We Belong in the Zoo... The San Diego Zoo

As a stay-at-home mom, there are days when the monotony and the isolation make me crazy! Yesterday was one of those days. I made a quick decision that getting out of the house would be good my grumpy four year old, me, and my mental health.

I picked up my first-grader from school at his lunch time and we played hooky for the rest of the day. As a former teacher, I know how wasted these last few days of school are in terms of education. My sons and I went to McDonald's for lunch and headed downtown to the amazingly beautiful San Diego Zoo.

It was just what we needed! I used to get out of the house with the boys all the time... before my oldest started school. After that, we had to cut way back on our local tourism. The current economy has also played a big role in staying close to home. I've missed our spontaneous little excursions around the county.

Our San Diego Zoo & Wild Animal Park annual membership passes are the only memberships we've kept going since our family budget crunch. We live about 15 minutes from the Wild Animal Park so not having an annual membership is practically a crime in these here parts.

We haven't been to the San Diego Zoo in a long time. The Zoo has opened a new Elephant exhibit... and I LOVE elephants so I had to see it. As it turns out the new exhibit is just "OK". The best part of the day was the Insect House in the Children's Zoo. Very cool. The boys loved it!


There are two running links here, albeit loose ones...

If you've been to the San Diego Zoo, you know how hilly it is there. I ran up one of those big hills with my four year old (who is pretty fast, by the way). And I loved it! It felt so good to run past people huffing and puffing up the hill. It felt great to push my legs hard. I remember when I hated hills. I remember being amazed when I finally started to like going up. And I am still amazed at how much I enjoy it.

As my sons and I playfully bounded up the hill, I overheard a lady comment to her companion, "I need to get to the gym." I smiled inside as I realized I would have been thinking the same thing about myself a year ago.

Another fun part of the day was being downtown, driving on the same streets I ran through less than a week before. I pointed out the streets and landmarks to my boys, saying things like, "I ran past that on my big race!" or "I ran on this street during my big race." My boys were impressed when I told them how I got to run down the very freeway we were driving on. Fun stuff!

My kids are probably tired of hearing about Mommy's "Big Race".

Anyway, here are some pictures of our fun day:

My seven year old

Cute bird in the Aviary

The boys LOVED the Skyfari!

Smiles!

View of Balboa Park and Downtown from the Skyfari.

Have a wonderful weekend, Running Blogger Friends! Good luck to those who have races!!