Day 557: Underwater worlds

We took Maddie on a little family outing to the aquarium last weekend. This was actually her second trip there. The first time she was about 9 months old and had expressed passing interest in a fish on tv one morning. Looking back, though, it could have just been gas. Either way, convinced she was a budding marine biologist I optimistically packed us up and headed out to the aquarium where she of course paid more attention to the ceiling fans than the vast aquatic ecosystems. And then she cried for 30 minutes. And then we left.

It's fun now that she is old enough to understand and enjoy these little activities, although of course it still doesn't turn out quite the way you imagine it in your head. I pictured her squealing with glee over the diving dolphins, clapping her little hands in awe at the sight of the beluga whales. But no, the tops draws, determined by decibel of grunting and yelling, were:

1. A cartoon fish painted on the wall


2. A bunch of crows eating garbage in the parking lot


3. A lightbulb underneath one of the display cases - that one really blew her away.

A close runner-up to that list would of course be the gift shop. She leveled barely a glance at the majestic whales before catching sight of the gift shop across the room. Her eyes widened in wonder and off she took, running.

Oh well. I guess the point is that she enjoyed it, right? Though honestly, if we'd known about the crows we would've saved ourselves the $20, bought a bag of popcorn and sat in the parking lot for an hour. Lesson learned, I guess!