family vacation part 2 {niabi zoo}

definitely a front-runner for best vacation activity was our trip to the niabi zoo. it wasn't a real large zoo which was fine since our little guy has sort of a short attention span....and we went in the morning which was perfect because the weather was still relatively cool so the animals were active. 

at first he didn't really know what to think.  i am not sure if that was because he had napped in the car on the way there and he wasn't quite awake yet, or if it was because we saw the elephants first and they are huge and a little intimidating. ;)

here daddy is showing him the baby sign for 'fish' as they watched them swim around.  we actually checked out the baby sign language movie about zoo animals this week and hendrix squeals with delight at all the animals.

i think the giraffes were his favorite.  he wiggled his way down from daddy's arms so he could stand up to the gate himself. 

he got up on his tippie toes and practically tried to climb in there too!

he just hollered and giggled and waved at the animals.  

he kept saying his word for 'kitty' over and over again, which is really the only animal word he says so i am beginning to wonder if he thinks that is the word for 'animal'?  it's hard to know what is going on in that little mind.  he does seem to differentiate between dogs and cats, i guess, and he barks when he sees a dog (he thought the goats and warthogs were dogs).  

silly kiddo.

i loved watching my boys interact together.  that was one of my favorite parts of our vacation - watching them explore things together.  

what a great daddy!

he acted like an old pro while riding the carousel - look at him grabbing the pole to hold on! daddy enjoyed taking his turn this time since mommy got to ride with him last time.

he was not afraid to touch the animals (though mommy was a little bit nervous because he can be a tad bit rough sometimes and i didn't want him to get bit).

and he loved sharing his leftover chicken nuggets from lunch with the ducks!

we finished our day up with a train ride just as it was starting to get warm and muggy.  perfect timing!

and then, of course, we had to pick up a souvenir t-shirt to remember our fun day and hendrix's first time of seeing all the zoo animals!