Back Stage Pass at the Zoo

Jared surprised me with a back stage pass tour at the Zoo.We went on Feb 15.. I am a little behind on my blogging (again).

We got to feed, pet and take a picture with a Bear Cat. She was sweet and it took her less than one second to take the grape out of my hand. A photographer followed the group around during the tour and took pictures.

We got up close and personal with a wolf. His name is Kenai. We even got to hear him howl. This particular wolf is not an Alpha Male (leader of the pack) so we, the audience, had to howl first and he answered us. Not many people can say they've heard a wolf howl in person. It was incredible.

This is him howling



Eventhough he could eat me, he has a sweet face.


We met the Zoo ambassadors. A Cheetah(Karroo) and Dog(Sven Olef) pair that are super sweet. We got to pet the dog but not the Cheetah. She was a happy cat though. She was purring so loudly when we took the picture with her.

Sven the dog... so cute!

There are about 12 hand raised Flamingos in a back stage area. We were allowed to go to that area and meet/feed them. Timmy, one of the male Flamingos, decided I was his favorite guest. He only ate from my cup and stood by me most of the time. The guests were sitting so when the Flamingos were standing in front of us, we were eye to eye with them. The trainers even commented on how Timmy stayed by me.


Meet Timmy

I think the highlight of the day was meeting the Rhinos. We met two of them. They are brothers and both weight about 4200 pounds. You would think an animal that large would be intimidating but really, they were very sweet and gentle. We got to brush, feed and pet them. They don't really have teeth ,besides a couple moulers, so feeding them wasn't too scary. You did get a hand full of Rhino slobber though. Thank goodness for hand washing stations!




We met a lot of differednt animals that day. it was a great experience and a lot of fun. We knew it was supposed to rain that day but it didn't rain during the tour. After the tour, the heavens opened. Even though we had an umbrella, we got soaked. We didn't care though! We got coffee, snuggled under the umbrella and enjoyed walking around the empty zoo in the rain! It was a fantastic day.

Day 106 Thru Day 110

Day 106:
Someone really loves the swings at the park.

Day 107:
This is my friend's dog, Mouse, she's a sweetheart.

Day 108:
I love putting stuff together for my nieces and nephews. It was especially exciting to put together Tyler's very first easter Basket

Day 109:
My neoghbor, heather, came down to my apartment to help me decorate Easter Cookies. We spent a few hours decorating (and breaking) cookies and chatting. When the Bunny ears keep breaking off, you just go with it.

Day 110:
I made these Minnie Mouse Cupcakes for my co-worker's 30th birthday. She was so excited. They were Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes.

Day 98 Thru Day 105

Day 98:
Sometimes the yarn decides not to work with you. Sometimes it decides that every 2 feet it will get all knotted up. Sometimes I just want to take scissors and cut it to pieces.

Day 99:
The new Karen Kingsbury book is out. I finished it in a day and a half. it only took me so long because I had to sleep.

Day 100:
Cinnamon Rolls for Jared and his co-workers. I am thinking it was a good day at work for them.

Day 101:
April 10-16th Marked "National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week". aka Dispatcher Appreciation Week. Our Chiefs bought each shift a dozen Gourmet Chocolate Covered Strawberries from Shari's Berries. Oh Yum!

Day 102:
My lovely friend, Emily, sent me a "happy Spring" box full of goodies. She's awesome!

Day 103:
Best. Jellybeans. Ever.

Day 104:
Me neighbors dog, Balou, napping in my apartment. He's so darn cute.

Day 105:
Someone has a big appetite

Day 84 Thru Day 90

Day 84:
Katie, the kids, and Jessica came over one morning for coffee. Tyler decided his toy of choice would be these plastic breast cancer walk bracelets. Silly boy.

Day 85:
Over the weekend we celebrated the birthdays of Jimmy and Alissa. I made special cupcakes for both of them. Cupcakes for Jimmy:

Day 86: Cupcakes for Alissa. She was pretty specific with what she wanted for the flavor. Chocolate with chocolate chips in it. So I made them with her favorite color, purple, and put a chocolate cookie music note on the top.

