Chapter Twelve
Timothy
“Good morning, my love.”
“Good morning, Daddy.”
Somehow, I’d managed to wake up before my boy, which was rare, especially given what today was. I’d already been to the hotel gym, opened the sliding door to the patio, and ordered breakfast, which had just been delivered.
“Rise and shine, time to eat and get this very busy day started.”
“Ouch,” Jamie winced, and I immediately went to him.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, Daddy. My bum just hurts a bit. Thank you very much, by the way.”
“Not sure that’s something to thank me for given that you’re in pain. I’m not usually that…primal. Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Of course, I am. Tell Primal Daddy he can come and visit me anytime.” The little shit winked as he rolled out of bed and strolled his naked ass across the room and into the bathroom.
“Primal Daddy, huh?”
He came out wearing one of the hotel robes and sat across from me. “Yes. That was some primal level sex last night and I was green all the way.” Silly boy snagged a piece of bacon and nibbled it. “How long before we have to leave?”
Once we got there, Little Jamie would go nuts. Hopefully, I was prepared for that. “In about an hour. Plenty of time to eat and get ready, which reminds me.” I went to my luggage and pulled out the prezzie I’d brought for him. “This might come in handy today.”
Shredded paper flew everywhere and in typical Jamie fashion, he squealed once the gift was revealed. “A Sloffers backpack. Thank you, Daddy!” He leaned across the table and puckered his lips. How was a daddy to refuse such a sweet gesture.
“You’re welcome. Figured you might want to put any new prezzies you get today in it to keep your hands free.” Was my credit card prepared for this trip? Likely not.
“Good thinking. It’s so cute.” He hugged it tightly.
When I had spotted that backpack online, there was no way I could pass it up. It was perfect for my boy. “Eat up, our day is filled with a lot of walking, so wear comfortable shoes that aren’t flip flops.” He had a penchant for the rubbery noise makers.
“I brought my sneakers. Have you been to the zoo before?”
“Once, during vet school. We had a break and a group of us drove down. It was a blast, but I know today will be better because I get to experience it with you.” For all the things I had done and seen in my life, none of that compared to doing those very same things with Jamie.
He found good in everything and brought so much joy to my life.
“You say the sweetest things, Daddy.” He kissed my cheek then finished getting ready.
“Sunscreen, hats, sunglasses. All present and accounted for, so let’s roll.
” I double checked once we were both ready, to ensure we had what we would need.
The rest we could get at the park, such as water and snacks.
No use bringing food or drinks only to have security potentially throw them out at the gate.
The hotel was close to both the zoo and SeaWorld, and it only took about thirty minutes, which by California standards was fast, to get to the San Diego Zoo.
I presented the online tickets to the guest services person, and they gave us each a park map and our tickets.
Jamie tucked his map inside his backpack for safe keeping and muttered something about making a scrapbook of our vacation when we got home.
“All right, sweet boy,” I opened the map all the way and cringed. “That is a whole lot of steps.” I pointed out a few things on the map. “The sloths are there and we’re here. Where do we want to begin?”
“Mmm, let’s start at the beginning, that way we do a loop.”
“Smart boy. Let’s go.”
We went through the Wildlife Explorers basecamp rather quickly.
It was packed with children, so Jamie just ran through the water play area really fast while I stood by holding onto his backpack.
That was until he saw the Axolotl exhibit.
After that he made his first stuffie purchase of the trip, along with a tube of plastic animals for Henry and Chase.
He wasn’t as impressed with the reptile house, but he was ecstatic to see the tortoises.
He literally stopped and took pictures of every animal we came across.
“Look Daddy,” Jamie pointed up, “there’s a ride that goes across the park.”
“Do you want to take it?”
Vehemently, he shook his head. “No thank you. I do not care for rides. Not that I have been on any, but it scares me to watch them on TV.”
While the one overhead was not the same as what I’m sure he envisioned, I respected his wishes and silently thanked him. I too did not care for those whirly, twirly, make you vomit, rides.
“Monkeys Daddy! So many monkeys.”
My boy’s excitement drove me to each exhibit, and no matter how tired I was I pressed on, for him.
Jamie was the reason we were on this excursion, and I would do anything to ensure he had the best trip of his life.
By the time we got through the Lost Forest, we both required a break and food, and this seemed the perfect stop given the numerous food options it had.
