Good morning! Happy Tuesday... I meant to share this post yesterday but apparently forgot to hit the 'publish' button. So here we are with a brief recap of our weekend!
Friday-
It was really important to Michael and I that we do something special as a family of 3 before Mia arrives. We still have around 7 weeks before her arrival, but my energy level seems to be getting worse as time goes by, so we decided to plan something for our long weekend together. I really wanted to stay overnight somewhere and do a whole overnight trip, but we opted for a day trip instead.
Ella has been wanting to go to a real zoo so badly, so we did some research to find out if it would be a safe time to go. We found that the San Diego Zoo had a lot of precautions in place- limiting capacity, health screenings before entering, masks required, hand sanitizing stations and 6 foot social distance requirements when viewing animals. Now of course, not everyone follows those rules, but the intention was there. Ella and I still have antibodies from our Covid experience in December, and both Michael and his parents have been vaccinated, so we felt comfortable going. While there I felt safe, and seeing Ella light up when she saw some of the animals was definitely worth it.
I didn't take a lot of pictures while we were there, as my phone stayed put away for most of our day- and the ones I do have aren't great because I was trying to follow the 6 foot distancing rules.
Ella's favorite animals were actually the reptiles... she loved when we went and saw all the lizards and snakes the most. She also loved the giant tortoise.
Sweetness had to take a picture sitting on this turtle of course!
The alligator skeleton scared her a little.
I couldn't get a good picture of Ella with the elephant, but it's in there. This is a popular exhibit, so there were a lot of people. We were just trying to get our look and then get out of there. Did you guys hear about the gentleman who broke into the elephant exhibit with his toddler and was arrested??? Crazy. While we were there, we saw a young man climb over a barrier to get to the monkey exhibit and grab a shoe someone had dropped. He was still separated from the monkeys but barely, and they were all going crazy and looked aggressive. I can't understand people risking their lives over a dropped shoe or a photo-op.
Running into a squirrel on one of the paths was one of Ella's favorite parts of her day.
But her FAVORITE part was ending her day with a giant ice cream cone. (She split this with Michael of course!) I had told her at the beginning of our day that we could get ice cream before we went home and all day long she kept asking to go get ice cream. As you can see, she was thrilled.
We were there around 10:30-3:30. We wanted to try and avoid leaving too late because traffic from San Diego to OC can get a little crazy. We did hit traffic and it took us a little over 2 hours to get home. Luckily Ella slept the entire way home! She was exhausted and so was I... Walking around a giant zoo with a toddler is tiring, but extra tiring when you're 32+ weeks pregnant.
Saturday-
After our very long day on Friday, we decided to keep Saturday and Sunday as relaxing days at home.
We got bagel breakfast sandwiches and smoothies for breakfast at a local spot we were told we 'had to try.' It was pretty good but I think I prefer Michael's breakfast sandwiches that he makes... :) The smoothie however, was unbelievable and I will be taking Ella there again because she loves smoothies like me!
We did actually change Ella out of her bedtime pajamas, but let her wear new pajamas for the day. Saturday just felt like it was going to be a lazy day, and I was totally okay with her rocking some jammies all day.
I saw this cute idea floating around on Instagram and wanted to give it a try. I just printed a picture of a bunny, glued it to a box and cut out an opening for the mouth. Ella had some felt carrot stickers that she used to "feed the bunny." She played with this for a quite a while, I was surprised how entertained she was!
Ella and I took an early evening walk to the park.
She loves when I chase her around the tree.
My girl is getting soooo big!
I love how much she loves being outside. I love it too! :) We had some nice weather too which helped.
We ended our Saturday with bubble baths and some reading in our tent! I love this little part of Ella's room... It's so cozy!
Sunday was so low-key I didn't even document anything. We made a trip to Costco, and I also went to our local grocery store for a few more things. Michael had a friend over (vaccinated) to watch the UCLA game, and we just barbecued and hung out. Overall, it was a great weekend!!!
We will be back on Friday to share our favorite Easter activities with you, as well as some favorites from our week. See you then! xo
-Ashley & Ella
she is so cute. The ice cream is as big as her.
ReplyDeleteThe zoo looks like a fun adventure! We had family who lived in OC when I was a kid, and I remember going to the SD Zoo when I was 12. I love Ella's striped PJS!
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