Sunday, August 15, 2010

Tennesse Aquarium

To say that Josh has been working a lot lately would be an understatement! We are so proud of all he is accomplishing in growing his business, but we were all more excited when he surprised us with a trip to Chattanooga to visit the Tennessee Aquarium. We had a yummy breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then drove up to Chattanooga. The kids were so excited to be on a road trip and loved comparing the mountains out of each of their windows as we got closer to Tennessee.

We started off with an IMAX movie on the conservation of various fish in Africa. Though the topic wasn't super exciting, the effects were. Lily and Bear did great with keeping the big, goofy classes on for most of the movie. It was so cute to watch them reach out and try to "pet" a dolphin or fish that seemed to be swimming right in front of us.

Lily and Bear with their IMAX glasses
Waiting outside the theatre
After the movie, we headed over to the actual aquarium. The Tennessee Aquarium has two separate exhibits, the Ocean and the River. We decided to see the Ocean section first. The first area was the stingrays - there was even an area where you could touch them.
Daddy helping Bear find a stingray

In addition to the stingrays, there was also a really neat butterfly area, where tons of colorful butterflies were freely flying. Josh caught one, and it got attached to him. Each time he'd let it go, it would come back again!
The penguins were Lily's favorite spot in the ocean aquarium. There was one right next to the glass that just sat and stared at her...she loved it!
Lily and her penguin friend

The rest of the ocean exhibit consisted of huge tanks of colorful fish, coral, and a big shark!
Looking for Nemo
After we finished up in the Ocean Exhibit, we walked over to the River Journey. I was pleasantly surprised with the River area...I think we all enjoyed it as much, if not more than the Ocean exhibits. There were lots of fish, frogs, turtles, and other sea life to see.

Lily and Bear watching fish in a big River tank


There was another hands on exhibit in this section too. This time, we got to pet sturgeons. Lily wasn't a huge fan, but Bear was willing to reach right in!
Throughout the river area, there was a tank that was several stories high, filled with large stingrays, fish, and turtles. We got to the bottom right at feeding time and the highlight of Bear's trip was seeing the men in scuba suits feeding the fish. It was really need to see the stingrays swallow fish and shrimp whole...they were much bigger than any stingrays I'd ever seen.
Bear watching the feeding frenzy
We finished up our day by splashing in the water outside of the aquarium. We saw several families with kids in swimsuits - I guess this is the place to come to cool off on a hot summer day!


What a fun family date we had today! Thanks Daddy for such a fun surprise!

2 comments:

Dhall said...

What a fun day!! Glad you were able to get away for the day!!

Katie Jones said...

You guys have been having a lot of fun lately - love all the new posts!