Emery and Beka are in San Diego, CA, helping Beka's older sister get ready for her St. Patrick's day wedding! So far our days have been full of planning and preparing for the big day. We have been working hard!

So to reward ourselves, we are taking a break from the wedding and.....

WE ARE GOING TO THE WORLD FAMOUS SAN DIEGO ZOO!

Roxanne, Beka's younger sister, got some tickets from family members and decided to take Beka, Emery, and her little buddy that she Nannies, Wyatt. Tickets to the SD zoo are pretty pricey, so Team Oakley of two are so thankful to be able to go!

The morning of our zoo adventure was full of excitement and anticipation! Emery woke up happy and eager to play! His new favorite toy as of late is a soft cube that his Grandma, who lives out here in SD, made for him (http://www.etsy.com/shop/Myfriendcaroline). It is a perfect size to roll around with, grab, throw, and try to eat (as is everything to a five month old). 

Beka had fueled up on her coffee, so she was ready for the play time! 

Emery was pretty silly getting dressed for the Zoo. He was looking like a fool with his pants on his head. But he thought he was funny, so that is all that counts. 

Once Mr. Silly pant's silly pants were on properly, and he and Beka were both ready to go, Roxanne showed up with her date for the day, Wyatt. 

Roxanne has been Wyatt's nanny since he was six months old, and they have become very close. Recently, Wyatt's Mommy and Daddy welcomed a second, sweet son to their home, and Wyatt was feeling a little attention deprived, as any 18 month old in that situation would be. So Roxanne decided to treat him to a zoo day. He was not excited to see that another little baby was coming along too. 

Emery, however, was THRILLED to have a friend! He is an only child, the only grandchild, so no cousins, and there are no babies his age at church yet. When he gets the chance to play with other kids, he gets so happy! 

Here we all are, ready to start our zoo day! 

Emery, meet Wyatt.

Emery likes Wyatt. 

"Mom, look, I have a friend!"

Wyatt is thinking, "really, a baby...I just left a house with a baby".

And Emery is thinking, "A friend!!!!" He was so happy to have a buddy for the day! 

Even though it was not what Wyatt was expecting for the day, he adapted well. It took no time at all for him to kick back and relax on the way to the zoo. 

Once at the zoo, Emery was able to kick back and be cool too. 

And by cool, I mean SUPER cool. 

"I'm watching you, Mom".

Beka was in a VERY happy place. She had the beautiful San Diego sunshine on her skin, her favorite little guy by her side, and she had a wonderful day ahead of her with her beautiful little sister. Her heart was full of good things. 

And her stroller was full of water and coffee. The essentials. 

Here is Roxanne with her little buddy!

And here is Beka with Emery! We are all set! 

Let's zoo this!

The day was wonderful, weather wise, so it was a bit crowded. Not too crowded though, just enough to make it exciting and have plenty of new people for Emery to make friends with. 

As you enter the park the first thing that you see are the flamingos. They are pretty birds, and Wyatt was really into them.

It was clear at this point that Emery was a bit too young to even know he was in a zoo. He was just as thrilled at the Flamingos as he was with his Sophie toy. Oh well, at least he was content to be outside in the sunshine. 

After the flamingos, Beka and Roxanne quickly formulated a plan for the day. The zoo here is so big that if you don't, then you will not see everything you want to. 

We made our plan, and then we headed towards the kid's area. 

Wyatt was at such a fun age to be here. He was so excited at everything and was old enough to know different animals and the noises they make. What captivated him in this photo? His shoes :)

But wait, what is it he sees? It has too be cooler than his cool-man-shoes to take his attention. 

It's a pony! We all agreed that a tiny horse was infinitely more exciting than Wyatt's shoes.

After the pony sighting we made our way to the Children's play place. This had been redone since Beka had last been to the zoo, and she was so impressed! 

Emery was too small to go play, so he stayed with Beka, chewed on Sophie, and looked longingly into the play place, wishing he was bigger. He is going up fast, so it will not be long until he is out there scrapping his knees with the other boys. Until then, he stayed in his stiller, and we saw some near by exhibits together.  

Wyatt was just the right size to play in the play place. He ran, crawled, jumped, fell, and played and played and played! He is a very good player. He is a tough guy too. When he fell he just got right back up, dusted his little knee off, and kept going. Any other kid would have had a royal melt down, but not Mr. Wyatt, he is too tough for that. 

After the play area, we went on the the petting zoo per Wyatt's request. Emery was too small to this as well, but SCREW IT! Beka took him in anyways. He was going to be too small for everything today, but dang it he is a human too! Just a small one. He deserves to have the fun of a big kid. So out of the stroller he went. 

At first he was too happy to be out of the stroller to even be aware of where he was. He kept kissing and hugging Beka. She had to physically put his hand on a goat for him to even know they were there. Once she did though, he was all about it! He loves the critters back home (scrappy and silver are our cats) and this was a pretty BIG scrappy, so he was excited! He tried to open-mouth kiss the goat, but Beka intervened. She is a fun Mom, but not that fun. 

Once animals were pet, hands were washed, and babies were happy, we got on our way. 

Wyatt thought Roxanne was being silly tying  to get all of us in one photo. 

Emery took advantage of the photo time to give mom a big, wet kiss! He loves his momma, and she does not mind these sweet baby kisses either. 

Wyatt was VERY excited to move on. 

Emery was too, he just was excited in his heart. 

On our way out of the kid's area we stopped to get a photo of our Emery bug! 

Next was the otters. 

This made Beka miss her 'otter' half, so she sent some photos and a sweet 'miss you' text to Michael, and on they went. 

