Today we went to the Downtown Aquarium with our homeschool support group and BOY! did we have fun. It was so nice to be able to put names with faces, we had met a few people just at various events, but it was nice to not be in the middle of pick up or drop off and to be able to chat! First we went through the Aquarium, which was alot of fun, they have displays that include sharks, stingrays, and well, fish. They have a touch tank for the stingrays, which was fun, although my younger kids didn't really get the whole concept of rolling up your sleeved BEFORE you reach to the bottom of the tank to pet the stingray. Emma must have been the stingrays queen previously in another life. They really liked her and she thought they were pretty neato too. It was one of her favorite things about the day.
We also did a class at the Aquarium where we dissected a squid. Now I have in my school days taken Biology in both High School and College and I have dissected fetal pigs and cats, so the squid wasn't that big of a deal for me. However, the formaldehyde smell, yeah.... that can generate some queasiness. Im pretty sure the girls didn't really understand at the beginning what we were doing and neither did John. However, once it became clear that we were cutting into an animal... Chloe ditched the project, and John VERY enthusiastically grabbed the gloves and the gown. And we learned a lesson today.... remember back when we dissected lunch at Daddy's Bday http://coplingshobbithole.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html Blackbean sauce smells WAY better than formaldehyde.
So right after the dissection was Lunch, no seriously, it really was.... and we ate fish... which when you think of it is a little sick. I mean, here we are in the aquarium, seeing all the lovely fishes, wondering at God's handiwork... and then we eat them. Now they were tasty, so I'm not complaining.
Then we went out to ride the rides. This was John's first time to be tall enough to ride some rides that have a height requirement. I put in pics of the Lighthouse dive ride. It pretty much picks you up and drops you a few feet. John discovered that he takes after his older sister and Daddy and loves scary death traps. Chloe discovered that she takes after her chicken mama. There was a ferris wheel, but there was just no way. I get woozy on the stepladder....
After all that we headed to the Tiger enrichment. I think this was my personal highlight of the day. The Tiger is huge! Yeah, I know, I am Captain Obvious... However Sargent Sarcasm, it was just that up close they are way more impressive. They are so feral, yeah, I know obvious again.... In order to keep them happy and entertained the staff gives the bloodscicles. Its basically the drippings from meat that they freeze. It was gross, but kinda cool all at the same time. We talked about it alot on the way home. Oh and I made popscicles for dessert tonight out of watered down cranberry juice, it looked just the same as the bloodsicles and you should have seen the looks of horror on the kids faces until I explained what they were made of.
PS Brian is home tomorrow!!! He has been overseas in Asia forEVER! He wasn't even able to call us this time. He will be lucky to make it through the door we are all so excited. And Brian, if you are reading this.....we really missed you and I have a small surprise for you, we got another puppy while you were gone. Don't be mad, it was either that, or another baby!:)
4 comments:
Sounds like a good time and looks like fun too! All obviously feral with no hint of sarcasm :)
What a wonderful day you had! It would have been even better if you had been surrounded by wonderful friends! Oh you were!!!! Glad yall enjoyed the day!
Hey I didnt order fish, for that reason! Eat mor chickn. The fishes were screaming.
Carrie,
Yeah, perhaps me shouldn't blog late at night! BUt that is what the edit button is for. We really enjoyed putting faces to names. We had a WONDERFUL day with everyone.
And you know, I didn't even think about the fish thing (because I did order the fish) until we were on the way home and Emma was telling that she thought that was wrong. I think she might wind up vegetarian one day. We had a similar incident with the freshly hatched chicks at the children's museum and chicken nuggets.
Rob, you crack me up, you know I was talking to you when I put in the "sargent sarcasm"
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