Black Rhinoceroces

Do you remember the rhino in Narnia? There are rhinos at the zoo and Safari Park in San Diego.
Rhinos are dangerous and ferocious. They have thick skin that looks like armor. They have 2 horns on their nose. They use their horns as weapons for fighting and attacking.

Mother rhinos protect their babies. A baby stays with its mother until it is 2 years old. Babies have to be protected from hyenas, lions and crocodiles. Their horns might break off but they grow back. They use their biggest horn for fighting. Their enemies are other animals, humans, and each other. Rhinos cannot see well but they can smell and hear well.

Rhinos do not eat meat. They only eat grasses and leaves. 

In the wild they live in Africa. Rhinos are endangered. People kill rhinos to get their horns.

Walruses

Walruses are wrinkley. They are pink or brown. They have whiskers that look like a moustache.

 Their long whiskers help them find food. Their favorite food is clams. They can eat 10,000 small clams a day. 
They have lots of blubber to keep them warm in cold water. They live by the Arctic Circle. They are mammals. Mothers take care of their babies. Walruses can stay under water for 10 minutes. 

Walruses are loud!  They snort and bellow to each other.  They can weigh 3000 pounds. They are 7.5 to 11 feet long. They can live for 40 years.

Walruses have tusks that can grow 3 feet. Males and females have tusks. They use their tusks for pulling themselves out of water and breaking breathing holes in the ice. 

Walruses are slow swimmers. They can swim for hundreds of miles without stopping. I can never do that.
Walruses can learn to wave and blow kisses with their front flippers and shake hind flippers like they are dancing.

Beluga Whales

There are 5 belugas at Sea World. Four adults and one baby named Pearl. Baby belugas are born gray or brown and fade to white when they are around 5 years old.

Belugas have teeth and eat fish and squid. Belugas are eaten by polar bears, killer whales and Arctic people. 

Belugas live in the Arctic and sub Arctic.  We could see belugas in the ocean when we lived in Anchorage.

Belugas are small whales. They are 13 - 20 feet long. Males weigh up to 3000 pounds and females up to 1900 pounds. 

Belugas are mammals. They can stay under water for about 15 minutes before they need to breathe air.

Belugas have a flexible neck so they can nod and shake their heads.

Belugas live in groups called pods. They communicate with whistles, clicks and clangs. They can also mimic sounds.

Belugas are shy. They do not have a dorsal fin. 

You can tell if a whale is a beluga by its white color and big foreheads called melons.

KARATE

I am taking a karate class. My teacher is Sensei Davis. "Sensei" means master or teacher.

She is so pleased because I am  completely focused in class. Karate is a martial art from japan. It has been around for  thousands of years. In class we wear a "gi" which is a white shirt and white pants.

Today I earned my white belt. 

Karate teaches respect, focus, discipline, and confidence.

I am learning blocks - upper, lower, outside, and inside. Karate is very important to me.

Snakes

On rainy days we go to the snake house at the zoo.

Snakes are reptiles. they have long, thin bodies, no legs, no ears, no eyelids and are covered with scales.

When snakes get too big for their skin, they slither out of it. We watched a snake shed its skin.

 

 Snakes are cold blooded and need heat to stay warm. They cannot live in very cold places.

Snakes are meat eaters. Most snakes lay eggs.
Some snakes have venom, a poison to kill or hurt other animals or people.

The longest snake is a python. It can be 33 feet long. Longer than our RV! The shortest is the thread snake. It is 4.5 inches. The heaviest is the green anaconda. It can weigh up to 500 pounds.
Snakes can live up to 40 years.

Santa Fe RV Resort

We stay at the Santa Fe RV resort when we are in San Diego.  

We have a clubhouse.

In the clubhouse there is a laundry room,

 mailboxes, 

kitchen, pool table, ping pong table, video games, snack and soda machines (with Mug Root Beer!),

TV room, 

gym, 

and office.










The resort is close to shopping, Sea World, the zoo and Costco (we can walk there). The bike trail is across the street.

We swim in the nice pool most days. I swim
32 laps. There is a hot tub where I like to visit with people. Dad and I like the hot tub best.

There is room for 126 RVs here. Some people have lived in their RVs for 30 years like our neighbors Elizabeth and Tony. Our neighbor, Sulee, sometimes brings us good food. She has a parakeet named Audrey who likes to ride on her shoulder.

Organ Concerts

Every Sunday at 2:00 in Balboa Park there is a free organ concert. It is outside.

 The Spreckels  brothers gave the organ to the  city of  San Diego  on January 1, 1915.  It is the largest outdoor organ in the western hemisphere. The biggest organ pipe is 32 feet long and the smallest is the size of a pencil.

Dr. Carol Williams is the city organist. She plays most weeks. 

Last week  there was a substitute organist. He brought his  nephew who plays the trombone. 

Every week Carol plays beautiful  music.  My favorites are "Star Spangled Banner" and Beethoven's "Ode to joy."  On New Years Day she invited bagpipes and drums  to play with her. My favorite songs on Christmas  were "Hark the Herold Angels sing", "Joy to the world" and "O come All ye Faithful."  

There are Sunday concerts rain or shine.

Mt.Woodson

We hiked up Mt. Woodson.

The trail starts  on Lake Poway. It is a 4.1 mile climb with a 2000 foot elevation gain. I was the leader and captain.

It  was a little  tiring, but I didn't complain. 
At the top dad got on Potato Chip ledge.

The  view on  top of  Mt. Woodson was super. We could see to the Pacific Ocean.

 We saw big rocks and one looked like a hamburger bun.

We saw  lots of  birds and rabbits, but no rattlesnakes!