Something fishy

Today, as a belated Mother's Day activity, we took the boy to the Newport Aquarium. Since he loves the fish tanks at Wal-mart and insists we speak to the lobsters at the grocery store, I really thought he would be wild for the aquarium. And while he did enjoy it, he just wasn't as into it as I'd anticipated. I think maybe he was just overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things to look at and explore. Ah well.

Some highlights:

The otter exhibit was teeming with otters - they were everywhere, and they were ecstatic to see Matt. He sat there for a good long while and enjoyed otter antics.

Outside the otter exhibit:



They had a wonderful walk-through aviary full of tropical birds. For $1.00 you could buy a tiny cup of nectar, and the birds (in theory) will come drink it out of your hand. In reality, a bird swooped down, grabbed the whole cup out of Charles' hand, dumping much of it on Charles, and then flew away with the cup and the rest of the nectar. It was not unlike our goat feeding experience at the pumpkin patch. Later, Matt offered up an explanation for the bird's actions: "That bird took the bird juice back to a baby bird because maybe the baby bird was thirsty." Hmmm. Perhaps.

Also exciting was the walk-over alligator bayou, with a glass floor that allowed you to get up close and personal with the gators. The exhibit looked a lot like the Honey Island Swamp that we used to visit when we lived in Louisiana - all that was missing were the nutria and the occasional floating marshmallow. Matt thought watching the gators swim under him was pretty cool stuff.

Matt examines a gator skull.



I think everyone's favorite things were the various shark tunnels. They actually had some good size sharks, along with rays and other cool fish. Matt was content to sit in the window of one of the tunnels for a few minutes and watch the show.




They had a shark petting area as well. The boy was too little to reach the sharks, but was happy to just stick his hands in the water. He was also happy to sit in the shark weighing gear.


And one of my favorite moments came early in the visit, when Matt and Charles demonstrated their fine fish-faces:


All told, a fine day.