I'm A Father

Chapter 26

Mandy's POV

I couldn't believe Jack took us to a zoo. I could tell he really did want this family thing too work out. "Let's go see some animals!" Tanner yelled excitedly.

I was holding Tanner's right hand while Jack was holding his left hand. We were passing the giraffes. "Wow mommy! There are so tall!" Tanner said. He let go of our hands and ran to the fence, to get a closer look at the giraffes. We followed him to the fence. Tanner was very fascinated by the giraffes. "I wanna ride it!" Tanner said. "Tanner. You can't ride them." I said and laughed. "Awe..." He said bummed.

We walked to the tigers. "ROAR!" Tanner yelled. He said it so loud, that everyone in the park was looking at us. We just laughed. "I wanna pet tiger." Tanner begged. "Haha. I don't think so." I said. Jack laughed.

Jack held my hand, as we followed Tanner to the elephants. As we approached the elephants, there was a sign that said free rides. "I WANT TO RIDE THE ELEPHANT!" I knew Tanner was going to say that. "So... Jack? Who's going with him?" I said. "Haha. You go, so I can get a picture of you two." He said then smiled. I picked Tanner up and walked him over to the guy that was ahead of the elephant ride. "You guys want to ride an elephant?" He asked politely. "Yeah." I said and smiled. "Follow me." I carried Tanner while I followed the guy. We arrived to a huge elephant. I was scared of heights, but I guess I'll have to deal with it. The guy helped Tanner on the elephant. I helped myself on the elephant. We were on top of the elephant and the guy was below the elephant. I guess he was going to pull us. "You guys ready?" The guy asked us. "Yeah!" Tanner yelled. I looked at Jack and gave him a face that meant to help me. He laughed. As we were ridding, I saw Jack with his phone recording us or taking pictures. Jack showed me a smile. That meant he wanted us to smile for a picture. "Tanner. Look at your daddy." I said and pointed at Jack. "Smile." I said. We both smiled. I guess Jack took a picture of us. We rode for five minutes. "Thanks for the ride!" I said. "No problem." The guy said.

We walked by the goats, lions, monkeys, bears, gorillas, and many more. Our last stop was the gift shop. "We should all get shirts to match and take a picture." Jack said. "Yeah we should!" I said. I picked out a shirt for Tanner and I, while Jack picked him out a shirt. We all matched. Tanner wanted a stuff tiger, so I got him it, while Jack paid for the shirts. We all slipped on our shirts. "Mam, will you take a photo of us?" Jack asked the young girl standing outside. I guess she worked here because she had the zoo's name on her shirt. "Yeah!" She said. Jack and I stood beside each other. Jack put his arm around my back. Tanner stood in front of us. I put my hand on Tanner's shoulder. "On a count of three, smile. 1... 2... 3." We all smiled. Jack walked over to the girl and got his phone. "Thanks!" "No problem!" She said.

We all walked back to the car. I took my shirt off. Jack and Tanner left theres on. We pulled out of the zoo's parking lot. "Thanks a lot Jack for doing that today. Tanner really liked it." I said. "Don't thank me." He said. He grabbed my hand and held it. I looked at him and smiled. We were riding for about ten minutes. Jack and I were listening to music. Tanner wasn't really saying much. I decided to check on him. I looked back at him and saw he was asleep. He was cuddling with his tiger. "Look at Tanner, Jack." I said. Jack looked back at Tanner. He looked at me and smiled. He then leaned over and kissed my forehead. "I love you guys."