The Incredible Choi's: Baltimore Aquarium

WARNING!!!
There are a LOT of pictures in this post.

Since I spent my entire Mother's Day weekend writing the final paper for my grad class, we all took Monday off of school and work and spent the day at the Baltimore Aquarium!!!

We took a LOT of pictures, and I know Grandma is just DYING to see them....so here we go.....

Jack and Lucy took a nice sibling photo just outside the entrance to the aquarium with Jack's favorite big, red boat in the background:

As soon as we entered, there was a cool tank and I think it finally sunk in to Jack how cool this place was gonna be. He was already super excited, and he asked us SEVERAL times if we were "at the aquarium yet" during the car trip to Baltimore....but this was the moment when he realized just how BIG these aquarium's really are... ha ha

The first thing we did was see the Dolphin Show. Jack loved seeing them jump out of the water and he like it when they were splashing the audience, however, during the show he started to get really hungry (it was his lunch time after all) and got a little bored. He just wanted to EAT!!!! As soon as the show was over, we went to the cafeteria to eat before we hit all the other exhibits.

Watching the show:

Eating in the cafeteria:

Jack was being goofy and was all pumped to go see the other exhibits on a full tummy:

Some Favorite spot for pictures:

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see this demonstration, but we caught the tail end of it. The lady was nice enough to leave the frogs and stuff out for a couple more minutes so that Jack could take a look at them up close.

The bubble tube thingies.....this is, of course, what Jack called them. Keith and I knew the scientific term....of course.....

Jack saw the sting rays from above and thought they were so cool. He was running from one side to the other, trying to get the best look. He was pushing through people and trying to climb the rails. Daddy had to lift him up quite a few times and point out the cool stuff to him.

Jack takes a look at some of the different fish:

An aquarium employee helped us get a family photo in the Amazon, but as usual it is hard to coordinate two children PLUS the two of us. We are never all looking, while smiling, with our eyes open, all at the same time. I believe it is utterly impossible when you are in an exciting situation in a new place. :-)

Jack really liked the Amazon area, and climbing all the stairs to get up to the big, tall trees.....until he heard the birds over head. He heard a few noises and didn't know what the heck was going on.....he was ready to go back in after that. ha ha!

We had to get a picture with Mommy first, before going in. This was, after all, my Mother's Day treat. :-) As you can see, we had difficulties getting all of us to smile simultaneously again.

Now, down to the SHARKS!!!!
Jack thought this area was awesome. The levels kept getting lower and lower, and darker and darker until we were in the deep, dark waters with LOADS of awesome sharks. He liked pointing them out and figuring out which ones they were. We did that with all the fish we saw, but he liked it a LOT more with the sharks for some reason.

We tried to get some photos of the sharks, but it's difficult to get their pictures when they move so fast. We did manage to get some better family pictures in this area, though.

We went back to the dolphin show....this time to watch it from underneath. We saw the dolphins from underwater and Jack didn't know what to think.....until he saw this awesome touch-screen learning center thing. He was AMAZED by it and wanted to learn more!!! Too bad the darned thing wasn't really working properly. Oh well, he had fun anyways....

Lucy finally pooped out. She was awake the whole time looking at all the fish. When she started getting fussy we flipped her around (so she was facing me) and she fell asleep within minutes. Jack was getting wired too, so he was just about ready for a nap. Too bad we still had LOTS to see in the Australia wing AND we were still planning to go to Hard Rock Cafe across the street. UH OOHHHH!!!!

AUSTRALIA EXHIBIT:

Okay, so this picture isn't the greatest....Lucy's not looking at the camera, Jack is making a goofy face and Mommy is looking ROUGH....but check out the cool alligator (or is it a crocodile) in the background!!

Back to the beginning of the museum and it was Mommy's turn to get a picture in the big teeth thingy!!

When we left the museum, there were a BUNCH of historical boats outside. It was a special tour that you buy tickets for to go inside them. Jack wanted sooooo badly to get on a boat!!!! ha ha! We just told him, "maybe next time," and he had to settle for taking a picture of the OUTSIDE of the boat. Luckily, that was good enough for a 4-year-old!!

Now we are STARVING and heading to Hard Rock Cafe, Baltimore!!! It was a toss up between there and ESPNZone, but Jack has a thing for guitars, so we thought he'd like that better.........WE WERE RIGHT!

He fell down the stairs at one point when returning from the bathroom (only 2 or 3 steps) and was crying, so the waitress brought him his OWN guitar to play with while we were there. Jack couldn't BELIEVE how heavy a real guitar is!! He has only every played a guitar hero guitar!!!! ha ha ha ha ha ha!!

He was REALLY mad at me because she brought him out this GREAT guitar and he thought it was his to take home. I told him he could play with it and we'll take some pictures but that he would have to give it back to the waitress and he pouted for 5 minutes. ha ha ha! So, the waitress brought him out some Hard Rock Cafe Flags (the ones on toothpicks that they stick in the top of the burgers) and he was SIKED!!! He brought two of them home, and we made sure we bought him a little guitar key chain that he could take home too!!! ha ha!