Aquarium

We tried to go bowling on Leap Day...they didn't open until 2PM. It was 11:30 and we were already in Salt Lake and had eaten our picnic lunch in the car. We looked in to a movie, they didn't start until 1:00PM...it was still before noon. So I took the kids to the Aquarium, Avery was excited to see Nemo and didn't want to leave his tank until I told her there were many more fish to see!

They just opened a new exhibit in January: River Otters. At first all 3 otters were sleeping near the glass. Every now and then they would pop their heads up and look around, but no action. Luckily for some reason when the aquarium worker started the Otter Talk they lept into action, walking around, swimming in the pools and climbing up the log slide. It ended up being a good show.

After the otter show we wandered the halls to see native fish, exotic fish, penguins, 3 types of jellyfish, seahorses and lots of other great things. The kids could hardly take their eyes off the glass. It was fun to hear Ethan remember some of the facts he's learned about fish and seahorses from The Cat In The Hat Show. Here he is telling us about how seahorses hold on with their tails so they don't float away.

Ethan touched the stingrays. He was timid at first, but once he felt their smooth spongy skin he much braver.




Avery didn't want anything to do with the stingrays, but decided to touch the sea stars and horseshoe crabs. I think size had a lot to do with this decision. She did finally touch the stingrays just before we went home...she loves to say she was "so, so brave!"

We had a great visit! What a way to spend our "Extra Day!" Ethan even said it was better than bowling, but that bowling is on our list for next week!