Grandparents

Maxine Hale & Harold Howard West

Harold Howard West 1921 ~ 2008 Harold H. West, 87, beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, passed away Saturday afternoon, Nov. 29, 2008 after a lifetime of service to others. Harold was born September 12, 1921 to William Howard and Martha Ella Davis West in Lehi, Utah. He was the fifth of six children and the only son. He attended South High School and graduated from the University of Utah in 1943 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. A few days later he married Maxine Hale of Salt Lake City, Utah in the Salt Lake Temple and moved east to work for General Electric. After the birth of their first child, Sandra, in 1944, Harold was commissioned in the U.S. Navy to work at the Naval Ordinance Laboratory in Washington D.C. After World War II, Harold and Maxine moved to Denver, Colorado where he worked for the Bureau of Reclamation. Their second child, Susan, was born in 1948. Two years later, Hal and Maxine moved back to Salt Lake City where he took a job with Westinghouse Electric Corporation, and later Kennecott Copper Corporation. In Salt Lake City, three more children followed: Marilyn in 1952, Stephen in 1956, and Roger in 1962. Harold retired from Kennecott in 1985. Harold West was a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served in various callings for the church including bishop of Valley View 7th Ward. In 1986, he finally had a chance to serve a mission with Maxine in the Washington D.C. North Mission. Harold loved to play tennis, garden and study history. Hal loved be the handyman - he always had a project underway. There was never anything, however, that that interfered with his devotion to his family and above all his wife Maxine. Harold is survived by his wife, Maxine, children who are honored to call him father: Sandy (Milton) Thackeray, Susan Corrigan, Marilyn (Ronald) White, Stephen (Lisa) and Roger. He is also survived by a sister, Anne Pulsipher, 23 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.

Maxine Hale West 1923 ~ 2008 Maxine Hale West, 85, beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed way Tuesday evening, December 23, 2008, while sleeping peacefully at home. We know that after completing her earthly mission and returning to her Heavenly Father, she was joyously embraced by her recently deceased husband Harold. Maxine was born on January 23, 1923 in Garfield, Utah, to Elmer Clinton Hale and Matilda Leone (Roundy) Hale. Maxine was the second of six children and the oldest daughter. Growing up on Elm Avenue in Sugarhouse, she attended Forest Elementary with her siblings: Clinton, Dorain, Colleen, Vern and Judith. Maxine first met Harold West while cleaning the chalkboard after school one day, as he swept the classroom floors. After grade school she followed Harold to Irving Junior High, South High School, and then the University of Utah. After the war began, Maxine worked for a short time at the Arms Plant. Maxine and Harold were married on the 24th of June, 1943 in the Salt Lake Temple. Mother was the light of Dad's life and Dad was her constant and tender companion. Mother and Dad shared a great love and in doing so set a marvelous example for their five children: Sandra (Milt) Thackeray, Susan Corrigan, Marilyn (Ron) White, Stephen (Lisa) and Roger. Maxine is survived by her five children, older brother, Clinton Hale and younger sisters, Colleen Workman and Judith Smith. She rejoiced in her 23 grandchildren and her joy was completed by the 38 great-grandchildren that love her dearly. Mother's love for music began early on in life when she began taking piano lessons in the fourth grade from Mrs. Seabury. She became an accomplished pianist and performed and taught lessons for many years. She was a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and loved serving in various callings including the great highlight of fulfilling a mission in the Washington D.C North Mission with her husband. She also had compassion and love for her neighbors whom she served. Along with Dad, she loved to laugh and enjoy life and appreciate the beauties of nature. Their love story will be remembered as one that will go down through the ages. We rejoice that Mom and Dad were reunited for Christmas after their brief separation of 25 days. We are thankful for their 65 years of earthly life together.

Wow, the time flies!! I cannot believe this year is coming to a close and so quickly. We have had quite the adventureous last few weeks. Last month we had a delicious dinner with the entire bishopric and all the clerks, including our families. Our bishop served his mission in Japan and fried us some breaded chicken with rice and sauce. He also made a seaweed with tofu soup. I loved the chicken and rice, I ate the seaweed soup, but definitely the one and only time I will.

