big event was the trip to the San Diego Zoo! Daddy did his best to get it off to a bad start- had trouble finding the park (Duh! Balboa park is huge and hard to miss!), and parked in the wrong lot so we had to get back in the car and drive further to find the real zoo parking lot. D'oh! We did arrive just as the zoo opened though. Petra's first animal view one I remember from the old Zoo-rama show- the giant flamingos cackling near the front gate. She tried to climb the fence to get in with them! She actually tried to climb any number of fences on our trip to the zoo, as well as tables, benches, chairs, a tree and a goat. She's becoming quite the climber!
Then it was off to the children's zoo- which, of course, doesn't open until 1/2 hour after the rest of the zoo. We had some crackers and played among the park benches until the gates opened. Petra loved the Macaws, though I can't guarantee she even noticed many other animals. She found her own things to play with- a bench shaped like a lizard, the posts bordering a pathway, the log benches in a storytime pavilion (the only tears of the day- round logs are treacherous to climbing toddlers!). That all changed though when we got to the petting paddock. There, she charged right in and climbed right into one of the feed tubs already occupied by a goat! She loved the goats, pigs, and sheep, and got covered in poo, giggling the entire time. 
The only distraction was when her eyes suddenly locked onto another kids shoes- "Dora!" she started repeating endlessly, and yes, the kid had Dora the Explorer shoes. Please note- WE have never seen Dora, nor purchased a Dora branded item. Petra, on the otherhand, seems to know all about her, and is in love. Sigh, what's a parent to do vs. the baby-entertainment-industrial complex?
From here we headed to the elephants, as Petra is very fond of making the elephant's trumpeting sound (Loudly and repeatedly. Especially in the car.). Barely made it past the elephants before she conked out (9am is usually nap time, and here it was 10 already). So, Daddy was on his own on a tour of the ungulates- camels, Oryx, sable antelope, and the beautiful giraffes. The giraffes were the only one that I really wish that she had been awake for. In a fit of good timing, Petra awoke just as we arrived at the Skyfari ride, so we piled in and flew across the park back to the front entrance. Petra was not at all afraid of being up so high. We had a nice little (bad for us) lunch (where she drank with a straw for the first time, stole my french fries, and fed me raisins), before Petra insisted that we go on the Skyfari again (she would point and flap each time a car went by overhead). By then it was getting a bit late, so we mad a last few stops at the polar bears, bonobos and gorillas, before heading back to the hotel to meet Mommy, who of course was sad she missed our adventures. Next time for sure!Back at the hotel, we went down to have a swim in the pool (Petra, of course, says "pool"). She was the happiest, sweetest little girl, and had a giggling good time in the pool! Not afraid of the water at all, nor of being dunked under (1, 2, 3, sploosh! Daddy would say). She danced on the stairs in the water, and spashed all about. I love this baby!