Day 87:

Jared never ceases to amaze me. He came over to my place for a typical evening of dinner and TV but when I opened the door he had these in his hand. He got them "just because". 100 % sweet, 100% a surprise 100% Jared. I don't think I will ever get sick of fresh flowers.

Day 88:
One of my cats decided they liked the flowers too, as a snack...

They only got 2 of the 12 though ;)

Day 89:

I love that she always looks like she is smiling.

Day 90:
I went shopping for a baby shower gift on April Fools day. Jokes on me. I spent almost double what I had budgeted. When shopping for a new baby girl and being faced with hundreds of choices at Babies R Us, how can you possibly say "no" to something this cute?

Day 74

She hates him... can't you tell? ;)

Day 68

Thursday evening I decided to look through some of my cupboards to see what needed cleaning out and organizing. I knew I would have lots of time to clean on Friday and I wanted a game plan to accomplish as much as possible.

There's always that one cupboard or drawer in your home that drives you absolutely batty. Mine happens to be the one where I keep serving trays/pitchers/storage containers. So much mis-matched and just not neat.

I opened the cupboard then walked out the the room for a few minutes. My cat, Hunny, decided that was a good time to practice her monkey skills.

Day 65

When I got home from work this morning I noticed this in my bedroom:

That box of pictures had been in the top of my closet. There were only 2 things that could have gotten it down from there. One is white and she was at my heels the whole time I was cleaning it up. The other is a tan-orange color and she sat silently watching from the living room. When I looked back at her she would divert her eyes, look at the wall, the ceiling, the floor. Any guesses on which cat was the culprit?

Day 45

Valentine's Day. I never cared about this holiday when I was single. I am not sure why I care about it now. I honestly wish I didn't. I love making little heart shaped cookies and giving heart adorned treats to my nieces and nephews though.

Jared and I didn't have plans because we both had to work. I started feeling a really yucky in the tummy around 2:30am, while I was at work. About 4:30am I told my partner I needed to go home because I had been getting sick for 2 hours.

I got home and prayed and prayed to get better. About 10:00am my prayers were answered and I was finally able to hold down some water. I sipped slowly eventhough I wanted to drink a gallon right then and there. My tummy still wasn't feeling great so sleep didn't come easily. It was not a fun day.

Clearly I survived. I even had a chance to snap a picture. My kittens stayed by my side all day long. For whatever reason, Hunny likes to sleep under the covers when I am on the couch.

Day 44

Sometimes you see things while you're out and about and you wish you had a camera. Most phones have cameras now but some don't. I have both my phone camera and my digital camera on me at all times. On this particular Sunday, walking into Hallmark, I was so very thankful I did.

Yeah... that's a dog. On a motorcyle.

Day 39

This little pond is about 150 yards from my apartments. I love passing it on my runs. I know spring is coming and that means baby ducks! Honestly, I could watch them every day. I love their little baby duck waddle. Their baby duck "quack" and how they trail in a line behind their mama. Come on spring! I want to see baby ducks!

Day 34

I am pretty sure that everyone knows I am an animal lover. Those little furballs really melt my heart. Jared's cat, Meho, likes to sneak into Jared's room and take a little cat nap on Jared's bed. The boy and I were hanging out and Meho wanted to join us. I snuggled up to the little guy and he was purring like crazy. Don't be fooled by the "I am just putting up with this attention but I really hate you laying on me and snuggling" look. He loved it. Really.

And yes, Jared and I were watching "Gilmore Girls" Dvds. Don't judge.

Day 33

This is what I come home to every morning. I love my kitten, Hunny, and the fact she is waiting for me when I get home. Like clockwork, she sees me get out of my car and she jumps down to meet me at the front door. She's precious.

Day 27

Clearly my cats have a rough life. They sleep all day curled up on my bed. Soaking in the snuggly warmth of my fleece tie blanket. Poor things. I shouldn't mistreat them so much.

Day 26

My little monster, Hunny, can be a little Houdini and get her collar off. She got the last one off quite a bit so I think it was broken. At any rate, I got them both new collars (matching) the other day. Hunny was not exactly excited about it. She kept shaking her head, rubbing her neck on the corner and meowing at me. Basically yelling at me for putting a new one on. The big baby. She acts like she's never worn a collar before. I think she is over it now. Hopefully...