The next Saturday, I took lil' K with me to an enrichment group to make pies. F took lil' L fishing with his dad. After making the pies, I went shopping at Old Navy. While trying on clothes, F called asking me how long I would be shopping. I asked why, and he told me we needed to take lil' L to the doctor. Come to find out, F was carrying all his gear and holding the hand of lil' L , came to a stream. He held lil' L's hand and lifted him over, as he did, lil' L twisted and F heard a pop. Out came the elbow. I knew exactly what had happened. We called the pediatrician, but closed. Headed to a clinic, closed. Called triage at pediatricians, just as I had suspected...Nursemaids elbow and need a doctor. Look up online for clinic with extended hours. Find one, go to it, doesn't take our insurance (even though it showed up on our insurance) Call another clinic. Open!! No one was a the clinic so we got in real quick. The doctor popped it back and showed us what to do next time it happens. She watched lil' L play to make sure he was alright. He was finally talking and being active. Up until then, he was quiet unless we were moving him, then he cried. It took us longer to find a place open late in the afternoon on a Saturday, than to have his arm taken care of. It was sad to see him in so much pain, but glad to have him better.

F and I went with a bunch of people to Body Worlds 3. Wow!! It is amazing what we are composed of. We then went a grabbed a bite to eat at Hires with Derek and Tawna afterwards. Yum!! When we picked up the kids, my dad was telling lil' K how long her hair is getting and she came straight over to me and reminded me to get scissors. She has been wanting a hair cut for a while now. I had told her to remind me and she did. The next day, snip..snip..snip..off with about 4 inches. I think she looks so cute and she loves it.

I have been quite busy. Rooting for our favorite college football team and member of the top ten, I have been sewing and being somewhat crafty...this one is for another day. By the way...what a game!! Very exciting! Go Utes!!

My sis had her baby the Monday before Thanksgiving and was a whopping 9.5 lbs!! What a boy! I love just holding newborns, they smell so sweet and just cuddle. The kids were able to see him on Thanksgiving. We spent most of the day with F's family and had a blast. We don't see all of them too often and was great to catch up. Because I had made pies with enrichment, I made 5 pumpkin pies and whipped topping to go along with the peach and apple (click for the recipe) pies I had already made. The pies were a hit. We did have way too much. My mom made the entire dinner for them, so I offered to bring pies since I was already taking some to F's family. I had 8 pies total, we gave 1 pie to F's parents, 1 to my parents, 1 to my sis and still had about 1 pie of left overs to take home. F's mom also sent us home with a full turkey dinner that we have had twice since Thanksgiving. Whew.. I think I will have to continue with more another day. I am grateful for this time of year to be be thankful for all the Lord has given us.

Halloween Fun!

My apologies for my recent hiatus from blogging. We have been having computer troubles....aka: we just completely wiped and reinstalled all of our software for the second time (yes, second). Now we are back in business.
I did not take many pictures from Halloween this year, just enough to document costumes. In late September, lil' K was beginning to really dream of her costume. We had discussions of Princesses, but she finally decided on being a black cat (good, we have black clothes). All we needed was the ears and tail. lil' L kept saying he wanted to be a horse or a pumpkin (where he got these ideas, I'll never know). Those two ideas were vetoed by papa (being the Superman fan he is) So, we bought costumes early in October and were ready to bring on the festivities.

Each year my family does a Halloween dinner before Halloween actually arrives. This year, the little ones wore their costumes (also a great chance to get their pictures together and not hopped up on sugar). We enjoyed a great dinner including Dirty bath water, Creepy Crawly Jell-O, Pumpkin Chili with Monster Nose Hairs, Witches Brooms, and more.

