San Diego Zoo Safari Park Summer Camps In Full Swing

I am a 34 year old single girl whose largest responsibility involves feeding and cleaning up after a dog and two cats in my little one bedroom apartment in Kensington, and I would never presume to know what mommies experience on a daily basis. I see my sister with my two nieces and I think she's a miracle worker when just getting everyone fed and cleaned and dressed and into the car to go anywhere is a massive production, but last week I tried my hand at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park's ABC Toddler Camp with my soon-to-be-4 year old niece, Johanna, so I could deliver all of you fine people of San Diego my version of a 'mommy blog'.

We had prepared Johanna for the camp and let her know that mommy and daddy were going to take Nadia (who was too young for camp) while she stayed with Tia Rosemary, but no amount of talking and preparation could prevent the ultimate meltdown when everyone actually walked away and she was left with me. I suppose growing up with an in-home daycare has made me a little bit tougher and I didn't break into that awful panicked sweat when she went hysterical. Even as the crying subsided and she warmed up to the kids and the counselors and the idea of camp, Johanna is fiercely independent and was not about to wear the camp required t-shirt or nametag.

The counselors Alene and Brittany were super cool and were probably instructed that since parents were present, discipline was not their responsibility...ultimately if kids didn't want to partake or they acted up, it was our responsibility to manage our kid so long as there was no danger to animals and such.

The toddler class had 6 kids and their adults and the two hour a day camp lasted for three days. Each day we went through a portion of the alphabet with "Animal Actions" and though some of the actions were a stretch ("z" is for zzzzz's because the desert tortoise sleeps through winter), for the most part the actions allowed the kids to interact, burn some energy, and have fun. To read all about it and see more photos, click 'keep on reading' below.


We started off with an animal interaction where a trainer brought out Peanut the Armadillo whose animal action was "Arching" because they can curl forward into a ball but also hyperextend their backs the opposite way. The kids emulated the action, we got to pet his hard exterior, we sang the alphabet song, and we proceeded on through the alphabet for the next two hours and subsequent two days.


I won't give the whole rundown of all of the activities but here are just a few of the pictures I took... this is Johanna and Amelia hanging out on the life-sized rhino (whose "C" action is to "charge").


I wasn't taking a whole lot of photos the first day because I was more concerned about Johanna suddenly realizing she was still stuck with her Tia. Luckily she only requested that I call her mom once. When we had our snack in a patio area, some geese walked by and as we waited to move on to the next activity, we noticed they left behind a trail of poop. The way to a kid's heart is apparently having an inside joke that they think they might get in trouble for saying to any other adult. Our secret word for each other for the remainder of camp was "goosepoop". Each day we covered a different section of the park and my only complaint for the day was that the final activity was to dress up in costumes for "Imagination". The costumes were adorable but it was nearly two in the afternoon and hovering somewhere around 90 degrees. This was the most I could get Johanna to wear and it lasted about 42 seconds. I can't say I blame her.



My parents got a room at Harrah's Rincon Casino for two nights, so after camp and exploring the park for a bit, we hung out at the hotel/casino for a few hours. While everyone played in the pool, I crashed out on a bed in the room. I realized that the 4 hours of sleep I had the night before camp was not adequate. When I finally got home, I went straight to bed to be better prepared for the next day of work in the morning and camp in the afternoon.

DAY 2:

When we drove up to camp on Day 2, my sister told me that while they were getting ready, Johanna said to her, "Mommy, today at camp you have to stay far, far away, okay?" Naturally this meant going into the day that I was feeling a lot better about her comfort level. The day involved reviewing the prior day's activities, singing the alphabet, and kicked off with a "Jungle Jam" where all of the kids danced in those furry costumes. Except Johanna. She sat on my lap quietly and tried to avoid eye contact so nobody would try to force her to dance. She's just like me in more ways than she'll ever know. The day's activities included seeing a leashed Prairie Dog (whose animal action is "kissing" though he just wanted to dig), checking out the area where the new cheetah run happens, checking out the lions chilling in their newly reopened enclosure, saw some birds, fed some ducks and catfish, and we got to pet a hedgehog.


