Photos: San Diego, Wild Animal Park

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Mom, Lydia, and other visitors are standing at the lookout near the lions.

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Lydia is hanging onto the railing at the lookout.

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A herd of ungulates

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A vigilant meerkat

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Dad is carrying Lydia near Hidden Jungle

Note: All of these pictures were taken on March 12, 2009 at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego, California.

Photos: San Diego, Wild Animal Park, Carousel

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Mom, Lydia, and a leopard

Note: This was our last activity at the Wild Animal Park before we departed, and Lydia enjoyed the carousel so much that she rode it about ten times, trying different animals on the carousel each time.

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Lydia waves to dad as she rides a tiger.

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Dad and Lydia

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Lydia is looking at the lion's mouth, to which her mom is pointing.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on March 12, 2009 at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego, California.

Photos: San Diego, Wild Animal Park, Wildlife Viewing

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Antelope

Note: We boarded tram at the Wild Animal Park that brought us close to a number of the zoo's inhabitants.

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Rhinoceros

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Two giraffes

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Lydia and her mom are viewing some animals during our walking tour of the animal park.

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This creature has an interesting name, but we can't remember it for the caption of this photo.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on March 12, 2009 at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego, California.

Photos: San Diego, Wild Animal Park, Lion Viewing

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While standing on her tip toes, Lydia is peering through a spotting scope that is located at a lookout which is adjacent to where the lions live.

Note: "San Diego's Wild Animal Park is is a zoo in the San Pasqual Valley area of San Diego, California. It is one of the largest tourist attractions in the city and Southern California. . .The Park, visited by 2 million people annually, has an area of 1,800 acres (730 ha) and, in 2005, housed 3,000 animals of more than 400 species plus 3,500 species of unique plants.
Depending on the season, the park has about 400 to 600 employees. The park is also Southern California's quarantine center for zoo animals imported into the United States through San Diego." (Source: Wikipedia)

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A lioness is lounging.

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A lion is sleeping on the rooftop of a San Diego Wild Animal Park Range Rover.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on March 12, 2009 at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego, California.

Photos: San Diego, Sea Village Outing

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Lydia loves to ride the carousel. Here she is riding a camel.

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Then she rode a horse.

Note: While her dad was at the conference during the week, Lydia and her mom did activities in the morning, ate lunch, and then returned to the hotel in the early afternoon so Lydia could take her nap.

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Lydia is enjoying her lunch.

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A close up view of Lydia on a horse

Note: SiowFong took all of these pictures on March 11, 2009 at Sea Village in San Diego, California.

Photos: San Diego Skyline

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Family picture with San Diego skyline as the backdrop

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Lydia

Note: Both of these pictures were taken on March 10, 2009 after supper and near sunset from Coronado, an island just off the coast of San Diego, California.

Photos: San Diego, Train Ride to Old Town

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Train stop at Old Town

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Lydia, who enjoys train rides, is gazing outside the window as the train moves.

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Tigger and Lydia

Note: SiowFong took all of these pictures on March 10, 2009 on the train ride from downtown San Diego to the Old Town section of San Diego and back. The round trip is twenty minutes.

Photos: San Diego, Children Museum Printing Project

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Lydia learned about the printing process at the museum today. Lydia concentrates as she is drawing a stencil.

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A museum staff worker helps Lydia to trace the stencil with more force.

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Lydia is using the stamper to finalize the printing process.

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Lydia smiles proudly as she stands besides the finished product.

Note: SiowFong took all of these pictures on March 9, 2009 at the Children's Museum in San Diego, California.

Photos: San Diego, Children's Museum

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Lydia is climbing on a segue.

Note: While dad was attending the conference, Lydia and her mom did some fun things in the downtown San Diego area.

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Lydia is eagerly playing with a hula hoop.

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Lydia is playing with bubbles.

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Lydia is trying to do something with plastic sticks.

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Lydia is playing with a musical instrument.

Note: SiowFong took all of these pictures on March 9, 2009 at the Children's Museum in San Diego, California.

Photos: San Diego, Friends

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(first row): Lydia, Sarah Shu, Darwin Shu, Samuel, and Ruth Shu

(second row): Dad and mom

Note: One of the highlights of our first full day in San Diego was meeting with the Shu family at their new home and then enjoying dinner with them at one of their favorite Chinese restaurants.

SiowFong has been friends with Ruth, a retired US Navy pediatric dentist, for over 20 years. They met when SiowFong was a graduate student in Richmond, Virginia.

March 7, 2009

Chinese restaurant in San Diego, California

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A post-dinner group shot of our family with the Peach family

Note: SiowFong has known Robert Peach, a fellow biochemist, since their postgraduate days in Seattle, Washington eighteen years ago. We had not seen Robert and Andrea, his wife, in a number of years, so it was wonderful to see them again and great for Lydia to meet them.

March 8, 2009

Living room at the home of Robert and Andrea Peach near San Diego, California

Photos: Legoland Rides

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Lydia and SiowFong are enjoying a train ride.

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Mom and Lydia are ready for their helicopter ride.

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The chopper has taken off!

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Mom and Lydia are sitting in a safari car.

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Dad and Lydia are experiencing the airplane ride.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on March 8, 2009 at Legoland near San Diego, California.

Photos: Legoland Driving

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Sign for the Volvo Driving School

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Lydia is driving her red car around the track.

Note: Lydia had some problems steering her car, and the staff helped her a few times to get unstuck and moving forward again.

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Traffic Jam

Lydia and other children are maneuvering their cars on the racetrack.

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Here she comes!

Note: All of these images were taken on March 8, 2009 at Legoland near San Diego, California.

Photos: Legoland Blocks

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At Legoland, we took a leisurely boat ride around a lake that was surrounded by statues that were entirely constructed of Legos. Here is a Lego dinosaur.

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The Sidney Opera House

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The Eiffel Tower

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The Statue of Liberty

Note: All of these pictures were taken on March 8, 2009 at Legoland near San Diego, California.