crowds and close ones

For a long time we have wanted to make a trip to the West Coast to visit family. It's hard to believe that we are here doing just that. We now have memories of Ocean Beach and where everyone is. Whether it's exploring tidal pools with Ian and the kids, a quick hello with Jony at the Surf and Skate, eating incredible meals with Stephan and Julie, or enjoying the zoo with Bekah and the kids – it's all been very precious. This makes goodbyes harder, we all realize how much we miss one another. I'm so thankful for this stop in our trip – may the Lord bless our West Coast Family!

-katrina-

we were greeted at the door with Julie's favourite cuban pastries....including a cream cheese guava, I liked the key lime white chocolate scone

Katina and Isaiah sometimes share the Shantz gene for heights....but this time they kept smiling as we started the sky rail to the other side of the zoo 

being up so high, we also had a quick view of downtown San Diego 

Samuel finally came face to face with his desert rattlesnake, except this time there was safety glass involved...

Stephan blessed us with another great meal of over the top subs, and we kept our lunch in the fridge for our next day on the road 

one thing I'm starting to miss already is the fact that soon my citrus will not be local...and i may never have to pick the stem off the fruit ever again, for now we will enjoy!

Today we went to the San-Diego zoo, and we saw lots of animals. My favourite exhibit was the snakes and crocodiles. There were poisonous snakes and some were Boa constrictors and that is one of my favourite snakes. There was also Giraffes, Tigers, Hippos, Lions and Jaguars. That was only some of the animals. I wish we could stay longer in California.

-Samuel-

there seems to be this graffiti thing, either scratched into rocks, trees, and in this case bamboo, thankfully Joshua pointed out my and katrina's before we even had to put forth the effort scratching...

we said goodbye to Bekah, Solomon and Hatteras one last time and then headed down the road for our first, and last watching of the sunset

Stephan flew an LED version of a California trout plain one last time....and I tried to keep up with this ufo with my camera