TO my two-year-old son, there is no better day than one spent outside, with animals, and dinosaurs.

So, when we were invited to attend Knowsley Safari Park’s new Dinosaur Takeover we jumped at the chance and got lucky that on Saturday, July 26 the weather was in our favour.

We arrived in the afternoon – post little man’s nap – and straight away made a bee line for the foot safari and to the giraffes, his favourite animal which he would happily yell at gleefully all day if he had the chance, before heading to watch the Sealion show.

St Helens Star: Kelsey and her son watching the SealionsKelsey and her son watching the Sealions (Image: NQ)

We’ve been to the safari park a few times and missed out each time on the Sealions, so we prioritised it this time and my little boy was utterly thrilled.

Seeing lovely Roger and Arthur performing tricks made my son giggle away, shouting ‘balloon’ when one of the clever creatures dove into the water and jumped 12 ft in the air to touch the bottom of a suspended ball (which did look from our distance somewhat like a balloon) with the tip of its nose, before crashing – much to my son’s delight – back into the water with a splash.

St Helens Star: Watching the SealionsWatching the Sealions (Image: NQ)

He clapped hands and after a bite to eat, we headed to see the dinosaurs.

The Dinosaurs experience saw the public queue to take a picture with one of them and we got lucky with a triceratops which was very life like.

St Helens Star: Dinosaurs at Knowsley Safari ParkDinosaurs at Knowsley Safari Park (Image: newsquest)

My son was extremely excited in the queue but somewhat shy when next to the huge – though very friendly – Dinosaur for us to get a picture, then afterwards turned, blew a kiss and said ‘bye bye rawr’, which was very cute indeed.

We then went to see the Birds of Prey, the Bush Dogs and got extremely lucky to see one of the park’s two tigers, which walked right in front of us, much to my little boy’s delight.

Another welcome addition for us was the new toddler sized play area, coupled with the normal sized children play areas and sand pit from our earlier experiences, it makes it even more toddler friendly.

We just love it at Knowsley Safari, even though we missed out the safari drive this time due to time, it was a lovely day out, with gorgeous memories made and a very tired, sandy and excited little boy, who has ever since been talking about his sunny day with the dinosaurs.

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