The week of Halloween, we carved pumpkins for FHE. By this, I mean, the kids helped to take out the pumpkin guts, decide what they wanted their pumpkins to be, and then for me to play pumpkin artist. Later in the week, we decorated treat buckets. Both of the kids had plastic buckets in which we covered with Halloween paper that the kids decorated with their names, pumpkins, and other pictures/words. I think they turned out great (sorry, I don't have a close up, but trust me).
As for Halloween, a great party at preschool for lil' K where we decorated pumpkin cookies. lil' L was excited to wear his costume and run around pretending to fly. lil' K wanted everyone to chase her around, including my parent's dog. We kept the night simple. We visited my grandparents, and both of our parents with lots of food (pizza and halloweenies)

We took the kids trick-or-treating around to a few houses in each of our parents neighborhoods. The weather was absolutely perfect, no jackets or coats needed for the cat and superman. I was glad we didn't have to say "He's Superman, see the pant legs." We rolled back home just in time to clean up the kids and get into bed. The kids had great fun and I'd say as parents, we did too.

Am I the Only One?

...Or is anyone else "Pavlov"ed to salivate for a Crystal Pepsi whenever they hear Van Halen's "Right Now"?

Wasn't that the song on the commercials way back when?
I heard that song while driving today and suddenly I am back in jr. high (yuck) craving the shortly popular drink.

Another Birthday

I can't believe another year has come and gone. Now my baby has become a little boy...and everything that comes with it, such as sound effects, sword fighting, tackling, throwing the football around, getting into everything, and so much more. We enjoyed a great birthday celebration for lil' L. On his birthday, F had to work part of the day and then we decided to head up to the zoo. Just as we were walking to the gate, I got a phone call from my mom to tell me that my grandpa was not doing well in the hospital and they didn't know how much longer he had. F told me to go and be with my family while he spent the afternoon with the children. F had a great time taking the kids around the zoo (usually I am the one, so it was good to have some time for just him and the kids.) Quite a busy day, but the majority of the birthday celebrations happened the next day. In the afternoon, I decorated the cake and then we went to walk around Silver Lake. It was a bit cold and sprinkled rain. We warmed ourselves up with dinner from Wendy's (lil' L's choice). After dinner, we made homemade peach ice cream and had both sets of grandparents over. Lil' L couldn't wait to open his presents. He was trying to open them and kept them close to him until he had free reign over opening them. He was extremely excited about all of the cars and trains, we had to open them almost immediately. Bad idea, especially since he wouldn't give them up to have us sing and for him to blow out the candles. When we did convince him, he began blowing out the candles as soon as he saw them and I mistakenly got close enough for him to do so before we were finished singing. Of course, he jumped right down to play again. He definitely knows what birthdays are all about! I love this guy. He is so loving and imaginative. It is incredible to see the changes that happen every day!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

A Day We will Not Soon Forget!

Yesterday was our Primary Progam, and lil' K's first one. If any of you know her, she has a hard time with new things. She'll wail about going to someone new's house, she cried about going to swimming lessons (even though afterwards she had great fun...and would even do it again!!) So we were prepared for the worst. She said she wasn't going to say her part. At all of our practices, she did great saying her part..."How do we know God loves all His children?" lil' K: "Because He gave us butterflies and flowers." (That was her exact response to the question which became her line) After the practice on Saturday, she actually told me she would be partcipating!! But I knew that could be very wrong. I imagine all the little children filing up to the front, quietly, while she is taken from the chapel in tears and screaming. Because I help out in the Primary, I went up first and then the children came. lil' K filed with the other children, quietly!! I was so excited! The sunbeams were at the beginning, and I began to fell anxious again. The children lined up and each took their turn at the podium, lil' K said her part just right all by herself and even into the mic so everone could hear!!!! Hallalujah! I almost started to bawl just because she said her line! We were proud parents, seeing her sing all the songs she has worked on learning this year. Despite our fears, the program turned out beautifully. The other children were so wonderful and things ran smoothly. The Spirit spoke to each person in the chapel that day confirming the knowledge the we are all children of God. I know I am thankful for that knowledge. I hope that each of you remember you are a child of God, too.

Ahoy, hoy!

Alas, Me Hearties!! SeptembArr 19th be speak like a scurvy pirate day. Be preparin' yerself with this here tavern. Dust off ye eyepatch, raise th' Jolly Roger in celebration. If ye don't be knowin' how to shout scurvy pirate, here be th' way. Fer ye land lubbers, who not be participatin'...t' th' planks!!

