Love Day

For Valentine's Day this year, Jim and I debated what to do. Valentine's Day has always been a special date for us...14 years ago, we went on our first date on Valentine's Day, and we've always enjoyed celebrating at Claim Jumpers like that first fateful day. But did we really want to get a sitter for Jadon...or brave the crowds? Not really...

Sunday night, Jim came home from church with a great idea: let's get those annual zoo passes we've been talking about. So after a special waffle breakfast, we headed over to the San Diego Safari Park (formerly known as the Wild Animal Park), and decided to go with the Diamond Annual Pass, which for $145 will give us BOTH free entry to either the Safari Park or the Zoo, free parking at the Safari Park, and four free passes for guests (easily worth it for when our parents come to visit!), plus various discounts...and...a subcription to ZooNews magazine (wowie!). We figure we can easily get our money's worth on this one. Then we discovered the bonus features: If we got the Single membership in my name, then I can bring ANY second guest with me every time (as opposed to the Dual household membership, which would only be me and Jim). So Jim can't take Jadon without me, but AS IF that would ever happen! And now I can take other mommy friends during the week. Cool! And then, the lady told us this is all TAX DEDUCTIBLE because they are a non-profit zoological society. Cooler! And then...the cherry on top...she swiped our credit card and charged us $115. I asked, wait a minute, I thought it was $145, and she said, oops, I clicked that you were renewing members and you got that discount. Oh well...Coolest!!! I floated away from the ticket booth feeling like I just scored the deal of the century. Maybe it's not. And who knows how many times we'll actually use the passes. But I think it was worth it.

Once we entered the zoo, well, Jadon will probably enjoy it more in a few months. I think the only creature he noticed for the first hour was a fly buzzing around him. Then he stared at the condors for awhile, and later enjoyed petting (or pulling the hair of) some antelope (?) at the petting zoo. But he loved being outside, and it was a fun atmosphere to get out of the house in.

After a few hours at the zoo, we decided to go see a matinee of "The King's Speech". We figured that time of day would be safe enough to bring a baby to. Upon entering our theater, however, I was dismayed to see it full of old people. I'm sure they were just as dismayed to see us carting our lively child in. Fortunately, it was just about nap time, and Jadon soon fell asleep like a champ. The movie was pretty good, too. I don't know if I'd give it an Oscar, but a good [true] story.

After the movie, we splurged and got Pizza Hut for dinner ($10 for a pizza is double what we get at Little Caesars! But it was Valentine's Day after all! :o))...We set up a picnic on the living room floor and let Jadon crawl and climb all around while we ate and tried to play Rummikub--a little challenging with a baby, but fun nonetheless.

Our "Love Day" was nothing like the stereotypical mushy Hallmark version full of romance, but I absolutely loved it! I got to spend the whole day with TWO men in my life I love, and my heart overflowed with joy. I am so blessed, and this day was a great reminder of that.

Sooo, anyone else want to join us at the zoo some time?