The Aquarium

Here it is! We had so much fun!! We were there when it opened and we stayed about 5 hours. We saw everything twice, touched everything and enjoyed our first 3D movie.

Our first thing to do was see the Ocean Deep, the Whale Shark tank. It is so hard to describe it all I can say is if you get the chance visit it! The whale sharks are amazing peaceful fish. I could have sat in front of that tank all day. It was so incredible to see them up close. Georgia is the only place in the US to have Whale sharks in captivity. I don't know that I will ever see them in the wild and I am so glad I was able to share this with the boys. I hope my sweet 5 year old's passion for these fish continues and he will someday be able to swim in the ocean with them... all I can say is amazing...

William was in his element. He was pointing everything out and enjoying every minute of it!

The groupers were so curious, they were always coming up to the glass.

There were all kinds of sharks... Saw sharks, carpet sharks, hammerhead sharks, blacktip reef sharks, and so many others... William could name them all of course!

The boys got to TOUCH bonnethead sharks, cownose rays,

sea aneomes, starfish, horseshoe crabs, and shrimp. WOW!

Here is our little tour guide, he could name all the fish!!

We only saw the coral reef one time. and this picture is when William realized there were waves at the top.

Andrew was playing peek a boo with this grouper. It was so cute, I tried to get a video but I was too slow. Very cute!!

This was William's birthday cake for his day, a $2 cupcake!

But he loved licking the frosting and us singing to him!

One funny story, which I was truly hoping this would happen... By the beluga whales there is a guide sitting at a desk with a B.whale skull, a sperm whale tooth, and baleen from a humpback whale. William walked up to him and started talking about the different items on the desk. The guide was asking him what he thought everything was and William named the skull and the tooth. the guide was impressed and possible thought he could stump william with his next question... He pointed to the baleen and asked William what he thought it was and William said oh well that is baleen to probably a humback or even a right whale. The guide looked at Steven and said How does he know all this and how old is he! Ah all those books we read to him, they are paying off!

We gave him a choice and I told him he could eat dinner anywhere he wanted, and he chose McDonald's

We were lucky enough to find one with an indoor play area!

I think this was a great family vacation! Definitely our best yet and the most hours driven. The boys were so good and we all enjoyed each other's company. It was nice to be able to spend so much time together without life getting in the way.

Now its back to reality and getting ready for William's birthday party on Saturday. It is going to be pretty mellow compared to last year, but we will still have fun!