a day off of school

Maddy had a day off school in January so I took a day off as well and we visited the new Aquarium in Sandy. We had been to the one in the old grocery store several times while the permanent location was being built. We loved visiting there and were excited to see how things looked. Would it be a lot of the same exhibits? New things? I assumed the same animals and were correct. The new place is much like the old but I have to say, I missed the sting ray touching station. The old place had an area where you could reach in and touch them as the "flew" past. It was wet and stinky but fun to feel their silky backs as they swam past. The new aquarium doesn't have that feature unfortunately. Probably best for the creatures but something we will miss.

I loved the frogs! I am sure these are all as poisonous as anything and that's why they can be so pretty but I was fascinated by their bright coloring.

I think that it is a testament to kids' imaginations that it seems like the favorite part of the aquarium has always been driving the boat. She loves to pretend and I hope that she doesn't grow out of that too soon. So many of my memories of being a child are surrounded by imagination. Being detectives, playing house, acting out the Boxcar Children story, pretending to be Olympic gymnasts... I hope that she has those kids of memories of her childhood when she gets to be a mother and not just memories of watching TV or playing on a tablet.

Another favorite place in the museum is of course the penguins. Why do we love penguins so much? Who knows but we do, young and old alike.

And photo ops. Maddy always loves to pose for a photo op. What a silly girl.

My brave girl didn't want to touch this crawly snake. But she did. With one finger. And I was proud of her for doing something that made her uncomfortable - but that was not dangerous. I hope that she grows up with a spirit of adventure and with her father's confidence that anything can be accomplished and there is no quitting simply because it is not easy.

 

After the aquarium we stopped at our favorite date spot - Olive Garden - for our usual spaghetti with meat sauce and then we got girlie pedicures. It was a fantastic day off for both of us.