Gone Fishing

I had the thought before the holidays to take the kids to the Aquarium, but given that school was just letting out, and holiday travelers were filling our city, I thought better of it. My strategy became instead to avoid as many crowds as possible by going right after school resumed. I figured maybe there wouldn't be as many school field trips at that time?? Anyway...today was that day. I told the kids about a week ago that we were going to have a special 'day date' with just the three of us, but I didn't tell them until yesterday where we were going. (No great pictures - I only brought my little camera.)

First off, if you are in the Atlanta area and want to take your kids, check out the "Mommy and Me pass": parking and admission for me AND both kids for only $25. (Normally parking alone is $10.) Combine that with my goal to avoid paying for food inside a theme park or inside entertainment facility (such as an aquarium), and the day was downright cheap!

The kids and I got there right at 10 when the doors opened. How cool it was to let the kids just walk! I did have a 'hand or hold' policy with Maddie when we were surrounded by a lot of people, but at least half of the time she was on her own. And it was pretty empty except for a few school field trips. (DOH!) Luckily, they were the only 'crowd' we encountered, so as long as we stayed ahead of them, we were fine. The kids were wide-eyed and all fingers-pointing right from the get-go. I'm pretty sure it has been over a year since we last visited. My big jogging stroller doesn't work too well inside (especially when there are a lot of people), so once Maddux became too big to ride in the Bjorn, fish-sighting fell off of my radar. Eli remembered some of it, but it was all new to Maddie. She loved the jellyfish, the whale sharks, and the spider crabs. Eli's favorite were the otters, the alligators, and (of course) the spider crabs.

We happened upon a tank of sea anemones that were available to be touched. Of course the kids were intrigued, but when it came time to actually put their fingers close to them, both kids were shy. I wasn't able to be really patient with them either because so many people wanted to touch the sea creatures and I had to support both kids' weight since they weren't tall enough to reach themselves. We had the same experience at the ray and shark tank. Lots of interest, not a lot of guts.

Mad Dog and Eli loved sitting underneath the many overhead tanks. Watching fish go by over them got even better when they saw a diver in the tank. We saw a total of three divers today. Two cleaning and working on water 'stuff' and one feeding the whale sharks.

The big tank wall is always an impressive sight. Both kids loved watching the fish and sharks swim on what looks like a big movie screen. I pointed out a few school of fish to Eli and then he shouted, "LOOK! A SCHOOL!" every time he saw one (which is about once/minute in that tank.) Before we got there, Maddie told me, "I no like crabs and shaaahrks. Dey scawy!" But once we got there and she realized they were all behind glass, she was totally into it. We spent two hours there before coming home (the indoor playground wasn't open)...both kids were exhausted, but very excited. They chattered on and on about all of the animals on the way home.

By far the best moment of the day was the last five minutes in the car. Just as I pulled off of the highway coming home, Eli said, "Thank you, Mommy!! Thank you for bringing me to the A-care-i-um!" (Totally out of nowhere!) We have been talking SO much about being grateful vs. being greedy. What an incredible moment of graciousness!