zoo day

thursday sullivan and i used our new membership to the zoo for the first time. we arrived around 10 or so and stayed until about 11:30. now that i have gone once, i have learned a few things that will come in handy on future trips:

1: Get there early! the earlier the better. like, i think next time i will be in the parking lot waiting for the doors to open at 9. i keep forgetting how famous the san diego zoo is and how people plan their vacations around going there. it is a crazy busy place. and all the school groups! craziness. but the school groups didn't get there until a little bit later, so 9 am is key.

2: i need to find some discreet feeding areas. i had been walking around looking at animals and before i knew it, sullivan was hungry, and he was hungry NOW. i found a bench under a walkway across from some plants, which i thought was a prime spot because there were no animals near there. but apparently, this plant area is the place where a lot of walking tours start, so when i sat down it was pretty empty, but within 2 minutes there were hoards of people walking up and down the sidewalk waiting for their tour to begin. and i had my little nursing cover AND was partially protected by the stroller position, but the noise of all those people was distracting sullivan from the task at hand so it took forever. i wonder if a semi secluded place even exists? will do some serious hunting next time.

3: the gorillas are amazing, but getting there with a stroller is completely different than just walking. to avoid all the stairs, you have to go through the aviary which has like 5 sets of double doors to make sure the the birds don't escape. i don't want to stop seeing the gorillas, because there is a 5 month old baby i am dying to see, but i think i need to find a way to open the doors while pushing a stroller that does not involve the use of my butt as a door stop.

and while i do love the zoo, it makes me a little sad. like my beloved elephants, who spend their whole lives walking in the wild, are confined to this space that is what? the size of a football field, maybe? and the lions were lounging in a barren enclosure the size of a basketball court. i know the san diego zoo is amazing and the animals are well cared for and the endangered ones will live long lives instead of being poached in the wild. but how is it to be a polar bear living in san diego? i don't know. i don't know...

pictures to follow when i get on the other computer.

mom group

a friend of mine invited sullivan and i to her mom group that meets every tuesday. her son is 15 months or so i think, but the other moms that were going to be there had younger ones, closer to sullivan in age. i though, sure why not? ryan has been harassing me to do something like this and this was the perfect opportunity.

this week the group was meeting out in rancho santa fe, where two of the women live. i have only been there once before, but i was excited to go because it is such an incredibly nice little town. the houses are all amazing, and not right on top of each other, which i love.

this house did not disappoint. it was not anything too flashy ( i considered taking pictures, but if i had gotten caught, that would have been lame), which i think is why i liked it so much. it was one story with dark wood floors and an open floor plan. much bigger than my house, but not extravagantly huge. inside in a nook off the kitchen, there was a play area for the kids, completely sealed off and carpeted. i think it used to be a breakfast area that they converted. it was so nice because you could plop the kids down there with a bunch of toys and they couldn't get themselves into too much trouble. i'm trying to figure out where we can do that in our house....

the woman who owns the house, amy, has a son name kyle who is almost nine months. and the other woman, tiffany, has a son who is four months. we all chatted about the different stages and how we are all adjusting to motherhood. i had been very nervous on the drive there, like i was driving to my first day at a new school, 'what if they don't like me? what if i don't like them?' etc., but they were both very nice and welcoming, which was a relief.

after we chatted in the house for a while, stacy had to leave, so amy, tiffany and i went for a walk with the babies around the block. we walked side by side down the street without a problem. it was beautiful and sunny, and the only sounds i could here were birds. so nice!

now i realize why rancho santa fe is so desirable. i had thought it was just a snobby, pretentious town full of big houses and ridiculously expensive stores in the too-perfect village, and while that is partly true, there are also great little neighborhoods with understated houses on big lots with ROOM BETWEEN NEIGHBORS! i didn't see any street lamps, so i would imagine that you can see a lot of stars at night.

so the mom group was a success! even sullivan enjoyed himself; it was so cute to watch him react to other babies.