Baltimore Aquarium

Jan 2 was FAMILY DAY!! I demanded it!! :-) We went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Jeff didn't go so our first adventure was me driving in Baltimore. Ya.. let's just say still HATE Baltimore!!! After finally finding Baltimore and a great parking place (although massively expensive) we decided to eat lunch before heading to the aquarium. Right next to the Aquarium we found the Cheesecake Factory. So could have not planned that better if I tried. After our fabulous meal we headed to the Aquarium. The Dolphin show as first on our agenda. Caitlynn sat on the end with Ashlie so I wasn't sure how she was liking the show. She pretty much just sat there taking it all in. I sat next to Dalton. He was so funny. He kept asking about why they have those suits on. What are the balls for? Why is there a toy frog by the pool. He also kept wanting to look at the map of the place so he knew where we were going next. NOTHING about the Dolphins. But later that night when he was telling Jeff about it he was so excited about the Dolphins. I really didn't think he was paying attention but he must have just been taking it all in.

Dolphin doing a flip

Dolphin jumping up to the ball. Dalton was more concerned with who lowered the ball for the Dolphin. Lol It really was more entertaining watching Dalton and answering his bazillion questions..

After the Dolphin's Dalton wanted to go see the Sharks. But before we could do that I wanted to see the new Jelly fish exhibit. Ohhhh!! I am sooooo glad I did. I LOVE Jelly Fish. Austin took these pictures with our new digital camera. He did an amazing job. Yes these are pictures!!!

Isn't this just amazing.

I think Caitlynn really enjoyed them too. She went to every single exhibit and really watched them.

Caitlynn is not co-operative AT ALL about taking pictures. We have soooo many pictures of her with her arm over her face. But TODAY she actually wanted her picture taken. She we were trying to take as many as we could. Normally when I take pictures of my kids I focus on Caitlynn. If she is looking and somewhat smiling then hurry and take the picture. The other kids had better be watching. Opps this one not sooo much. Sorry Ashlie. OH and Dalton's pictures he either 1) is always making some goofy face or pose or 2) is giving some cheezy grin. I think this is a combo of the two.

When Corrie, Ashlie and Austin were younger we had a Salt water aquarium. I loved it. It had all kinds of coral and fish in it. But boy was it alot of work and expensive. The one we had before their dad died was awesome. We had the most success with it. Except for yellow Tangs. ( the Yellow fish in the back of this picture). For some reason they liked to get sucked up in the filters. ANYWAY, When we moved after Dana died it was a few years before I set the tank back up. When I finally set it up I didn't fair too well with it. Alot of my coral didn't last too long and well ultimiately I 'fried' all the fish. ( The heaters caught on fire which fried my fish and caused a whole lot of damage in the house. We say we had a fire in our house but really is was just massive massive smoke damage). So the reason for that story was to explain why I love this picture so much. My favorite coral I had was the bubble coral you see here. My favorate fish was the Yellow Tang. I also loved the star fish and a fish we called scooter. We saw both at the aquarium. Oh this soooo makes we want to set up a tank again.

I really am not sure what this was. I think it is some kind of an eel.

So we went to the Dolphin show then the jelly fish exhibt then you have to make your way up 5 levels of sea creatures. Some are exciting, some are boring, some are weird looking, some are cute looking. One thing is for sure you will encounter ALOT of people. Every time we have went to the aquarium it is packed full. Dalton and Caitlynn did great staying with us. Caitlynn looked in every exhibit. Dalton kind of sort of looked at stuff. I think. Again he was probably taking more in than I thought he was. On the 5th floor there is a Rain forest with well... rain forest animals like birds. I liked this one.

After the 5th Level you make your way down through the shark exhibit. The entire day Dalton kept wanting to see the sharks. We finally get to the exhibit and all Dalton could focus on was the people in the tanks. He followed them all the way down the 5 levels. At the very bottom is where the sharks actually are. He saw one Shark and said oh... and walked on. Really??? The boy kills me. Sorry I didn't post the picture of the shark.

Another good picture of Caitlynn actually wanting her picture taken. Her expression says it all. She had a GREAT TIME!!

After all that walking around we were all pretty tired. But Dalton wanted to see an alligator. There is a display called Australia so we all reluctantly head to it so Dalton could see the alligator. Austin and I are playing with the camera trying to take these pictures of this water fall while Ashlie, Corrie, Caitlynn and Dalton go inside. By the time I get inside Dalton has already ran through the exhibits. I get to the end and see the alligator. I go outside to ask Dalton if he saw the Alligator he said no. I said Do you want to see It. His response was no. "Really?? That was the whole reason.... Oh never mind. Let's go home." :-)

First of all though. I don't know if I have never really looked at turtles that live in water. I actually noticed this time they have pig noses. Now I don't know if all turtles that live in water do or not.... But that is just weird.