Out of the Mouths of Babes

A couple of months ago, my grandson Kevin asked me why I had a blog.  I guess because it's been 11 months since I posted something he had a good point.  Sooooo, Kevin, this is for you:  "Grandma Dee and Grandpa's trip with Kevin and Zach to the San Diego Zoo."  Mom Tasha brought Kevin and Zach (K&Z) to our house for us to start off on our trip.   I drove to San Diego with Grandpa as the navigator.  All three of the guys slept on the way down.  We got to our hotel and right away Kevin discovered a Super Mario game on the hotel t.v.

After dinner at TGIFriday's we went to bed.  Kevin told me that they could sleep better if I came in with them.  He said, "Zachie, if Grandma Dee sleeps with us, she will sing sweetly to us and softly rub our backs.  It's really cool, you'll like it."  I'm always a sucker for compliments so I obliged.  Around 2 a.m. I sneaked back into bed with Grandpa.  Around 6 a.m. Kevin and Zach woke up and noticed I wasn't with them.  In order to let Grandpa sleep a little longer, I rubbed their backs and hummed to them.  We all went back to sleep until a little after 8 a.m.  After breakfast in our room, we headed off to the zoo.

It was a warm day, so first of all we decided to take the two story tram that goes all the way around the zoo.  We saw the gorillas, lions, meerkats, bears, pandas, camels, elephants, giraffes, koalas, monkeys, zebras, and red river hogs, to name a few.  We did a lot of walking and eating. Poor little Zachie was getting exhausted.  His four year old legs were a little shorter than ours. So we picked up a ride on the sky tram and went across the park back to the entrance.  I told the boys that if they were good and didn't complain and listened to us that they could each choose some gifts.  With the promise of gifts, they complied.  Zach chose small gifts, while Kevin's were bigger.  We even picked up some Australian animal dominoes to bring to Namie on our way home.  

When we got there, the boys showed Namie, Susan and Dennis their gifts.  As you can see in the pictures, Kevin got green "fly glasses" and a family of white tiger figures that he showed to Namie.  Even Namie had to admit that flies see in really weird way.  She is a good sport!  we enjoyed some hors d'oeurves and burritos that Susan had prepared for us.  We had such a good time there and then headed home to Manhattan Beach where we all tumbled into our respective beds.  The boys were so tired they slept in their clothes. 

The next morning the boys and I met Tasha at the LA Zoo for the "handoff."  We drove by her van and she was reading a book, so we decided to sneak up on her.  Kevin, Zach and I must have looked quite suspicious hunching over and staying down low to the ground between cars.  We approached her from the rear and then said, "Surprise."  And was she ever surprised - so much for her relaxing read.

I stayed with them for a short tour and lunch.  It was verrry hot and I think they were still tired from our trip and were probably "zooed out."  I know I was.  I cannot wait to have them visit with us again.  It was a short break for Garrett and Tasha.  Parenting (and grandparenting) is not for the faint of heart!  Thanks for a great memory, Zach and Kevin.  (Hopefully, Zach will be willing to pose for more pictures next time.)