Tyler had never been to the Wild Animal Park here in San Diego, so we went last Saturday! We had a lot of fun, and sadly my transparent legs didn’t get any tanner.

I’ve decided Tyler is a good luck charm – growing up, in all of my family’s visits to the Park we have collectively only seen the tigers maybe twice. And we got lucky those two times. The tram (which I am upset that they got rid of, but that’s another story…) always paused at the tiger enclosure for a minute or so and everyone would climb to the side to see if the tigers were visible. The tram driver would then tell everyone that 99.9% of the time, they can’t be seen because they hide in the bushes all day. (The entire enclosure is filled with thick bushes and trees to simulate a jungle habitat.) I remember seeing them once, and the tram driver literally sat there in awe for a few minutes while we all gazed.

Walking up to the enclosure, there’s a sign that warns you that you probably won’t see them, and I pointed this out to Tyler. With that being said, we saw the tigers!! One came out, and then another came out, there was a small scuffle between them, then one grabbed a bone, and then both headed over for a leisurely afternoon bath. We watched them for probably 20 minutes or so before we moved on to the elephants!

As you can see, the enclosure has thick shrubbery.

Here’s the tiger with the bone. Tyler was sure the other tiger was going to try and steal it from him!

Here they are sun bathing.

We also rode the tram,

saw the lions,

and Tyler grew a new pair of ears.

We hula-hooped in “Africa” (I gave it a shot but quickly stopped – definitely NOT a pregnancy-approved activity!),

we made friends with a bird with really cool feet,

and fell in love with this half horse/half zebra animal.