The Age of Aquarium

On our way to get groceries one day in Corpus Christi we passed this sandcastle souvenir shop and had to stop.

We bought a couple of little things and took this picture, but mostly it was the outside that was cool.

The next day we headed to the aquarium. We saw so many cool things and the kids had a great time, so I was surprised when I looked through our pictures and didn't find much.
Here's an exciting one of the aquarium entrance. Actually, I really did think this was a cool little entryway. Our family likes water. And it made Emily more curious about the place, I think.

I'm not exactly sure what this little bubble thing was for, but it was a cute idea. I probably should have read up on it so I could explain better. I do love this picture of Emily and Joseph checking out the little critters in this tank!

This is the tank we stood and watched for the longest.
The fish were huge and I thought that great white shark in there was pretty sinister looking. I think movies have done that to me.

We got to the aquarium around 11 and learned that the dolphin show was at 12. Perfect timing! We had time to walk around all the tanks without getting bored and then went outside for the show. We did have to sit out there in the heat for about 20 minutes in order to get good seats, but it was worth it.
Joseph is good at keeping the kids happy and entertained. Emily loves sunglasses.


I asked Emily to smile, but she would not cooperate. I believe she said, "Do you see this sad face, Mama? I can't smile because I'm waiting for the dolphins." Or something to that effect.
She's been funny about emotions and facial expressions lately. Sometimes I call the kids cats just to hear her say, "We're not cats, we're kids!" every single time. But once I did and didn't get the right response. I said, "Are you cats ready to go?" and she said. "Yeah, we're ready. But do you see that you have one sad cat (her) and one happy cat (Caleb)? I am sad because..." and then some reason that I can't remember. She's a cutie head, she is.

And finally, finally, the show started. Of course I had to take Emily to the bathroom right then. But when we got back it was really impressive. It was so neat to see those huge animals (450 lbs. +) up close and to see how high they could jump, how fast they could swim, and how intelligent they were. You could definitely tell the trainers and dolphins were totally in tune with each other. As amazing as all this stuff was, we didn't get any good pictures.
Here are the three trainers, each with her dolphin at attention in front of her. Sorry they're tiny.

And I thought this one was sweet. Who wouldn't want to be hugged by a dolphin?


After wandering around a bit more after the show we headed back home to good ol' Austin. The trip was fine. Our kids did great, even with no movies because of a broken DVD player cord. They're good little cats.