30 Day Photo Challenge: Favorite Animal

Day 24:
a picture of your favorite animal

I love animals in general.
Dogs, cats, elephants, giraffes, otters (oh my God OTTERS!).
Not snakes or lizards (they aren't terrifying at all).

But I have a special place in my heart for manatees :)

I saw one at sea world when I was 13 and fell into a deep pit of squeeee.

I just love they're little heads and their fat bodies!
And I just love that people call them sea cows! It's like someone took a regular cow and made it even cuter.

When I was 18 I went to visit Bryan when he was stationed in Great Lakes for Valentine's Day.
We went to Chicago on one of the days that I was there and decided to hit up some of the museums. Since museums and history are more of my thing, I immediately agreed when he said he wanted to go to the Shedd Aquarium (he has a slight obsession with sharks).

I think aquariums are cool and everything, but I wasn't really roused until I found out that they had manatees.

We waited in line for hours (no exaggeration, it was like 2 hours in the February Chicago wind :/ ), but once we were in, I got really excited.
We went through all the other exhibits; Bryan got to see the sharks, we saw the fish, the turtles (turtles are pretty awesome too), everything except the manatees.

We got to the pathway for their exhibit, and I reached an almost embarrassing level of giddy. But then I see a the sign.

"Sorry boys and girls! The manatees are on vacation and won't be back until the spring."

I could have cried.

Seriously, how could you not love that face?

What's your favorite animal?

See you tomorrow :)