Throughout the Safari Park, there are misting sprinklers to help fight the crazy heat of Valley Center. Johanna, for as much time as she spends at the beach and in swimming pools, hates the way the light drops feel on her skin and goes out of her way to avoid them at all costs. On day 2, our final activity was to run like cheetahs in an open shaded grass area, and after she and I chased each other and the other kids for a while, I went to a tree that had a mister spewing from it and she came and joined me as we stomped in the mud (much to the chagrin of the other parents). This was a milestone for us. We closed the day by seeing a trainer with this gorgeous owl and then went to the plaza area where the Summer Safari was in effect with music from Africa, dancers, acrobats, limbo, and other activities for everyone to let loose.


That night we all hung out at Harrah's Rincon by the pool, and my parents surrendered the room so we could stay. I ended up working until about 3:30 that morning but was still able to sleep in, get a great late breakfast, and get to the park with our final day of camp ahead.

DAY 3:
This photo is how we started our day of camp. Johanna still refused her camp shirt and nametag, but she was excited for her last day, though at some point that morning, Johanna had asked my sister if the other kids liked her and had a minor panic attack because she couldn't remember her teachers' names. And we still had the "goosepoop" thing making us giggle.


We did the ritual review of the animal action alphabet so far and all of the things we'd learned the past two days, and the final day was spent on the Safari Trail and Condor Ridge areas of the park. Johanna spent the day fighting with Amelia for Alene's hand.



The kids got to pet a kookaburra, did an activity to emulate an elephant's trunk, saw some bald eagles and prairie dogs and condors and bighorn sheep.









After a snack, we reviewed the day, the kids all ran around, and we got to see a desert tortoise close up before calling our camp to an end. Before meeting up with the rest of the family to take the tram, Johanna and I enjoyed a slow meandering walk to the elevator/treehouse.




This is what I would call a victory...Johanna playing under the misters.


On our way out, we stopped by the gorillas and were lucky to see momma holding her new baby.





If you're interested in any of the various camp programs for kids, either at the San Diego Zoo or the Safari Park, click here for more information. If camp isn't right for you or you just don't have the luxury of spending the middle of the day at the zoo, you can always just get a Zoological Society membership and build your own adventures. If you don't have children and are interested in adult adventures, there are plenty of those to go around, too, like the Room to Roam or Roar and Snore adventures. Check back here next week, too, because on Friday I'll be doing the 2/3 Mile Flightline Safari over the park. It's part of their special Moonlight Safari that only takes place during the full moon of July 15 & 16 and August 12 & 13. If you wanna join me, register now! If everything works out, I'm hoping to get there early enough to see the cheetah run, too.

Of course, I took a whole bunch more photos, so here's the full album.

Welcome Nadia Sabella!

I mentioned earlier in the week that my brother will be redeployed so he and my sister-in-law came out for the week. Last time I saw my nephew he was just a couple months old and it kills me that we don't get to see him more but we enjoyed the week together, and Johanna got to fall in love with her cousin.



To add to all of the excitement, today my sister gave birth to her second child. Contractions started at 1 am but she didn't go in until 5 am, where we spent the day waiting for the little nugget to make her appearance.

Nadia Sabella was born at 6:23 pm. She was 8 lbs, 10 oz. And with rolls like this, I shall call her Raisin. Not sure of her length just yet, as they weren't going to measure her until she was settled in the nursery, but forgive me for being a doting aunt and gushing. I am in love all over again.





All the photos can be seen here.

Rosey's Diary: Another Week in Music (9/5-9/130

I've accumulated a couple more week's worth of photos, so I guess it's time to catch up again. I've posted about the Music Awards, The Rumble, and a couple other things in between, but I'm gonna rewind a little bit, back to the night of the SDRL open house. Because what I forgot to mention was that after that show, I went to Bar Pink to see The Drowning Men. It has been a while since those boys have been written up on sd:di, and I'm not sure why...seems like I've just always got something going on whenever they play, but they're really talented and I'm always struck by their stage presence when I see them. How is it that I don't know these guys? So weird.

The Drowning Men


For the rest of my diary, click 'keep on reading'.


The next day brought about a matinee show at the Casbah, featuring The Thermals & Tape Deck Mountain. This was an especially fun show because it had been a while since I was at a show lined up with a group of friends all up front. I don't know why that is, but seems like for a lot of the touring shows lately, I'm like, "who are all these people?" That's cool and all, I love the diversity of the crowds, but on this night, I was among friends and we all had fun, despite the guy who thought he was in the band that I had to restrain. Tape Deck was rad, and I think it was their first set on the main stage at Casbah, so that was cool. Travis broke his pic and it was funny that I let him borrow my 'pic of destiny' that Evan had given me a few months back that I keep in my hearos case. Pic of Destiny saves the day!

