Close Encounters of the Wild Kind

Noah and I had the privilege of going to the zoo two times this past week...once with Daddy-O {hence the amazing photos} and once with some friends. 

As I've mentioned before, Bubs just loves animals.  He could spend hours going from animal to animal at the zoo watching them, signing their name, and trying to make the noise they make.

{As of right now, Mr. Man is making a few more sounds..."ba", "sh", and "rrr".  All the sounds are associated with animals...of course..."ba" is what a sheep says, "sh" is how he says "fish", and "rrr" is the "roar" of a lion.}

Bubs truly thinks that all animals are as gentle as Sierra and Kitty {our dog and cat} and that he should get to hug and pet them whenever he wants.  Poor Bubs!  He doesn't understand why there are fences around the elephants and tigers...he just wants to love on them.

This poor bird was just trying to get a bit of sun when Noah came by.  If only Mr. Man was allowed to pet it.

We did finally take Noah into the petting area of the zoo.  He was in HEAVEN.  There were goats and sheep galore.  It was too cute to see Bubs try and pet the animals.  He would point them out,

run up to them,

and quickly put his hand on their back before they would run away.

There were many a sheep that were scared into a corner trying to run from my Little Man.

After successfully petting some animals, we decided it was time to finally feed the giraffes.  There is an area at the zoo where you can feed a few leaves to some very gentle creatures.

As we approached the giraffe, one of the zoo keepers gave Noah a nice green leaf.  Wouldn't you know that my Little Man thought the leaf was for him.  Noah had a firm hold on the precious foliage until the long, black tongue of the giraffe snatched it away.  Bubs was crushed!  How could that creature steal from me?!?  Noah refused to give any more leaves to the greedy animal.  I had to finish the job for him.  Too funny!

{Notice Noah's tight grasp of Charlie...don't you dare eat my Charlie!}

Our season passes to the zoo have been money well spent.  I know Bubs is looking forward to our next visit!