Yellowstone

August was one busy month. Every weekend was filled with some adventure. The first weekend, Lake Powell, then came the opening to a record breaking Olympics and Family Reunion Relay Day (we had 5 family reunions, but only attended one, which was more than enough). Followed by my weekend of "Living the Good Wife" in which I "allowed" my hubby to leave me for fishing with the boys. While he was gone, I completely cleaned his truck (this included using a carpet cleaner) What a difference!! The third weekend was "Rockapulco Fest 2008" a.k.a. my family's trip to Rockport. We got the kids out on the boat. lil' K and I along with her cousin got out on the tube. I waterskiied in which I have not done for years...just like riding a bike. F took the 3rd of 4 certification tests, then off to Yellowstone for Labor Day weekend. Our calendar hasn't taken so much abuse before. I think it will miss me and all the scheduling, now that things have calmed down a bit. Anyhoo... this brings me to Yellowstone. This is an annual trip we take with F's family... The same crew from Lake Powell.

(Elk, Brink of the Upper Falls)

We left early Friday morning, stopping only for gas and breakfast. We had lunch in Yellowstone National Park, walked around Norris Geyser basin, saw a small group of elk and relaxed in our hotel. This year, we forfeited the portable crib for lil' L. He and lil' K shared a queen bed (we did push it against the wall for safety reasons) He had no idea what was going on. I was constantly laying him down for about 30 minutes, before he finally fell asleep. By the third night, he had it down, and was asleep in a matter of minutes with no persuasion.

(Uncle Tom's Trail, Yellowstone Lake Hotel)

Saturday, we went through Canyon. After seeing the brink of the upper falls, we rounded to the other side to do a hike...more like stair stepping. Uncle Tom's trail took us to the opposite of the falls and to the bottom (great view!!). The downside, 328 stairs. lil' K even made it down and up the stairs. Whenever we stopped to wait for others, she would be itching to keep going. We had to tell her to slow down and rest. lil' L would always ask for water when we took water breaks (I guess he was breakin' a sweat being carried around in a backpack complete with sunshade) Along our drive through Hayden Valley, we came across a buffalo herd, just before that, we got up close and personal with a buffalo (see video). On our drive back into town, we saw the group of elk again, which had backed up traffic and we also saw a bald eagle in a tree top. We were back in West Yellowstone in time for dinner. The boys we looking forward to watching their recorded U game, but something got messed up, so no game.

(View from Hike behind Old Faithful)

Sunday, half of us drove down to Lake to the Yellowstone Lake Hotel. Today was kind of chilly, it did rain a little bit, but only when we were driving. The buffalo were gone from Hayden Valley. We spent lunch through dinner at Old Faithful. We hiked up behind Old Faithful to see Old Faithful go off from above, which was awesome. My sis-in-law worked in Yellowstone in the Old Faithful Inn some years ago, but still knows people there. She pulled some strings and got F's parents a special trip up to the top and onto the roof of the inn (most people can only go to the third floor). The inn has a crow's nest in which an orchestra used to play music ages ago.

(Parents on top of Inn, Firehole River)

The best part...I went to take pictures of them as the came back down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs is a huge gate which gives history and tells readers they cannot go further. A mother is telling her children that "no one" can go up any higher, when along comes the bell hop (their guide) carrying the flags he had just retrieved from the roof. The mother explains he gets to go up there to bring the flags down. Seconds later...F's dad wearing his rain jacket, shorts, and sandals. The mother looks and totally had to retract what she has told her children. A few seconds later comes F's mom with her camera taking all sorts of pictures. The mother didn' t know what to say, so she just went back to explaining that the bell hop goes to get the flags at night.

(Comic Relief at Canyon)

Labor Day was spent shopping around town and driving home. We were going to stop at Big Spring for lunch, but it was co-o-old. We arrived home and unpacked, what a month!! Lots of fun and memories, but now it is time to breath and catch up on sleep (most of the damage down through the two weeks of endless Olympic footage). The next vacation on our list? None planned... for this year.

Need a Laugh??