Next was the reptile house. This is one of Beka's favorites at the Zoo. 

Emery could not see anything in the stroller, so Beka whipped out the front pack. Emery LOVES being in the carrier, and Beka loves it as well. It is like an arm free constant Emery snuggle! 

Ater the reptile house, we went out into the sun, and Beka had to cover Emery's head with her sweater so she would not get sun burned. Beka has fair skin, and Michael has olive skin, so Emery's skin could have gone either way. Right now, it's milky white. Sorry bud. 

Once Emery was fully covered and looking silly, it was on to see more things! 

This was a strange animal. Emery liked it though. 

Then we went on to the Monkey Trail! Wyatt was SO excited to see all the monkeys! 

On the monkey trail, Emery got hungry. So back into the stroller for Emery. He had his bottle, and he was a happy man. 

Though Emery was in milk town and unaware that there were even monkeys around, Wyatt was in monkey heaven! 

The monkey exhibit is really pretty, and it was such a beautiful sunny day, that the scenery was almost as great as the animals....almost. They monkeys are pretty fun. 

The chimps were especially fun! 

One of the chimps made friends with a boy behind the glass. It made for some great photos! 

After the monkey trail Wyatt was in need of some refreshment. Juice pouch to the rescue! 

Then it was time to see someone very special! Beka's Dad, Emery's Poppa, was doing some construction at the zoo, and we got to see him at work! 

He wasted no time in scooping Emery up out of his stroller and giving him some snuggles. 

He made sure to say hi to his Buddy Wyatt too. 

He was one proud Poppa! He kept lifting Emery up so the people on the other side of the fence could see him, and he was yelling "this is my grandson!". 

Here are three generations of awesome! We all share the same birthday, 25 years apart! 

Poppa took Emery and Wyatt to some other exhibits to show them the animals. He was in baby bliss! He LOVES kids (Beka is one of 7).  

Emery stole a Poppa kiss on the way. He didn't mind. 

Wyatt led Poppa to a puddle to show him how he is good at jumping in it. Again, Poppa did not mind. 

When we sat down for a snack, Emery got to try Poppa's hat on. He looks pretty good in it! 

After our snack Poppa took the boys to the giraffes.  Emery likes the giraffes because his Nana at home has some giraffe toys, and she has giraffe sheets on his crib. It was good for him to see some familiar faces. 

Poppa was VERY happy to spend some time with his favorite little guy. But he had to go back to work, so kisses and goodbyes were had, and we were on our way to more fun. 

To the kangaroos! 

This next exhibit was part of the zoo buddy program where they put animals together that can keep each other company. This one was a dog and a cheetah. Who would have thought. 

And we saw the camels! 

They boys enjoyed seeing all the fun things, but they were getting a bit tired. 

These kangaroos were fighting! 

And there was an ugly pig. 

Then we went somewhere very cool! Before Beka's dad was working on the exhibit he is currently working on, he redid the panda trek! It was so cool to see his handiwork! 

This is Beka's dad's favorite part. Do you see the avocado looking things near the bottom left of the fence? It is panda poop! They put it there so people can know what it looks like. And now you know. 

After the panda trek, we were going to go up a HUGE hill to see the polar bears. This statue has been the guardian on the hill for years, so we knew we were in the right area. Hello Hippo! 

Before we made our way up, we saw something sweet; both the tired boys had fallen asleep! They had partied hard, and now, to rest. 

So with two strollers filled with two loads of dead weight, we made our way up the hill to see the polar bears. WHEW! It was quite a hike. We def burnt our calories for the day.

Once up the hill, the polar bears were out and playing. They have a cool feature here that you can log online from your house and see the polar bears in real time. Beka let her Mom know they were there in the exhibit and she logged online and could see them! It was so fun! 

One was right by the glass! Those bears are HUGE! 

After the polar bears, we went on the see the new elephant exhibit! 

They had a cool feature inside that showed how fossils emerge over time. They recently found a fossil from a wooly mammoth in Brea, CA, which is near the San Diego zoo. 

There were also lions in this area of the zoo. 

And, the Elephants! 

Emery woke up just in time to get a photo near the Elephants! They are Michael's favorite, so we made sure to send him some picts of us near them. 

One of the elephants is knocking on the door! 

At this point Emery was awake and sillier than ever! 

Beka took a photo of the Emery Elephant near a statue of a baby elephant, an he stuck his little tongue  out like it was a trunk! 

Then we saw some cool birds. 

And something Beka hates...Rattlesnakes! We are so glad they are not something to worry about in the south (we had our own horrors here, such as HUGE bugs, tornados, and elevated childhood obesity rates). Beka grew up in an area of SD where there were lots of these little monsters, so she is glad they are not a worry to her anymore. 

After the Elephant area, we realized it was getting pretty late in the day, and we needed to get Mr. Wyatt back home to his Mom, Dad, and new little brother.  We made our way towards the exit, saying goodbye to Poppa on the way. 

We headed out, eventually found our car in the parking lot (Beka thought she had wrote down where they had parked...oops), and loaded up Roxanne's Hundai accent with two large strollers, two diaper bags, two purses, and two babies in two car seats. It was quite a feat, but we accomplished it! It helps that Roxanne was a pro. Though Beka is the Mom, Roxanne has far more experience with baby gear. I am not sure it would have all fit without her. 

Wyatt had a VERY fun day. 

Emery had fun as well, we all did! It was such a great memory that we made, and we were so thankful to go! What an adventure we had. 

We are in SD for a few more weeks, so I am sure there will be more fun to report, so stay tuned!

Thanks for watching!

Team Oakley