Day 22

I am fairly certain that everytime I sit on my couch and turn on my computer, it sends some type of signal to a certain someone that lives in my house. She immediately jumps up on my lap and moves around until she is comfy. Occasionally that means she is laying across the keyboard. Sometimes she lays on my hands. Every once in a while she goes nose to nose with me as if to say "hi mom. I'm here!". This someone will remain nameless but I am sure you can figure it out for yourself. Good things she's cute and I love her.

Day 20

For Christmas (2009) Jared got my cats these treat balls. You put a few cat treats inside and they are supposed to play with it. As they play with the ball, one treat will fall out when it rolls at a certain angle.
Sugar doesn't care much about playing with them. She just wants me to hand her treats. She's lazy.

Hunny on the other hand will play and play and play until every.single. treat. is gone. There are two of the toys and I usually put about 10-15 treats in each ball. No matter how long it takes her, she will succeed in getting all of the treats. She's pretty funny when she is playing. She looks like a little soccer player. I love my kitten.

Day 19

Jared's Birthday is coming up, soon. Unfortunately he has to work on his actual birthday. Between my mandatory nap I take Wednesday mornings after I get off work and Jared having to go to bed early on Thursday evening for work, time is limited. We have barely 24 hours off together. We make do with what we have and we make the most of the time. He isn't big on celebrating birthdays but he knows he probably won't get out of it. But I try to be sensitive to what he wants so I kept it simple.

We spent the afternoon at the San Diego Zoo.One of the best parts about having a Zoo pass is that you don't feel like you have to get there the moment it opens and stay until they have a police escort walk you to the exit gates because you won't leave for fear of not getting your monies worth. We got there in the early afternoon and got a prime parking spot up front (another perk of going later).

We had a great time walking around looking at the animals we have seen 95 other times. For whatever reason, it never gets old. God's creation is something, that's for sure!

We finished the evening by going to his favorite restaurant, Mandarin House. We ate. And ate. And ate. And stuffed our faces. Seriously, the best Chinese Food in San Diego County. Trust me. I am even getting better at using chopsticks (except when I flung rice all over my lap). I thought it would be fun to take him out to dessert afterwards so I started making suggestions. Cheesecake Factory, Sprinkles Cupcakes.. in the end we decided to go to Cheesecake Factory. Neither one of us had enough room for dessert so we walked around Fashion Valley mall for a bit. Did you know they have a Microsoft Store? It is way cool! Jared and I got our geek on in there. I playing with the X-Box Kinex (sp?). It is basically the XBox version of the Wii. I bowled for a few minutes while Jared played the new "Tron" game. I know he couldv'e spent the rest of the evening in there but felt like I would be bored. I had fun though. In the end we decided there was no roo
m in the tummies for Cheesecake Factory. Maybe next time. It was a fun day celebrating my man's birthday.

Here's my official photo of the day but I added just a couple for kicks.

 I had to add this because I cannot remember a time in my life when I have seen a Koala bear awake. We even saw him walk across the tree branches to another spot. Isn't he darling?

 I had to add this one too because I have never ever ever been this close to a Jaguar before. This is not zoomed in. At all. Nothing but thick glass between me and this wild cat. He's beautiful. Here kitty kitty..

Day 17

I know not everyone is a cat lover. I never knew I was one until I was a teenager. We "obtained" a couple cats during my high school years and they were fun to be around. So when I moved out on my own, I wanted a pet of my own. I adopted Hunny in 2003 and Sugar in 2004. They are buddies. Everyday they snuggle up to each other and nap. Their personalities crack me up. Sugar chases her tail at 6am on the edge of my bed. Although somewhat annoying, it is kind of funny. She has this long drawn out meow that just begs for attention. When Jared arrives, he greets me first but Sugar impatiently awaits her turn. She meows and holds out her paw as if we didn't know she was there.

The other day I was filling up their food container and I spilled some. I went to grab the broom and when I turned back around I found this..

Now THAT'S what I call a food dish.