Page 141 of Daddy's Pride

The kids that had gathered cheered, and Jamie did as well.

“That’s great. The sloth is one of my favorite animals, but they sleep a lot so please don’t yell and wake them up. You don’t want to scare them, do you?”

“No,” the group whispered.

“Very good. And while you are allowed to take pictures and stand close, you are not allowed to touch them. Let’s form a line and follow me inside.”

The sloth enclosure filled with oohs and aahs as the kids glanced up and saw the sloths in the trees. “Now, who can tell me why sloths spend the majority of their time hanging upside down?”

One boy around the age of ten raised his hand. “Because it’s more comfortable for them.”

“That is the condensed version, but yes. The way their internal organs are situated it is more comfortable for them in that position.”

“Did you know sloths basically have their own ecosystem within their fur?” she asked them.

Jamie gazed up at me as though asking if I knew and I winked.

“It’s called a microcosm. Algae, insects, and fungi grow within their fir. Not only does the sloth provide an ideal environment for them to flourish in but the sloth also benefits from it as well.”

“Come on through and take as many pictures as you’d like. Feel free to ask anyone wearing the same uniform as me any questions you may have.”

We found a sloth hanging just above Jamie’s height and moved toward it.

“Daddy, take lots of pictures. I need the perfect one to frame for my playroom.”

I took far too many, but he’d have several to choose from.

“Would you like me to take your picture together?” Carrie asked us.

“That would be wonderful. Thank you.” I handed her my phone, and she took several and then moved onto another family.

“Daddy, this is something I’ll never forget,” my teary-eyed boy said. “You made one of my biggest dreams come true.”

“Well, I have another surprise for you. Have you taken all the pictures you wanted?”

“Yes, this was so amazing.”

We came out of the sloth encounter, and I led him around the corner to...

“Build-A-Bear! Daddy!” He hugged me and squealed as every other child in the area did the same upon entering with their parents.

“Pick your animal.”

That took far longer than the entire process did, but he finally landed on one. “We are at SeaWorld, so I need an orca stuffie to take home. Now, it needs an outfit.”

In the end he made an orca wearing a rainbow tutu and a blue SeaWorld crop top. All I could do was shake my head and smile. My boy was happy and that was all that mattered. After a long day of petting stingrays, cheering on penguins and growling at sharks—yes, my boy growled at a great white to show how badass he was—two very tired park attendees made their way back to the hotel and slept like a rock.

The next day we spent lounging by the hotel pool and after dinner we packed our bags for our third and final leg of the trip that would be the true test for this Daddy. One crazy huge park and a million children. How did the mouse do it?

I’d booked us two nights at the Disneyland Hotel, having had the forethought that we’d be too exhausted to walk or drive back to an off-site hotel at the end of the day. This way we could take the monorail in and out. We loaded up the car, which included Jamie lining the back seat with his new stuffies who had to share seatbelts, and off we went. Two hours later, we were checked in.

“Daddy, look, a Mickey Mouse head.” Jamie decided to point out every hidden Mickey and decoration shaped like the famous mouse’s head from the time we pulled up to the valet until we got to our room.

“Our room has Disneyland on the wall. And fireworks on the floor. Daddy!” He spun around. “The lamp has Mickey’s head on it.” He ran into the bathroom and squealed. “Daddy, the lamps in here are Mickey’s hand!”

Good lord, if he was this excited about our room, how would he react tomorrow? “Who’s your favorite Mickey Mouse?”

“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” He held his arms out and leaned side to side as he walked. “In Fantasia he carries heavy bucket’s and walks like this, and the water sloshes out of them.”

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