Elle's 7th birthday (part 1)

Just days before Elle's official 7th birthday I joined Marla, Elle, and Ruby after school for a whirlwind San Diego Zoo Safari Park tour. (Okay, I just can't to it!) Wild Animal Park tour. 

Elle and Ruby showed me on the map where we were going to go, and what we were going to do.  

You used to have to pay for the cheetah run, but now it is shown daily at 3:30 for free. None of us had seen it before.  It was pretty impressive seeing an animal run from 0 to 70 mph in 4 seconds.  We were glad we didn't have to pay, it it over just too quickly!

Elle was set on going to the Bonsai Pavilion. I didn't even know there was such a thing at the Wild Animal Park. I don't think many people know it exists, we had the whole place to ourselves. Marla likes to come up here with the kids to eat lunch, sit on a bench, and be in peace and quiet for a bit.

Just a short walk past the bonsai's is the Nativescapes Garden, yet another place we had to ourselves. It is full of native plant species from Southern California.  

The flora was unbelievable,

and so was the fauna. Apparently this is a hang out for uncaged deer. We easily saw 7 of them throughout our walk, eating and napping. They were not too happy to see us. We were definitely on their territory. 

On to the Toms... for Elle's birthday Fred and I got Elle her first pair of Toms.  (Ruby thought this would be a  great opportunity to show off her favorite shoes as well.) 

You can only get these shoes at a limited number of places, Escondido mall being one of them. Online they are often sold out. 

Elle was soooo excited!  

While eating dinner, I am surprised that any food actually went into her mouth. It is really hard to eat when you are staring under the table at your shoes the entire time, commenting on how sparkly they are, etc. 

What a fun way to spend the afternoon after a long day at work!