I was checking out some links on dear ole bro's blog, they had a link to Ellen's hawaii chair. Lots of laughs, but more importantly, I'll be receiving mine in 6-8 weeks! (not really, but it could be fun)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHiqVygN-w0

Lake Powell

Aaah, relaxation. We travelled with my "in-law" family to Lake Powell. We spent four days on a house boat, at the end of a canyon, with only a small boat and each other... we a lot of each others. The total number of people: 13 adults, 5 children. We had a great time swimming, swimming, eating, playing games, swimming, swimming, and a little bit of sleeping. The kids went to bed late, got up early and did not sleep well away from home. lil' L was wary of the water, but loved to hold on to the oar to our little boat. One day, we took our kids out on the little boat to do some fishing. The fishing lines of the little ones got tangled up and as we were trying to untangle, there was a mysterious "pull" to lil' L's. Once we got it rangled in a bit, much to our surprise, there was a sun fish on the end of the line!! lil' L's first fish! I gently held onto the pole (our prized Superman pole) and F motored us to shore. F's dad took pics of the fish, which I don't have. Quite exciting for lil' L. Across our little bay was a large, flat rock wall. We swam or took the boat over for lizard counting excursions. Our highest number at one time: 14. This included baby lizards, only about 2 inches in length. This was also our last time on the Bullfrog Burro. Sad to say, it has been sold. Now someone else can brag about owning the Lake's oldest houseboat (I wish I had a pic, but apparently the opening ceremony of Lake Powell took place on this boat)

Burgers and Fries

This last weekend, our little family ventured out to dinner. We decided to try a new little place known as "Five Guys Burger and Fries" Apparently it is new to the area and is quite big in the East. It has won several food awards. The was quite a line to order (probably due to the fact that it just opened within the month) and the dining room was filled. They were quick to move everyone through. Their regular size hamburgers were...double decker, homemade, extremely delicious, and tummy stuffing. The "little hamburgers" were just singles, I probably should have ordered that one. The toppings for the burgers was huge, and all free. None of this 1 topping free, 50 cents for each additional topping. But if you don't order it, you don't get it. The "Large Fries" were just that, Large, enough for our whole family, and fresh (You know it by the bags and bags of Idaho potatoes that double as part of the dining room). While you wait for your food, they have boxes of peanuts for you to snack on. It is not In-N-Out Burger, but it was fantastic. If you have the chance, find one and try. Delicious!!

