Santa Ana Zoo

When Debbie lived in Orange, we were driving up there often, and as we took the (pretty fun) carpool lane of the 5 north, I would often notice a lush landscape of treetops that seemed to appear out of nowhere after the midrise buildings and apartment complexes, and wondered what it was. I finally looked it up and discovered it was the Santa Ana Zoo (Santa Ana has a zoo??)

It had been on my list of things to do, and we finally had an open day with nothing planned and Sophie home with us, desperate for things to do, and we decided to visit it. And it was so cute! (For the record I wasn't expecting much. After all it's a zoo... in Santa Ana).

It's small and quaint, but cute and walkable and so palatable, especially as a funtivity with a newly-walking toddler. They don't have lions or tigers or zebras or giraffes... but they have lots of farm animals,and aviaries, and lots of monkeys, and anteaters and llamas and camels. And they have a big playground and a snack bar and a Ferris wheel and carousel and train. I thought it was a perfect little space.

So perfect that... we became members! LOL. It was cheap, and now I have a great place to bring Sophie when I want to just get out of the house for an hour or two that's fun for both of us, and isn't just walking around a shopping center where the entertainment is spending money.

Happy New Year: 2022!

Happy 2022! We had a nice, low-key New Year's Eve with champagne and a fire going. On New Year's Day we got some play time at the park... Sophie is getting used to the slides (and not instinctively laying down each time and instead sitting up) which is cute. She's such a walker, so the park and much more interactive and fun now. 

Yesterday we ran some errands and Sophie couldn't rest until she got my (empty) Starbucks cup. She spent the rest of the evening carrying it with her and throwing it back LOL.

Now that she's mastered walking, her talking is really on a roll! She still seems to say mama, papa and dada almost interchangeably and I'm still not even totally sure she gets it. But she loves to say puppy (puppuh), hi, bye-bye, she said night-night (nai-nai), as of yesterday we got her saying touchdown! (tuh-dow) and we've caught her versions of peekaboo (pee-buh)... see below!

The talking is fun, I'm looking forward to so much more of that this year.

And talk about knowing when you're a parent... I'm really enjoying this Monday sooo much more than some of the days of break, now that Sophie is back in daycare and I have some peace and quiet to get stuff done. 

Happy 2022!