If you’ve read the blog for awhile, you know I’m quite the fan of all things aquatic.  I loved to swim as a child (and was on a swim team for years), loved going fishing with my grandfather and, of course, have loved, still love and will always love Shamu.  Well, except for when he kills his trainer by pulling her into the tank via her ponytail.  Shamu, why you gotta be like that?

(Yes, I’m aware that the whales all have different names.)

(I prefer to think of them all as the original Shamu.)

(Especially when I lay in bed at night and watch them via their webcam.)

My enthusiasm for all things aquatic has rubbed off on both MacKenzie and Aviean so, when I announced that we were going to a nearby aquarium on Saturday afternoon, they were absolutely thrilled.  One of my goals for 2010 is to consistently expose the girls to different places and things and I figured the aquarium was as good of a place to begin as anywhere.

I took the girls to lunch and then we headed over to the first building to begin our adventure.  I was so proud of the girls for how interested they were in each display and all of the questions they asked me.  We saw thousands of animals from tree frogs to seahorses to jellyfish.  The aquarium has lots of hands-on areas for kids, such as the Sturgeon Encounter area that I mentioned yesterday as well as a tank where you can pet baby sharks and sting rays.  I almost fell into that tank because I was so excited.

Here we are at the otter display.  Otters, I think I love you.  I would be very afraid to actually encounter you, but watching you through a glass tank?  I think I’m falling for you.

The real hit of the trip was the butterfly room.  They have a very large, glassed-in room full of thousands of butterflies.  The room is full of real trees and plants and small streams, so you really feel like you’re outside.  The girls won the heart of a teenage kid working in the room and, before we knew it, he was catching butterflies for them to hold.

Our aquarium is so large that it’s actually housed in two separate buildings.  After we had finished the first building, the girls and I went into a little restaurant for a mid-aquarium snack.  When we got into the second building, we had only gone a few feet before I told the girls we were going to take a little break and rest.  We had already been there for three and a half hours and I was realizing very quickly that I was exhausted (oh mono, how you strike yet again).  On top of that, Aviean and I were having a very challenging day together behavior-wise and let me assure you that it was not me who was misbehaving.

As we’re sitting there, I hear “Amy Beth?”  And lo, just a few feet from me, I see one of my college girls, Lizy, and her fiancé, Caleb.

She didn’t even know we were going to the aquarium but, the minute they saw us, they asked if they could walk through the second building with us.  I tried to protest (I mean, they’re young and in love and on a date and, with the way Aviean was acting, I was afraid they’d end up choosing celibacy for the rest of their lives) but they insisted.  Caleb put MacKenzie up on his shoulders, Lizy took Aviean into her arms and suddenly the five of us were off to discover the mysteries of the ocean.

I love this picture of Lizy and Aviean at one of the encounter tanks.  Neither one of them knew I was taking this picture, but Lizy’s smile and the way she’s running her hands through Aviean’s hair perfectly captures how much my college girls love my Aviean.  If I would allow it, they’d move her into their dorms this afternoon.

Penguins.  Who doesn’t love a good penguin?

A couple of hours later, we were, unfortunately, at the end of our aquatic journey.  But judging by this picture I snapped at the last display before we left, I’d say the trip was a success.  Wouldn’t you?

On our way home, Aviean continued to misbehave and, by the time we reached my house, she had lost several different privileges for the evening and was quite upset about it.  As we came in the house, Snuggles y Cuddles ran up to greet her only to have her hold out her hands and say “I can’t talk right now Snuggles and Cuddles, I’m in weally big twouble.”  I had to go into the other room so she wouldn’t hear me laugh.