Woodland Park Zoo

We went up to Seattle and met up with my friend Sarah to go to the Woodland Park Zoo.  We had a really fun day and Alden loved seeing all the animals.  I loved getting to catch up with a good friend and it ended up being fairly warm for Seattle so it was a nice day to be outside.

I took the stroller in because I knew Alden would want it some of the time, but he ended up walking for at least half of the zoo.

The lions were actually moving around and Alden and I really enjoyed watching them.

Alden wanted to see the boa constrictor up close so he had to climb.  (Thank you to Sarah for taking most of the photos on this outing.)

Alden took over my camera a few times to take pictures of these monkeys, and Sarah.

These little guys were all huddled together; it was really cute.

This deer was really fun to watch.  It was trying to get tree branches to stick in his antlers.

Alden mostly just wanted to ride in his stroller so that he could eat his snacks while we walked between animals.

The penguins were some of the funnest creatures to watch because they were really active while we were there. Here is a video of Alden with the penguins.

We got to see all the interesting lemurs and such near the end of our zoo trek.

I had to help Alden see a few of the animals but I also had to keep him from trying to climb in and get closer.

We let Alden feed the little birds and he thought it was so much fun.  He even did it all by himself part of the time!  I love that Alden loves animals so much.  We had such a great day at the zoo and I am so glad that we got to spend time with Sarah!

Washington State Fair - Trip 2

We went back to the Washington State Fair so that we could do a little more exploring and Alden got to go on the rides.  It was nice because we got in free because we were military (I really appreciate all the military benefits sometimes) and then we just paid for the rides.  We went over to the petting zoo area when we first got there because it had been too crowded last time we went and because we got there early there were not many people there yet.  After the animals we walked around for a bit and then went back to the rides where Alden spent four hours going on ever ride he could and loving almost all of them!  It was a very long day for us but Alden had a blast and it was good to see him so happy and enjoying himself.

He loved looking at these baby chicks outside of the petting zoo area!

Alden liked following this goat around and would tell me what he was doing.

Alden really liked being able to see these animals up close and I really appreciated that it wasn't crowded while we were there.

Alden wanted to take some pictures as we were walking around...he loves to take pictures so much!

They had a whole area where people had different collections on display but I thought this one was really neat and unique.  

This was the first ride Alden went on and it ended up being his favorite.  I am pretty sure he rode this ride 20 times.

Alden really, really wanted to ride this motorcycle even though I told him he probably wouldn't like it....

I was right. =( He ended up crying half way through the ride because he didn't like how bumpy it was, but he survived it.

We went on a few rides together, one of which was this train (not that you can tell that is what we are on here).

Alden liked riding on this car and pretending he was driving.

This was another ride that Alden wanted to do, over and over and over again.  He loved that it was a "plane" that flew and he had a gun to shoot.

This was the only ride where they almost didn't let him on because they thought he might not be tall enough.  This made me laugh a little because Alden went on a roller coaster later and they thought he was tall enough there.  This was just a truck that went around in circles.

Alden loved pretty much any ride that had a steering wheel on it so that he could "drive."

So this was a different motorcycle ride that was not nearly as bumpy as the other one and Alden liked this one a whole lot more!

This was Alden's first roller coaster and I couldn't even go on it with him but he was determined to ride the "dragon."  He did awesome and although he looked scared he didn't cry and he was willing to go on another roller coaster with Mommy afterwards.

Alden and I got to ride on the "tiger" roller coaster together and Alden did really well.  Although, he did tell me after we got off, "Mommy, tiger scary."  I was really proud of Alden because he did better on the roller coasters than his dad does.  Alden also seemed to be really happy with himself for going on the roller coasters.

This was a fun thing where they were showing movies and stuff on 360 degree screens.  They had some beautiful scenic shots in the shows that were breathtaking. 

As you can tell we went back to the boat ride again because Alden kept asking for it.

Our treat for the day, a snow cone because it was very hot, especially considering that we are in Washington.

This was a giant slide that you rode down on pieces of burlap and Alden loved it!  He could go down if he was riding in my lap and he thought it was so much fun!  He even climbed all the stairs by himself four different times so that he could do it more than once!

This was the last ride we did and it was a hot-air balloon.  Alden liked that I did it with him too!  We had such a fun day at the fair.  It was crazy for me to see Alden doing so many rides by himself and it made me realize how fast he is growing up.  I love spending time with him and I just try to treasure every minute!