ZOO DAY - Peacocks and Hippos and oh so much more

I really needed to stay and pick up the house today, but the cooler weather was calling me to be outside so I decided to make yet another trip to the zoo.  Jackson confirmed my plans when I got him out of bed this morning I asked him what he wanted to do and he said "see de animals!" Now I guess if I am to be honest he says this everyday, but I today I decided to give him his hearts desire.  

I am alway interested to see what animal he names that he would like to see first.  Today he wanted to see the "teacock in da tee" (translation: "peacock in the tree").  The peacocks?  Really?  Not the lions? tigers? bears? (Oh My!  :)).  Nope he assured me he wanted to see the peacock.  Lucky for us there was one showing off right as we walked in the door.

Jackson LOVES this Rhino sculpture outside of one of the gift shops.  He has to stop and talk to the Rhino every time we have passed it.

We happened to pass a little patch of fake grass along our route.  I am not sure why it was there and it did stick out, but Jackson decided it looked like a good place to run around in circles laughing his silly little head off.

Jackson's second mission was to see the Tigers and the Hippos.  This was the first time I had seen the Tigers out.  They are usually pacing at the top of the enclosure, but we got lucky today.

We also got lucky at the hippo exhibit.  There were very few people there and the hippo was right on the glass.  This is my favorite picture from the day.

Outside of the hippo exhibit is a huge bronze hippo that Jack decided looked hungary because he sat and "fed" the hippo any leaf and stick he could find within a 10 ft radius for a good 15 minutes.

The Mandrills are usually hiding so I was excited to snap this picture.

Jackson always has to visit the snake house.  He LOVED this Anachonda in the tree.  YIKES!!

Jackson also loves the "big wisards" (Translation: big lizards).  Here is a little Iguana family.

Jackson decided today was a good day for a starring contest with the Komodo Dragon.

This crocodile looked like a statue.  If I had not been to the zoo before and seen him swim around I would have thought it was fake.

Tune in next week for the next zoo adventure....

Danger Lives Up To His Name...AGAIN

Jackson "Danger" Jernigan has done it again.  He has gone to the ER once again for a head wound.  Although he has visited the ER on one other occasion for a minor war wound on his forehead this one was the first to require stitches.  In true Jackson fashion he got his big ole head ahead of his feet and fell hitting his head on the corner of the wall.  Just when I thought things were beginning to get under control.  So after a four hour wait in the ER and two stitches later we made it home.  A friend of mine drove across base to hang out with Hannah so I only had to wrestle with Jackson who was STARVING (I was just about to make dinner when I was interrupted by his screams) and WAY past his bedtime.  All things considered he was a trooper.  Now if I could only get him to leave the bandaids and stitches alone.  He has already pulled out one stitch so lets hope the other stays.  Good thing he is a boy and scars are cool.

Real Brothers in Arms

When Dan called the other day he said he was sitting in his brothers office and that Mike had let him use his phone.  It is nice having a brother in a high place that you can mootch off of.  I guess they are only about 5 minutes drive from each other.  Michael is on the tail end of his tour, but I am so grateful they have gotten to spend this time together.  If you can remember back to when Dan was in Iraq in 2003, he was also able to see Michael there too.  Jackson was so excited to see these pictures of "daddy at work".  We sure do miss him, but enjoyed seeing these pictures.

Don't mess with these two brothers.

There are those fetching Jernigan smiles.

Dan, if you are reading this, we miss you very much!

San Diego Zoo - RHINOS!

Today we headed out for our weekly trip to the San Diego Zoo.  The big winner of the trip this week was the RHINOS, but I got some pictures of some other animals too that I thought I would include. 

On our way to "See de aminals" (Translation: see the animals)

One set of ducklings we encountered on our way to fill our zoo cup.

First stop on Jackson's list was the Elephants!

Jackson has recently (since Dan left) become extremely attached to his blankie and want to have it with him at the zoo.  He refused to leave it in the car or in the stroller.  I caught this shot of him running full speed blanket in hand to the Rhinos.

Jackson telling us all about the Rhinos.  These two Indian One-Horned Rhinos are a father son team.  The father is 4 years old and the son 2 years old. 

The two Rhinos were taking a little mid day snooze so Jackson thought he could rouse them by yelling "WHAIT UP RHIOS" (Translation: WAKE UP RHINOS")

The next place he raced to was the Giraffes!

There was a new baby Giraffe that was born this week.  He was born weighing 153 lbs and is over 6 ft tall!  YIKES!

Peacock strutting his stuff

Jackson was obsessed with looking at the "sharks" which were really large koi fish.

Another peacock hanging out in a tree.

Jackson's reward for obeying during lunch time was to ride the kiddy ride they have in the picnic area.

Wild Animal Park

Included in our Zoo membership is free admission to San Diego's Wild Animal Park.  For the past few weeks they have had an exhibit called Butterfly Jungle that I have been dying to see.  Basically in one of the aviaries they have dozens of butterflies flying around.  Jackson had a blast chasing the butterflies.  He would dart after one and see another and have to change course.  In between his high speed chases and with the help of a friend I was able to snap a few pictures.  Unfortunately, my camera died and it has been acting up so I was having trouble determining which setting would work the best.  I was able to get a few pictures. 

It was really hot so to pass the time Jack had a little ice cream.

Too much ice cream and too much time waiting can make a two year old a little punchy

Butterfly on the cave wall

The focus and lighting was messed up, but this one looked like a leaf on this tree.

Jack loved the two ducks in this pond.  He stood there for quite a while looking at the "guckties" (translation: "duckies")

Feeding the Baby Bird

It only took ten and a half months of trial and error and much fretting on my part, but Hannah has decided to eat solid foods.  So far her diet consists of animal crackers, bananas, shaved turkey breast, and her very favorite Cheerios.  It is so fun to finally watch her eat!  Now we are working on expanding her picky palette. 

Feeding the little bird

Another Lovely Day at the San Diego Zoo

This is another of many of our trips to the San Diego Zoo.  I thought to make it a little more interesting I would highlight the animal or animals the kids we the most excited about.  

Today the lucky winner was the Galapagos Tortoise.  Jackson stood at this exhibit for a good 20 minutes "talking" to the "big, big, turdles."  He became a little distraught when one slowly made its way to its feet and began slowly walking away.  He yelled at the top of his lungs, "Come back turdle! Come back!"  It is so much fun watching him get excited about the animals.

Here are a few fun facts we learned about the Galapagos Tortoise.  These  tortoise can live to be 100-150 years old and weigh an average of 600 lbs!  No wonder they walk so slow!

Jackson also enjoyed climbing around on the bronze Gorilla statues.  We decided to take a family photo, Dan has been replaced by his stunt double, can you see the resemblance?  My camera was on a weird setting that made them black and white accept for the trees in the background.

He especially liked this gorilla.  He sat patting him on the head for a while saying "my munty" (translation: my monkey)