The trip to Chattanooga went well. The kids munched on snacks and watched DVD's the whole way there. I had never been to the Chattanooga aquarium before and was very surprised at how huge it is. It's two big buildings that are each four stories high. One is the Ocean Aquarium and the other is the River Aquarium.
This is a collage from the Ocean. I'm pretty sure the sharks were the highlight for the kids. I kept Taylor in her stroller most of the time to try to keep her contained. I got her out of the stroller several times so she could stand next to the glass. Every now and then, something would really catch her eye, but mostly, whenever she was out of the stroller, she just wanted to run around and be free! Our trip through the Ocean Aquarium seemed to go pretty quickly, and then, we went to eat lunch at the Big River Grille.
With our tummies full and our bodies reenergized, we headed to the River Aquarium. I was surprised at how long it took us to get through this one! I don't think some of the displays actually classified as "river." I know one of them was displaying the Gulf of Mexico. We were relieved that the creatures swimming in there weren't actually in our rivers! haha I had to make sure that some of the rivers/bodies of water were nowhere near us because the fish were so big (and ugly and scary) that I definitely did not want to be swimming in the same waters as them!! Ever heard of a beluga sturgeon? Yeah, those things are exactly what I'm talking about- big (can grow up to 19 feet and live over 100 years!), scary, and uuuuuugly! We saw lots of different species of sea horses and sea dragons. The boys especially loved seeing the alligators. There was one part where you could stick your hand in a "pet" the fish (I don't remember what they were; pretty sure they weren't piranhas though). Taylor was all about sticking her hands in the water but was very shocked and screamed when a fish swam towards her hand. She didn't know that was part of the deal.. haha
I didn't get any good pictures of the otters because they were way too fast!
After we made it through the River Aquarium, we took the kids outside, and there were places where they could play in the water. We figured it was safe for them to get wet since we were about to leave anyway. Sarah brought some of Rylan's old clothes for Taylor to change into. (This was already her second change of clothes for the day since Taylor threw up on herself on the way to Neal and Sarah's that morning!) We got some pictures of the kids playing on Sarah's camera because I forgot to charge my camera battery, and it was completely dead by that point. It was probably around 3:30 or so before we headed home... way past the kids' naptimes, so luckily, they all passed out in the car on the way home. Rylan was asleep before we even pulled out of the parking lot.
I didn't realize how many tourist attractions Chattanooga has. There was also a huge Children's Museum there. That would probably be a cool city to go to for a few days to go see all of the attractions, but for a one day trip, the drive wasn't bad at all, and we all had a fun time. All in all, it was a very fun day! Thanks, Mom, Neal, and Sarah!!
1 comment:
This looks like so much fun! Jude and I have been talking about taking the girls to the aquarium for so long, but we haven't done it yet. This makes me want to go even more now!
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