Yesterday we took the boys to the New England Aquarium for the very first time. I had never been there myself, and was really glad that we made the trip. We were going to be in Boston anyway, for a follow up visit with my neurologist, so we thought we'd make a day trip out of it.
As we walked up to the building, there was an outdoor seal exhibit, which was such a great introduction to the aquarium experience! Sadly, I think I've only ever seen one or two seals around here. I know that we have many many more, I have just never been lucky enough to see them!
Isaac and Ian got a really big kick out of watching them swim upside down past the glass. I couldn't get over how fat some of them were! I'm not sure how I would feel if one swam up to me at the beach, but I liked watching them in their tank.
When we walked inside, I was surprised at the size of the place. Michael and I both thought that it would be larger. As it turned out, it was the perfect size for us after all! In the core of the building, is a gigantic, round tank, which has a coral reef habitat inside.
We saw an enormous shark, ( I kept my distance, even with the thick glass enclosure, you can never be TOO sure) a wicked big sea turtle, who Isaac named Mama Tootle, and who he thought was her baby, thus Baby Tootle. A few tarpon, some parrot fish, a moray eel, a large sand shark, two huge rays, and a whole bunch of other fish that I would never be able to name, even if I tried!
Then on each floor surrounding that large tank, were smaller exhibits, we were lucky to see most of them getting fed. We saw their new penguin exhibit, which was fascinating! Ian liked the ones with yellow feathers coming out of their ears. Very cute.
We saw sea dragons, mesmerizing jelly fish, of many different varieties, star fish, clown fish, octopus, lots of familiar fish, and a whole bunch of new ones.
There was a petting tank, with baby sting rays, and baby sharks. We saved that for the very end. I wasn't sure how Isaac would react to the whole thing, but I let him have a go. Ian went right up to the tank and started exploring them. Isaac watched all the kids for a minute or so, then pushed his way through the crowd like a little bull dog, crawled up onto the ledge, and with the help of a very eager 4 year old next to him, got to pet his very first sting ray. He wasn't 100% sure that he liked it, until the eager helper told him to pat the ray like you would pat a kitty. Well, that sealed the deal! We had to practically pull him away!
I think that he must have bonded with one of them, because as we were stepping down to leave, a ray came up to the glass, almost as if to say goodbye. It was very sweet, a fantastic end to a remarkable experience!
