All roads lead to roam: Birthday Trip

For Ben's birthday he wanted to go rock climbing, but Elan broke his wrist when we all went skating, so instead he decided he'd rather wait on climbing and opted to go to the Aquarium so Elan could come. We knew Phoenix was going next time we went. So with Rho and Elan and Phoenix riding up with me, I was out of room for Alex. :( To our great happiness, Katy decided they would just drive up and go, too! Ben was thrilled! : )

Rho ended up not going, which made Jake super sad but I talked him into/made him go. There's nothing worse than lots of time alone to feel sorry for yourself, especially when you don't have all the information. Your brain will fill those minor gaps, sometimes rather unkindly, based on personal experience.

So, we picked up Elan and then Phoenix (Inde called her Eagle all day because one giant scary bird is just as good as the next. Inde called herself Wolf Lightning and I called her Pickle Pete, it was a rather confusing afternoon!) and headed to Tennessee.

Katy was about 10 minutes behind us, so we got situated with our tickets and hung out waiting for her to arrive. The kids ran around like they did when they were very little, jumping and climbing and hanging off things. Well, the boys did. The girls sat and chatted.

All together, hurrah!

They wanted to match the treeline in the photo.

Katy read us the info about what was going on with this guy, but it was a long word. It meant not albino. They just don't have pigment in some parts, other places, their pigment is fine and their eyes are the correct color for their species.

These guys always seem like toys or aliens. I think that one on the lower left is walking around on its rear legs.

Note how the eye is nearly identical in shape and color to Kaiju's eye!

I think she's a German Shorthaired Pointergator. If she gets wet, her scales will appear, like a mermaid. So that is why she avoids the water.

Watching the keeper do a feeding talk.

It was this point when I realized I was never going to make it the whole time without refueling.

So we all made a pitstop at the lunch counter afterward. I was very happy.

Lunch break here! Then over to the Oceans building.

Inde's shirt said 'oo la la' which she pronounced 'ooo lou la'

Which I found adorable. Needless to say.

It's amazing how difficult this shot was to get.

At some point, probably 10 minutes before they all move out, the kids will finally figure out the group photo assembly. One shining and glorious moment that will then be lost to the world as they go their separate ways.

Jake loves penguins. That did not stop him from giving me the stink eye when he thought I was not watching. I took this photo above to commemorate the mutinous event.

I like the seahorses and the jellyfish. That's pretty much why I go.

This small child, who imagines so many things in a single day that can not possibly happen flat refused to even entertain my pondering about what the brain coral was thinking about. She said, "It's not thinking ANYthing. It's a rock." Hrm.