Discovery Kingdom with the Rossi's

John had a light day at work, so he got to take off on a Friday and come with us to Discovery Kingdom! Ethan was surprisingly warm and fuzzy with all the "friends."

He is definitely not one of those shy kids, I guess!

I can't believe how big he is getting!

We stopped first to see the Dolphins and they seemed to be waiting for our attention.

How is a little boy supposed to smile for the camera with these beauties on the other side of the glass?

The troops came together at the dolphin show.

It might be the same every time for the adults, but it really is quite amazing that they can train all these animals.

I'm not sure Lincoln was all that interested in the Dolphins, but he was still happy to smile for the camera.

Then onto the kids zone for Tazmanian swings.

This is the first time we have ever gone to the butterfly exhibit. To our delight, they also had a huge Koi pond.

John spent a lot of time teaching the kids how to get them to suck on your fingers. Oh, until the workers came, then he was instructing them not to touch the fish.

There were so many butterflies!

This one was huge but blended so nicely, Ethan didn't even notice it right above his shoulder!

We also explored the reptiles area (Pammie, look away!)

The kids rode a few rides in the kids zone too.

While down there, we looked at all the exotic cats. One of the feeders was there and saw us trying to  see the tigers way back in the corner. The feeder just walked up to the fence and the cats came running over to us.

We got a fantastic show. And if you can't read the sign, it says, "You may get wet or sprayed." True. We did.

So we were able to spend a little time in front of the mister to clean off.

This mountain lion was a little freaky. Ethan ran past the fence line distracted by something and that cat was stalking him like prey. If that fence weren't there, he would have taken Ethan down. I got a little freaked out. Definitely a reminder that these are all still WILD animals.

Here's Mr. Smiley Face again! 

John took some time "watching" the boys on the playground.

I love that we get to explore different things every time we come here!