what i did on my christmas vacation

I hung out with this little cutie, played games, pretended to be a marshmallow (a vegan one, of course) trying to get away from the fire so we didn't become a s'more, etc.

For the record, Max (who's 3-1/2) said to me at the beginning of this marshmallow game:  "I can't eat marshmallows because they're made with gelatin and gelatin comes from animals."  That's awareness!

We went to the San Diego Zoo one day.  It was 70 degrees outside at the end of December!

We saw tons of cool stuff, including lots of Galapagos Tortoises.  At every enclosure, Max looked in and then said, "are they real?????"

So cute.

And, of course:

In addition to standing in line for half an hour to see the pandas, we did get to see gorillas, monkeys, birds, tortoises, turtles, elephants, giraffes, and many other fun things!!

Toward the end of the day, it started to get chilly, especially in the shade, so I gave Max my fleece.  So here's my fam walking around the zoo--Dad pushing, Susan rubbing her fingers to warm up, and Max "wearing" my fleece.  :-)

A couple of days later, dad and I made the drive back to San Diego (75 degrees!) for a visit to the Wild Animal Park, designed to look like a nature preserve in Africa or so

mething, and where you can go on "safari" without leaving the country.  It was pretty excellent!

The day after our safari, we spent a day at Disneyland, happiest place on earth.  

It was completely mobbed, but still fun!  

The best rides at Disneyland/California Adventure are:  Indiana Jones!, Soaring Over California, and what Max calls the "5-4-3-2-1 roller coaster"--the only big fast true roller coaster over there, actually called California Screaming.  Also good:  Space Mountain.  The gumbo is good!  Fantasmic is fun.  The Castle contains a gift shop, of course.  It's A Small World has been revamped with a deeper canal and new boats (the boatload of average americans is too heavy for the original now!) and with a new coat of paint on all the inside.

In addition to all this stuff, I got to eat lots (mmm, Mother's chicken-free salad, Del Taco, Koshary, and all kinds of Susan-made yumminess!), sleep some, and even read. I did finish two books on my way there, so I need to finish my Reading Challenge 2008 posts.  Maybe that's tomorrow....

I love vacation.  I want to go on vacation again tomorrow.  Alas, no.  I came home to a funeral to conduct, a Sunday to preach/celebrate communion, and the big choir party!  Good times, many many good times.