Although he hadn't seen her since Christmas, E recognized his Aunt Sarah right away because he Skypes with her regularly. He was happy to finally meet Jasmine the cat and Dodger the dog, who he also visits with regularly on Skype. They played together all week.
E absolutely LOVED the zoo and safari park. He was delighted by all of the animals, and really enjoyed up close interactions with several of them. He got to help feed a giraffe and some lorakeets. Some ducks (definitely one of his absolute favorite animals) ate out of his hand. And he got to visit with some deer and goats in the petting zoo.
On the bus tour around the zoo, Aunt S would ask him what sound each animal made when we passed by. His answer was always the same: ROAR! He enjoyed watching the animals, but he also enjoyed watching the other boys and girls who had come to see the animals, too. He was also a fan of riding on Aunt S's shoulders and taking pictures with his very own camera.
The beach was an instant hit, too! Our first beach visit took us to Huntington Beach, also known as Surf City. He loved the sand, but once we reached the shore, he headed straight for the water. The Pacific might be colder than the Atlantic and the Gulf, but that didn't slow him down at all. In fact, Daddy had to hold him back to keep him from running right out into the surf. Daddy enjoyed watching the surfers, just waiting on one to bust. Mommy enjoyed looking for sea shells in the sand with E. We would make several more visits to the beach throughout the week, one of which was E's 18 month photo shoot with Aunt S's neighbor, M.
We took over 3,000 pictures during the week, a few too many to post here for sure. Especially since Blogger is not allowing me to upload them right now. But here's a link to an album that has some of the best ones from the week!
http://photos1.walmart.com/walmart/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3274197005/a=23886628_23886628/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walmart/