“Hey Daddy, can I see the map please?” I set up his dippy sauces, thankfully they had his favorites, while he mapped out the rest of our day. “Can we see the polar bears next?”
“Absolutely. Eat up then we will pop into the shop and on to the polar bears.”
So far, expenses had been kept under control, but given we’d not been to his favorite stuffie friends enclosures yet, I knew things were about to get crazy.
“Daddy, look, polar bears swimming. I didn’t know they could swim.”
“Of course they do, silly boy. They love the cold water and ice.”
Stuffie purchase number two. Once he saw the polar bears, he had to have one. Evidently, so did Henry and Chase. As much as he loved the penguins, I was surprised when he didn’t grab one of those too. But I’m pretty sure he had the map memorized by now and knew exactly where we were headed.
“Look Daddy,” I had heard that so many times today I gave up looking anywhere he wasn’t already.
“They have a baby George, and you can feed the big ones.” I got him a handful of the food for purchase to feed the giraffes, and he giggled when their tongues touched his hand.
I got several fantastic shots of my boy smiling wide as he fed them, and I couldn’t wait to print and frame one.
“Have you been texting Henry and Chase all your pictures?”
“Yes, Daddy. They’re just as excited as I am.”
It is highly unlikely, but I got the gist of it.
“What’s our next stop?”
“Kiki!” He shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Yes, Kiki.” We had tried to see the sloths, but they weren’t available today and while Jamie was disappointed, he wasn’t overly sad, because he knew he’d get up close and personal with them at SeaWorld.
“I love koala’s so much.”
“More than sloths?”
“Nope, the same.”
A million pictures later, into the Urban Jungle store we went for stuffie number three. A koala cousin for Kiki. On the way out, we hit the main gift shop, and we each picked out a beach towel for tomorrow’s beach day trip.
Huge, and I do mean the largest one they had, reuseable shopping bag in hand, I loaded one very tired boy into the vehicle. “Did you get to see all the animals you wanted?”
“Oh Daddy, it was so wonderful. I didn’t get to see a panda like Patty, but I did get to see a red panda, and they were really cute and funny. No Sloffers but we will see his family at SeaWorld.” Yawn. “My feet hurt but it was totally worth it. Can I soak them in the ocean at the hotel?”
“Yes, you may soak them in the bay.” Though it was likely I would have to wake him up for that. “I think we’ll have dinner in the room again tonight. What do you say?”
“Yes, please, Daddy.”
Sure enough, I had to wake Jamie to get him inside, but he ran straight to the beach to soak his feet in the water. He barely made it through dinner before I hauled him off to shower and tucked him in. He was asleep before I had finished getting ready for bed.
The next morning, I let him sleep in since nothing we were doing today came with any time restraints. I was checking the daily news and emails on my iPad when he woke up.
“Morning, Daddy.” I smiled at his cute, yawny mumble.
“Good morning, my sleepy boy. How do feel today?”
“Still kinda seepy and my feet are a little sore, but good. Today we get to see the real ocean, right? We can relax, lay in the sun, and dip, dip, dip our toes in the water.”
“That we will. I am taking you to Pacific Beach. You can swim there too.”
“The ocean is gorgeous, but scary. I think I’ll only go in until my knees get wet, if that’s okay?”
“Of course it is. I never want you to do anything that scares or makes you uncomfortable. Stop lights are effective for more than just sex. If something makes you nervous or is scary, all you have to do is say no, or red, and it stops.”
“Like clowns?”
“Ha-ha. Yes, my love, like clowns, though Daddy is not a fan either.” Why in the hell would anyone think a clown was fun entertainment for a child? They are scary as fuck with all the crazy makeup and evil cackles. Fuck that clown shit.
We took our time eating breakfast and lazily lounged around for a bit before we decided to head out. Once we’d parked, I reached behind my seat in the car and handed my boy the bag that was there.
“Another prezzie, Daddy?”
“Yes. It makes Daddy’s heart happy to give you gifts.”
“A sandcastle set and bucket!” Jamie jumped forward to hug me, but the seatbelt yanked him back. “Stupid seatbelt. I wanna hug my Daddy.” He scowled at the safety device.
“Here,” I released the belt and hugged him.
“Thank you, Daddy. I love you.”
“I love you too, sweet boy. Now, let’s go look for seashells.”
“Yay! Seashells!”