As a pre-vacation day of fun, my Mom and I took the boys to San Francisco for the day to see the California Academy of Sciences and the San Francisco Zoo, which has free admission for children during August.
A couple of things to note. If you want to get your tech-obsessed oldest son to pay attention, give him his father's digital camera and tell him to record the day for his Dad. (You may or may not want to tell his Dad that you gave said camera to said son.) Secondly, when your middle son tells you he's "not good with maps," give him the map of an enormous zoo and tell him to lead the way. It's amazing how quickly leadership responsibilities can improve confidence in map reading.
A partial view of the main floor of the California Academy of Sciences. The water you see here is actually the top of a large aquarium which can be viewed on the lower floor.
A large aquarium on the lower floor of the Academy.
A really beautiful jellyfish exhibit.
An overview of the four-story rainforest biodome at the Academy. The water you see at the bottom is part of another huge aquarium you can walk under on the lower floor.
A butterfly in the rainforest.
There were way too many beautiful animals at the zoo to include in this post. These are just a few of my favorite shots.Tiger
Capybara
Really cute kangaroos.
Kipp just loved the flamingos. I see lawn ornaments in his future.
Overall, it was a crazy, fun-filled day with the boys.
Beautiful photographs! Tell your son he does a better job than I do. :-)
I'm looking forward to the rest of the journey.