Dave's brother Mike and wife Dee were in town for a visit. Cousins Trey, Braylon, and Tatiana played all weekend with Cora and Luke. It was a nice weekend. The main trip was over to Baltimore to visit the National Aquarium.
Pictured below in order is Luke, Braylon, Cora, Tatiana, and Trey. The aquarium was crowded and it was hard for the kids to wait their turn to see the exhibits but all of us put our "Patience Hats" on and we did our best.
Luke was over stimulated and over excited, often pushing his way to the front, we were all happy when it thinned out for lunch and we were able to see the fish without interruption right up front.
There was the Rainforest exhibit as well as a newer Amazonian exhibit. Both seemed pretty similar and if I would have had time to read any of the signs then I would probably know some differences... but chasing two kids and trying to keep pace with three others didn't leave a lot of time for reading signs (unless it was a bathroom sign). :-)
Luke kept walking back and forth with this fish - moving whomever out of the way so he could be right next to him. The fish seemed to be as big as Luke and probably weighed as much!
The long sleeves and sweaters were too much in the Rainforest as everyone beaded up with sweat. All week the weather was nice but when it came time for Saturday - it was cold outside. It was plenty warm inside though as Cora threatened to sweat to death! LOL!
More big fish kept Luke's attention. Every time he saw something interesting he said, "Momma, Daddy, come here I HAVE TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING!!" And he said it with the same enthusiasm each time!
We chose not to attend the dolphin show - too much "science/history" and too much of a "Save the Planet" lesson involved for kids so young. It seemed like it took the dolphin trainers almost 30 minutes of talking before the dolphins finally did a few tricks. So no show on this visit but we did go down below the tank and watch them swim around in between shows - the highlight of the day!!! Just watching the dolphins play and swim kept all five kids entertained for over 15 minutes!
After the dolphin visit we went to see the Jelly Fish!! This was another favorite exhibit - it was in the dark and the jellyfish were very active. Rising and falling - the kids described them as parachuting.
Lastly, during the brief and cold tour of the Inner Harbor was the obligatory sit on the huge anchor picture. Keeping Luke out of the water still seems to be a task, maybe by the time he is five he will outgrow the need to sporadically sprint towards the edge!!!
Overall a fun day and fun weekend!! The kids passed out in the car within 10 minutes of driving and then truly enjoyed playing with each other and their sleepover! Visiting with family, either away or at home, is a little bit of work and takes time to recover from but is always worth the extra effort!!!
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