The Zoo, The Citywalk & The Bull

A day off with dad can never be wasted! The LA Zoo was our first destination and it was way more awesome than I even expected. I'll be honest, I'm pretty easily impressed--a trait that I happily inherited from my mom--but this place was really cool, even for people a little more skeptical than me!

We started at the giraffes, which T says is his most favoritest animal (maybe because they are yellow-ish?) The boys were already pink-cheeked from the sudden heatwave, but totally impressed by the giraffes!

We were really lucky to see every single animal in the zoo in motion. Because of the heat, we were warned that the animals might be a little sleepy, but everytime we came up to a new animal they immediately got up and started walking around. Maybe they heard through the animal grapevine how excited I got when they moved! 

 Me and the Hubs.

The muchachos all got to ride on the zoo carousel. T was thrilled each time the monkey went up and down while Evie focused on his waving skills. It was adorable!

 The closest I've ever been to a bear. This is not zoomed at all--we were RIGHT next to him.

Talmage always says that Everett is his best friend, and lately I have seen it more than ever. These two are so cute together! They loved playing at the park at the zoo.

After the zoo, we headed to the Universal Citywalk in Studio City (an outdoor super-mall in front of Universal Studios theme park). After leaving the car in Jurassic Parking, we were welcomed by a London guard and his guard-in-training! We've been Olympic junkies for the last little while so this was super exciting!

 Also at the Citywalk, the cutest little alien ever. This was the day before the ParaNorman premiere.

 Me and the King.

There was a super cute and HUGE candy store called It Sugar and we played there for a very long time! Really cute merchandise and super yummy candy--just ask the boys, they each got to pick out a treat (T: cars piez dispenser, Evie: peach hi chews).

We ended up going to the Saddle Ranch for dinner. James had gone there a few weeks back with his firm, and after tasting the leftover ribs I knew it was a place I wanted to visit. The baby back ribs are the BEST I've ever had, EVER. There is a ton of meat on the bone and the BBQ sauce is tangy and delish. Dinner was a hit!  

We were way too full for dessert, but our amazing waitress read T's mind and brought out the biggest cotton candy I've ever seen--on the house! She earned herself a big tip and the love of a 3 year old ;) 

 And as if life wasn't good enough after eating the best ribs ever and being treated to cotton candy, James was given the opportunity to ride the mechanical bull. I wish I could upload the video and you could all hear Talmage screaming, "Ride it, Daddy. Ride it!" I laughed so hard. It was awesome.

It was a fun, fun day with the fam and the boys were exhausted when we got home--score!