Memorial Day

A year ago during Memorial Day weekend, Jason and I drove up to Michigan so that I could meet his family. It is crazy to think that in the 12 months since then, we've gotten married, moved to California, and survived a 3-month surge deployment!

This year, Jason and I were able to drive down to Escondido late Sunday afternoon to spend Sunday night and then Memorial Day with Crista and Ella Wagner. It is a quick 3 hour drive to Escondido and then San Diego is just a further half hour south. Jason first met the Wagners when he was stationed in Pensacola two years ago. He absolutely adores their daughter, Ella, who just celebrated her fourth birthday, is quite the informative (and cute!) chatter-box, and is very much looking forward to the birth of her baby brother in a few weeks.

On Memorial Day we all went to the Wild Animal Park. It was a gorgeous day; sunny but not too hot. One of my favorite parts was when we visited Lorikeet Landing, where Ella, Crista, and I were able to feed the Lorikeets. If you hold a small cup of the special nectar in your fist, they perch on your hand and arm to drink.








We also went to a bird show and saw a variety of impressive birds of prey, including an owl and other large birds that swooped rather low over the audience and a parrot that did a funny job mimicking. Later, we also saw some kind of broad-billed grey stork.

The main attraction for the Animal Park is a 2.5 mile safari ride through Africa that takes you inside of the huge animal area so that you can get up close and personal with such animals like giraffes, hippos, and ostriches. Unfortunately, the line was over an hour and a half of waiting time to ride so we didn't make it on that but hopefully we'll be able to make it back within the next few years before we move! The perk of not waiting in line, however, meant that we got to eat at Crista's favorite taco shop (and my first!) before we drove home...yum!!