Aquarium Adventure

Today turned out to NOT be a beach day.  I have a hard time resigning myself to staying home and in the house with the kids in the summer despite bad weather because most often, my house turns into a war zone for many reasons.  

So, we decided to head out to the boardwalk and try the little aquarium that's up there.  I tried to park as close as I could get so that I could make the kids walk because the aquarium is not very stroller friendly.  

Walking on the way in went pretty well and most of the time to get them moving, we just made it a "race".  

Right now Kailey has this thing where she is pretty much afraid of anything that is alive and moves from microscopic bugs that most people can't see to big and large animals.  Since it was a bit dark when we walked in and the first thing she saw was a large tank with large moving fish, she just about jumped into my arms and was screaming "no! ouch!".  It took some time, but they eventually grew a little courage and walked around independently checking things out.  

I loved hearing, "Mommy, look!!" at each and every thing that was on display.  

It was the perfect size for more independence and I could give each of them a little bit of freedom while still having them in sight.  It went much better than I expected.  

Afterwards, we walked around on the boardwalk for a little bit but unfortunately, Colin does not have the same kind of stamina for walking as Kailey does.  The walk back to the car looked much like this....

...and I eventually had to carry him the rest of the way to the car.  We made it JUST in time before it started to pour.  The rest of the afternoon was spent indoors (you do NOT want to see what my family room looks like right now...yikes!).