A Fish Named Finneas

For her 6th birthday, we presented Miss Elisabeth with her first pet - a purple Betta.

So please meet Finneas or "Fin" for short. 

The Georgia Aquarium

Our goal in staying near Atlanta this week was to visit the Georgia Aquarium - the largest aquarium in the world and the only place in the US where you can see a Whale shark and a Manta ray.

Whale shark and Manta ray

I was amazed to find they have not just one but three (3) whale sharks in the large aquarium. They aren't yet full grown and will get as large as a school bus. We saw Zebra sharks, huge Grouper, a massive sting ray, Sawfish, and oh so much more.

Grouper

In addition to the world's largest aquarium tank, the Georgia Aquarium also has 4 touch tanks for sea anemone, bonnethead sharks, sting rays and the last with a diversity of shrimp, sea snails, sea urchins and starfish.

Bonnethead sharks

My three-year old daughter loved the Dolphin Tales show. The presence of the Beluga whales and the dolphins make this place a Sea World competitor to be sure.  

Beluga whale

The 4-D movie with Deepo, the Aquariums mascot, was a bit hokey but did a good job of conveying it's conservation message that we on land impact the ocean dramatically and that we should care what's going on in the deep blue sea. It was perhaps a little scary for a 3 year old though. 

There is so much in this aquarium besides what I have already mentioned: otters, spider crabs, frogs, jellyfish, albino alligators, and electric eels are among them.  (This is only the second time I have ever seen electric eels; the first was at the New York Aquarium in Coney Island.)

Electric eels

This aquarium is pricy but worth it. I was surprised at the crowd present on a Wednesday - not uncomfortable but we certainly didn't feel like we had the place to ourselves. It is very well laid out so as to prevent bottle necks inside. 

The central lobby of the Georgia Aquarium

We arrived very near opening time and left near close. The traffic around the aquarium was horrendous; we were stuck on the same block for 30 minutes. Something to keep in mind for future visits. If you are considering a visit, keep in mind the cost. For a family of four, including parking, lunch in the cafe and a take home souvenir, plan on a $200 expenditure for the day.

Here are my favorite photos from our visit.

At the Georgia Aquarium

The kids aren't cooperating with pictures today.

Mt. Desert Island Oceanarium

This afternoon I took the kids to the Mt. Desert Island Oceanarium to learn about lobsters. Honestly, it was a bit overpriced ($22 for me and J, E was free), but I learned a lot, and the kids enjoyed the touch tank.

Between this stop and the Touch Tank Talk by a ranger at the Dorr Museum on the campus of the College of the Atlantic, Jonah has learned a lot about sea stars, sea cucumbers, crabs, etc. this week - a perfect example of unschooling. It's amazing how much he picks up even when I think he's not paying attention.

Here he is holding a sea star. He learned that they have eyes at the end of each arm and they eat by throwing up their stomachs. Pretty cool stuff!

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Elisabeth's 3rd Birthday

My little girl turned three a couple of weeks ago. We celebrated with a weekend at the beach where we met up with some good friends for beach and birthday cake. We took the RV and stayed at Carolina Beach State Park for three days.  It was a great weekend filled with beach, aquarium, friends, cake, presents, more beach - it was lovely!

Practicing her ballerina moves

With her mermaid

Blowing out the candle

A dress for the princess

What is it?!

Playing in the inter-coastal before bed

Camping

Day two at the beach was better for playing in the surf

Elisabeth was afraid until daddy sat with her - she loved it then!

The journey home - one spent birthday girl

Big brother too

More Pictures

Ups and downs

Yesterday was pretty much spent recovering from the weekend. We did go walk to Park Slope stopping at a couple of playgrounds along the way. After the Chocolate Room we went across the street to a kids consignment store called Lulu's Then and Now. Jonah had a meltdown in the store, so we left empty handed.  His fit continued for about 7 blocks. On the walk back to the apartment I was feeling pretty beat down to be honest - somewhat realizing that we were all very tired - mommy included and so I wasn't at the top of my game - so to speak. I ended the day letting the kids play at the playground near our apartment for a couple of hours until after dark.  They had a blast and I got to rest - a perfect ending to a not so great day.
We managed to get the kids asleep much earlier than previous nights and I think it helped make today a better day. I decided to take the kids to the New York Aquarium, which is near Coney Island - a place I had previously only ever heard of in the movies. It looked a bit dreary on this overcast day, but no doubt it seems more impressive lit up in the evening.
The aquarium was very nice if not as sparkling clean as some of the other aquariums I've been to. The rough tailed ray pictured here was remarkable - that is an adult sea turtle in the background to help give it scale. Aquariums are always a hit with the kids so it made for a very good day.
Now I'm at the laundry mat. We've been here over a week so it was time. Certainly makes you appreciate having them in your home - the double stroller is serving dual purposes today.
Oh, and my dad had to give me the 411 on operating a non-self-starting gas oven today, so I could reheat some leftovers. Thanks Dad!

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MLK Holiday at a NC Aquarium

The Martin Luther King Jr, Holiday sneaks up on me every year being so close to Christmas and New Years. A nice surprise every time though since hubby gets the day off and we get a chance for some unexpected family time. We decided to go the Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores on the coast. It is one of three of North Carolina's aquariums. We went to the Fort Fisher Aquarium last year on the same holiday and were pleasantly surprised to find the cost of admission waived on Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. That is the case for all three of the Aquariums on this particular holiday.

We spent about two and half hours making our way through the exhibits. Jonah and Elisabeth both really enjoyed it. We enjoyed it as well, but particularly so watching the kids responses. Elisabeth was surprisingly expressive and kept taking in deep breaths and saying, "wow," "fish", or "look mommy." It seemed like almost all the exhibits were designed so little kids could really get up close. The big tank at Fort Fisher is like this too, but it seemed like many of their smaller exhibits were not as easily accessible to little people as the ones at this aquarium. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the Aquarium. I'll spare you all the fish pictures though...









In case you do find other peoples pictures of fish and turtles and snakes interesting, click here

Fort Fisher Trip

Today, we went to Wilmington (actually Fort Fisher) to the beach and Aquarium. Things went fairly well considering. Elisabeth had a good weekend all in all. She seemed more content than she has in weeks. Here are some snapshots from the trip that Kelly took with our new fancy camera. (Happily the old camera is working fine after getting dried out - it's smaller and therefore more user friendly for documenting everyday activities with the kiddos.)




Click here for more pictures of the day.

Trip to Galveston

We were in Galveston, TX Friday for a friend's wedding. We had some free time before the rehearsal that evening so went down the the beach. Jonah has never been to the beach before. His little feet were wiggling feeling the wet sand and when a wave unexpectedly pushed a couple of inches of water up over his feet he broke into tears. It think because it scared him but also because the water was a little cold. I didn't catch that on video but here is him having fun in his new environment.

After this, we went to the Rain Forest Cafe for lunch. I thought Jonah would love the animatronic animals and all the decoration. Well, turns out we sat in an area where there were about 5 moving monkeys and he was very disconcerted about them. He spent the whole meal hunkered in Kelly's armpit or in one of our laps. After that, we went to the Aquarium and enjoyed a couple of hours there. For more video of the day click on the video link.