Day 6 and 7

Friday: San Diego Zoo
For our last full day in San Diego, we spent one last time at the Zoo. First off, we took the Skyfari down to see the Polar Bears. Apparently they are supposed to be more active in the morning. Not so, they were hanging around eating carrots. After watching them for a little while, long enough to apply sunscreen, we made our way back through the artic aviary, the hippos, and took the bus ride again. Afterwards we ate lunch before entering the Children's Zoo. This was a favorite among the kiddies. They have places to have your picture taken as various animals or characters. My favorite was the fly stuck in a spider's web. They have a small petting zoo with rabbits, goats, sheep, with cows and pigs in a pen. I thought lil' L would be a bit timid about the animals, but after petting a rabbit, he was happy to chase around the goats. The children's zoo also has a great viewing area of otters. They were happily swimming about when we went through. We walked down Bear Canyon. During this walk downhill, lil' L fell asleep. I walked down with him behind me rolling backwards, to keep him laid back. He slept the entire time down the hill, while we shopped for a few minutes and most of the way back up the hill through Cat Canyon. Boy, was he tired. I love seeing all the bears and cats! We walked through the Giraffes and Elephants. By this time, about 3 p.m., F wanted to go back and see the Polar Bears one last time. This would entail a skyfari ride, walk down a steep hill, see the polar bears for the 3rd time at the zoo (5th if you count Sea World), a walk up the steep hill, and one last skyfari ride. I had to be the big bad parent and say no. lil' K had already spent a good amount of time telling us she was tired of walking. Therefore, no last look at the Polar Bears. Instead we headed out to Mission Beach. The children played in the sand for a little while, (still only content with the dry sand) until time for dinner at In-N-Out Burger. F has had a shirt since his mission, that is more or less falling apart, so I bought him a new shirt for his souvenir. On our way back to the hotel, we exited the freeway and went to the temple grounds. The kids were most fascinated with running on the soft grass. We talked with a missionary for a few minutes. She showed lil' K pictures of the Temple. When we got back to the hotel, guess what!?! One more dip in the pool. After putting the kids to bed, F and I packed up our stuff. Saturday morning, we ate breakfast, cleaned up and headed to return our car. We got to the airport about 2.5 hours before our flight was scheduled to leave. We got checked in and went up to the security check. There were not many people in line, about 50 people ahead of us. We had been in line just a few minutes, when they stopped moving people through. TSA couldn't tell us anything but that no one was going through and that no planes were coming or going. We waited, watched the line grow longer and longer behind us. Pretty soon, they were evacuating the terminal. All employees, people ready to board, even some planes. TSA was squeezing people down the stairs, over a sky walk, any place they could. We happened to be at the right spot. The people behind us in line, were pushed back to open a walk way to the stairs, which was filled with people who came out of the terminal, meaning we kept our place in line. We heard that TSA had pulled a bag to be checked, at the same time their system froze, and the person with the bag disappeared. It got to be such a big deal, the news showed up. I was hoping to get an on camera interview as weary traveller, but I don't think I looked weary enough. The wait ended up being an hour before they moved people through again, and also to not ever find the missing bag/person. We got to our gate about 10 minutes before the plane was scheduled to leave, but of course they couldn't because we were some of the first passengers there. They figured it would be 40-45 minutes before they could even think about it. They were close. 45 minutes later, security still had 2-3 hundred people to get through security. Overall, we were delayed an hour. Not too bad, but I certainly would not like to do that again with the kids. I do have to say, they did really well being in cramped quarters filled with people. We had others comment on how behaved they are. I was quite impressed, but was even happier to get on a plane. lil' L ended up falling asleep as we took off and didn't wake until we had landed. This made for an uncomfortable flight for F, he was the one holding lil' L the whole time. The trip was a blast! So much fun, it was the first big vacation we have taken as a family which did not include extended family.
Pictures on the Left side: Polar Bears; lil' L sleeping peacefully; Spider K and Fly L; lil' K and lil' L at the Temple; The kids swimming.
Pictures on the Right side: Kid on the hippo statue; Big...big bear; Petting zoo; Good looking couple we found at the beach; The same good looking couple at the Temple.

Day 5 - It's not over yet!

Thursday: Sea World - - Again!!

For the second day of Sea World, F and I wanted to do something special for the kids. We found a breakfast at Sea World that we thought the kids would really enjoy. We were right. The kids had no idea, just that we would be having breakfast at Sea World, and did not find out what was going on until we got there. The big surprise: Breakfast with Elmo and Friends! Both of the kids were in absolute shock. Our family took pictures with Elmo and Big Bird; they also had Cookie Monster, Ernie, Telly and Zoe walking around mingling with the patrons and singing songs. They had a wonderful breakfast buffet filled with fruit salad, french toast, eggs, fruits, dry cereal, bacon, sausage, muffins, several juices, milk, etc. Quite filling and tasty. The kids could hardly eat because they were so enthralled by the characters. All lil' L wanted to do was feel their fur or feathers. We were able to take some fruit, juice, and a few other things with us to snack on later. As we headed to our next destination, we stopped to see the dolphins, the trainers were there performing some training (they have a newer dolphin) They told everyone to step back because they could get wet. Well, apparently one lady was above all this. She was told a few times to back away from the tank, only to move forward again! We also finally saw the Shamu show "Believe" It was so hot sitting in the sun during the shows! I had a blast using our camera during the show. It has a continuous shot feature, which means I can hold the shutter button down and will take multiple pics in a row. Which, now I have a lot of pictures of the whales jumping out of the water. Other highlights of the day, watching the sea turtles swim and lounge around. It fun to see them move from the sand into the water. We also finally got to see the Elmo 4-D show. Both children liked it until the were sprayed with water. Not bad the first time, especially since they didn't see it coming, but after about 4 times, lil' L traded to Dad for safety. We had to see the penguins and Wild Artic again. F was going to try and take lil' K on the simulated helicopter ride, but she didn't want to, so we did the walk through again, still fun. To finish off our second day at Sea World, we watched the Pets Rule! show featuring dogs, cats, ducks, and even a pig. Kind of fun to see the tricks. Because of my kicking and screaming, we rode on the little kiddie rides they have in the Sesame Street Bay of Play. We opted out of the water rides, reason: little ones and not wanting to be soaked all day. It was a {heck} of a day at Sea {World}, Sir! We headed back to the hotel for leftover pizza, and once again, the pool. I took the kids to the pool while F picked up some Subway sandwiches for lunch tomorrow and picked up some sweet rolls for breakfast.