So The Thermals were awesome and I don't think the show sold out completely, but it was packed and everyone seemed to love it; the show was full of sing along moments, including high fives from the bro, that I later found out was a friend of a friend. He was in town from Florida with his band for Awesome Fast. "I thought you were gonna kill him," James said to me after the show. In truth, I was just trying to help him not get tossed by the third song.

The Thermals




After the show, Kevin and I went to Evan's house for his co-birthday party. Despite feeling old as shit watching these 20 somethings throw down some intense games of beer pong and flip cup, it was a fun party in an amazing house among good friends. It was also fun to play some ping pong at the end of the night. I won every game I played but I had a clear sober advantage, so I look forward to playing again when (1) everyone is sober or (2) I'm as shitfaced as they were.

The next day was Labor Day, which also happened to fall on my Dad's birthday. My cousin came down from LA as a last hoorah before she moves to Philadelphia to become the DMM at Free People, a subsidiary of Urban Outfitters. Helloooo, family discount!
We spent most of the day and night with family and I couldn't resist taking a picture of Johanna with her Bratz laptop.

Johanna, Blogger In Training


Later that night, it was time for Anti-Monday League with Republic of Letters, the debut of The Nervous Wreckords, and Hotel St. George. Republic of Letters sounded great after being in the studio for some time. Brian Karscig recorded their forthcoming record and he clearly talked Chris into diversifying a bit, and so there are these really great keyboard parts that never existed before in their music. I loved it and really look forward to the new record. The Casbah was packed for The Nervous Wreckords. The guys from Louis XIV were there to show support which I thought was cool, and the bar was packed for their set. Brian Karscig is at the helm, joined by Maren Parusel on guitar/keys and Shaun Cornell from Transfer among others. The show was a kick off before they joined The Killers for part of their tour. Playing a slew of catchy aongs, they got mixed reviews from the few people I talked to but I dug it and from what I hear, the tour is going well. Hotel St. George closed out the night, but the Casbah seemed to clear out. I know it's tough on a Monday night, especially after a holiday, but it was still a bummer.

The Nervous Wreckords


Tuesday was pretty uneventful. I had to be downtown in the afternoon, so I ended up going downtown with Jake and waiting for him during his weekly gig, grabbing some cheap tacos and beer at La Puerta to catch up with Billy who I know back from his Jewel Box days. God, that was like 10 years ago.

My cousin was still in town, so Wednesday was more family time and birthday dinner for my dad at Point Loma Seafoods, then time chasing down Johanna in the park. Since I haven't been talking about my family as much as I used to on this site, I'll just say that my sister is very close to having her second daughter, expected on October 4. Johanna is going to have a little sister! This time of year is always full of family time because it's my grandma's birthday (9/2) and this year she turned 101! My dad's is 9/7, my mom's is 9/20, I'm 9/28, my cousin is 10/13, and soon we can add Nadia to the group. Johanna is running and talking and bossing people around and has an adorable sense of humor, so she's pretty much a spitting image of me at her age (or so I'm told). Gone are the days when I could take dozens of pictures of her in one sitting. I can barely keep up with her, let alone take pictures while I'm doing it.

Johanna




The next day was the San Diego Music Awards, which I've written about here. But if you'd like to read Seth Combs' ranty rant, click here.

Friday night, it was me and @mcbrandt13 again (Kevin, but I like calling people by their twitter names). He was sick, but was a total trooper and we went to Bar Pink. It was a no photo night for me; just wasn't in the mood. Syndicate opened the show with their synthy 80s sound, followed by Yourself and The Air, a really great band (from Chicago?), but it was late and I couldn't trick Kevin into staying more than 3 songs into their set. (He only planned on going out for 'one drink' in the first place, so he dropped me at Josh's house where we played poker till the wee hours with Josh's brother and his friend and Kitty. I won. I love that I get to publicly rub that in.

Saturday night rolled around and I did merch for Soulsavers. I was so excited to see Mark Lanegan in the flesh for the first time ever, and though I didn't really get to see the show, being there for the soundcheck of Revival gave me chills. I snuck a couple pics, as well as a couple of Jonneine Zapata and her band. I guess my only complaint was that the show might've been better suited for a weeknight, because all three performances were pretty mellow and it seemed like people really wanted to get into the show, but there was something a bit too mellow about the vibe. Jonneine was really cool as was her band, and it was nice to see people spending money on new music.

