A day at the zoo

November 12 being our seventh wedding anniversary, I took Monday and Tuesday off work to spend time with my family. We decided to spend Monday taking Emmy to the San Diego Zoo. We had a wonderful time. Emmy especially enjoyed the Petting Paddock in the Children's Zoo, where she climbed on a log bench and petted goats, sheep and bunnies. They even had kid-sized sinks for washing hands afterwards, which was also very exciting.

Among the many pleasant experiences of the day, we found Morning Star Gardenburgers for sale at the snack bar (who knew?), which made for a yummy lunch.

Emmy loved all of the animals, but her favorites were the elephants, peacocks, and ducks. She also loved the orangutan exhibit, but mainly for the smallish trees planted in the viewing area close to the plexiglass which she made a point of hugging repeatedly. It was a blast to see her wonder and excitement at every new experience. Another highlight of the day was taking the "Skyfari" back to the entrance at dusk - the view was truly lovely!

I had lots of fun snapping photos throughout the day - some of the animals seemed as if they were posing for me. Here are a few of my favorites.

Trick or treat!

This Halloween was Emmy's first to wear a costume and trick-or-treat. Since we had zero trick-or-treaters at our place last year, we thought we'd try Ryan and Shari's neighborhood this year.

She's had a thing for stories involving lions and tigers recently, and is especially fond of Tigger (from Winnie the Pooh), so when I found this adorable Tom Arma white tiger costume on Ebay for about half the normal price, I snapped it up. Our friend Tracie (who, like me, has a sick mind) suggested that Peter and I dress up as Sigfried and Roy (preferably post-mauling), but as Peter pointed out, we don't own any leather clothing - and that stuff's expensive!

After initial protest getting her into her costume, Emmy had the time of her life going from house to house, ringing the doorbell and/or knocking on the door, saying "Trick or treat!" or "Happy Halloween!" in a tiny, timid voice, reaping "awww"s wherever she went and raking in the loot like a pro. Peter told me that this morning the first thing she wanted to do was get into her costume again, and you'll never guess what she wanted to do when she woke up from her nap! Thank goodness that she hasn't yet made the connection that the candy is edible . . .

Here are a few pictures of Emmy in her costume, living it up. Enjoy!