Pictures on the Left side: Fam with Big Bird; lil' K with dolphin; Shamu; lil' K on the dogfish

Pictures on the Right side: lil' L and Ernie (don't let the expression fool you); Sea Turtle; Family admiring Sea Turtles; lil' L smashing lil' K as we wait for a ride.

Day 4

Wednesday: Wild Animal Park
We headed up to Escondido to the Wild Animal Park. The first thing we did after battling through school children, was head to see the lion cubs. F and I each had a map, yet there are two places marked for the lions. F lead the way. I was lost on the map because I was looking at the other location. We got to where it said the lions were, but they were not there. One tiger, but no lions. I showed F there was another place, so we headed there. Sure enough, a few lionesses and seven lion cubs. The cubs are a few months old and are about the size of a dog. Their legs and paws are massive! After watching the lion cubs, we took the new tram ride. We had to wait in line for about 20 minutes, but lil' L found ways to keep himself entertained. For example, doing chin-ups on the railing, okay, just swinging, but he was content for most of the waiting. I love seeing all of the animals in a more natural setting! In the African Savannah, the animals are mixed together. Gazelles, rhinos, wildebeests, giraffes, etc. all together. They are placed in an enclosure adjacent to the lions and cheetahs. This helps to stimulate natural behaviors. Last year, there were wild fires in the vicinity, but did not burn any of the park. However, the wind blew down nearly 150 trees in this enclosure, the park is in the process of replacing the trees they lost. This is the only day we spent at the park, so we had to keep moving to ensure we saw everything. One thing definitely on our list was to feed the Lorikeets. These small birds are people friendly. We purchased some nectar for F and lil' K. lil' K was so brave. She walked in with her head held high, fingers tightly gripping her nectar cup. Two birds came to her and she stood so still, I am amazed at how well she did. lil' L on the other hand, cried. He wanted nothing to do with the birds. F held some nectar while I held lil' L. F had birds all over him. One was on his shoulder and the backpack. When it was my turn, I had two land on my arm. I think one was the bully because he wouldn't let the other get anything and no other bird would come to me. I shook him off and I got a few others to come. We all had a blast! We saw some more animals and stopped for lunch. One of my favorite animals we saw (besides the lion cubs) were the elephant calves. Later that day, when we rode on the carosel, I was going to sit next to lil' K, but as I got her strapped, this little boy ran up and sat next to her. He had to have the zebra, which is also what his face was painted to look like. He kept lil' K entertained by talking to her the whole ride. I sat on a panda next to lil' L. After the carosel, we again headed back to take the tram again and see the lion cubs. On the ride we got a really good look of the black rhino they have, who is pregnant and due anytime. The lion cubs were really active playing around. We got upclose and personal with them. Their enclosure has a big glass wall to see them. As we walked up to the glass, a lion cub came right to the glass! So close, lil' L backed up thinking the cub would get too close. What a day! Tonight for dinner, we had to have another one of F's favorite California eateries, El Pollo Loco (I have heard this restaurant has expanded to outside of Cali.) Good food. Once again, back at the hotel, we rested our tired feet in the hotel pool. All of the parks close around 5 p.m. which is perfect for grabbing dinner and time at the pool, and the bonus, the kids can get to bed on time!!


Pictures on the Left side: Lion cub; F and lil' L on tram ride; lil' K and Lorikeet; Me with Lorikeets
Pictures on the Right side: lil' L swinging; F and kids with the savannah behind them; F and Lorikeet; Elephant Calf