Soulsavers/Joennine Zapata




I closed up the week hanging out with my family at the Brazilian parade in PB. My sister and her husband spent a lot of time in Brazil and Central and South America, so she always digs the vibe. Me, well, sometimes I realize I'm more conservative than I let on. My eyes were bugged out at the amount of flesh revealed in one parade. I love the drum lines and the capoeira action, and there's tons of dancing going on, but these women shake their near nude bodies in ways I didn't know possible. Craziness.

Brazilian Parade


From there, it was on to The Rumble. I touched briefly on this monthly event, but should say that if you missed it because of the NFL, the VMAs, or the True Blood finale, know that the next one will be a Saturday matinee, on October 10. The Jakes, U.S.E., and Rafter all gave great performances and it couldn't be beat with the free food from Phil's and even some complimentary Trumer Pils for a lucky few. There will be more of the good stuff next month, with three great bands and killer sponsors, so save the date now. You'll be hearing a lot about The Rumble on this site and I'll post the lineup soon.

That wrapped up the last couple weeks. It is only midday Wednesday and I've already got more good stuff for the week, but it's time I get to those weekend listings.

Overdue Recap: Halloween 2008

I already mentioned that my Halloween was relatively low key. I spent the day at Balboa Park with my niece and though it was warm outside, we got her into her little skunk costume long enough for this:



Yes, that is about how Johanna is all. the. time. Here, there, and everywhere, and we can barely keep up.

We were there to take pictures of the Globes, which, if you haven't been to Balboa Park lately, make sure you check out before they're gone (ends November 30). They're outside around the big fountain by the Reuben H. Fleet Space center, so it's a nice way to spend a free day in San Diego.





By nightfall, I thought I might check out The Night Marchers but decided I would kinda play it mellow and stay close to home. I'm not a party pooper for not wearing a costume, it is just something I'm not into. Sue me. Anyway, I walked to the Ken Club and just hung out with friends all night, caught a little bit of Deadbolt. I wanted to see the Postals, but unfortunately something happened to Mark's bass, so they didn't get to play more than about 3 minutes, if that. Still, it was fun and I was glad to chill in the hood with good friends. I wasn't gonna take pictures at all that night, but I couldn't resist Patrick as Green Man (from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia) and Rob, who was a dead on Nick Nolte (DUI style).

Yes, I love this girl.

My niece, Johanna Franciska.

Johanna's Baptism 6.22.08

Last Sunday, my niece Johanna was baptized at St. Brigid's Catholic Church in Pacific Beach. I promised my family and our friends and guests (particularly those from out of town) that I would post some of the pictures here. Because it's my site and I can do what I want. :)

I was raised Catholic, but after they asked my mom to pull me from CCD for "asking too many questions", let's just say I broke up with religion. Or it broke up with me. Since then, I've been to church only a handful of times, mainly for weddings, a couple funerals, and a few baptisms. I was greeted by this bumper sticker to remind me why I have no religion.
This is my god brother Johnny and his girlfriend Erika on the left, and Brie and Jasmyne on the right. I love the look of mischief.


Here's my sister, brother in law and of course, Johanna. And then the required group family shot with the new Godparents, my cousin Connie and Billy's buddy Tom.



Jasmyne is such a pretty little girl. It's hard to believe that just a few months ago, she was attacked by a pit bull and had stitches all over her nose, chin, and lips.
The picture on the right was this awesome slip and slide that these guys at Kate Sessions Park had set up. Apparently they do this frequently, because groups of people showed up with bathing suits to join in on the fun. A couple guys were going down the slope on surfboards and bodyboards which was especially cool to see.

Johanna was allowed to attack a cupcake. Or rather, it attacked her. But a couple wipees later, and she was back all smiles.


The babies got in a round of infant wrestling. Shortly after this picture, Luciana took Johanna down. We now have Johanna on weights so she'll be ready next time. And last, here's Valentina with a PB&J face.

It was a very good day. Kate Sessions has got to be one of my favoite parks in San Diego and the weather was perfect (and a nice break from the heat wave.) I think I might have to join the slip and sliders one of these days.