It's a zoo in here - Jurassic Park

One of the main reasons we decided to finally bite the bullet and go to the zoo now is because Matthew LOVES dinosaurs.  He is so fascinated by them.  He has figures he plays with, shows he watches and he pretends to be a dinosaur.  Right now in an effort to make up for the lack of polar bears the zoo has 15 life-like animatronic dinosaurs.  The exhibit is closing in a few weeks, so we decided to take Matthew while the dinosaurs were still there.  As soon as you enter the dinosaur area you encounter a stationary T-Rex in a "mud pit".  The kids all sat on him, while Dillon was mauled by him. 

Matthew wanted to pet him. He was amazed but not afraid.

Next up on the dino trail was a mama Stegosaurus and her baby. They kind of cooed at us.  Matthew was really fascinated by these because they moved.  He anxiously skipped down the trail to see more. 

Just through the trees you could make out the carnivore, Ceratosaurus. Matthew wanted my reassurance that this dinosaur couldn't get him. He sounded ferocious.

Just down the path, towering over our heads was Brachiosaurus.  He stood at an impressive 19 feet tall.  Matthew was amazed by this one. 

This Euoplocephalus reminded Matthew of some of the dinosaur figures he has at home.  He said "I like him."

After seeing some large dinosaurs, Matthew was not impressed by these little Compsognathus.  He barely even paused to look at them.

Triceratops was a favorite of Matthew's.  His colors were pretty and he looked like he was eating the ferns on the ground.  Matthew stared at him for awhile.

The pinacle of the tour through a jurassic forest had to be T-Rex.  Tyrannosaurus Rex was an amazing sight to behold.  I was just as awestruck by this ferocious giant as Matthew was.  Matthew stood by the little rope gazing up at T-Rex while it growled and roared at us.  Matthew stomped and sang "T-Rex, roaring tyrannousaurus. I'm the biggest carnivore in the Cretacous forest."  (He learned that from Dinosaur Train)

Matthew was quite enamoured by the nest of baby T-rexes. He said "Aww, they cute."

And then we saw the Edward Scissorhands of the dinosuar world, Therizinosaurus.  As scary as this one looked, it was an insectivore.  It used those long claws to dig up insect nests.  I still wouldn't want to meet up with this guy.

Dimetrodon, the sail dinosaur, was hiding in some grass.  Matthew almost walked right by him on his way to a larger dinosaur. 

Our next dinosaur was Apatosaurus.  The mother seemed to be warning us away from her baby.  Matthew liked these guys.  This was like a 2 for 1 exhibit for him.

The dinosaur trail ends with 2 Dilophosauruses on opposite sides of the trail.  These colorful dinosaurs lure you into lingering to watch them.  The first one turns and sprays water on you causing unsuspecting people to run a few steps down the path, asking themselves "what the heck just sprayed me?" only to find themselves in the line of fire of the second one.  It was hilarious to watch unsuspecting people end their tour with these dinosaurs.  I had quite a few chuckles doing just that while the kids dug for fossils and pretended to drive the get away jeep.

The trip back to the land of dinosaurs was a lot of fun and probably was the highlight of the trip for Matthew.