We started off with the giraffes and lions. As normal, it took Jayden awhile to warm up to the animals and figure out they were not going to come out of their cages and get him. This morning, while we were talking about going to the zoo to see some elephants, he kept asking for reassurance, “they won’t get Jayden’s toes, they won’t get Jayden’s hair, they won’t get Jayden’s gum, they won’t get Jayden’s hands…” and so on and so on.


We got real up close and personal with the lion and he even let out a few roars, much to Jayden’s delight. The female lion wasn’t out as she had cubs just a few days ago. We were told they will let her and the cubs out in November sometime, guess we’ll have to go back!

It kinda looks like a bird is landing on Royal’s head here.

Royal insists on reading EVERY sign about EVERY animal - probably why he’s a smart guy. Jayden who spent most of the zoo tour on Royal’s shoulders had to keep tapping Royal on the head and saying, “a different animal, dad!” (translations : let’s move on!)

We ate our snack with the cougars. However, just to engrain a little more NW into Jayden, we had him say, ‘Go Huskies!’ a few times.

Here Royal and Jayden are in the jungle, looking up at some birds. All the birds are flying around in here, so you have to watch out for droppings. Royal even got pecked in the leg by one of the birds on the ground.

Jayden was never too sure about the statues. He liked to keep his eye on them, incase they decided to move and touch him or something.

And these were Jayden’s favorites. The ginormous tortoises. This one even managed to step in his food bowl and spill it all over the floor. Jayden thought that was hilarious and is still talking about it.