Mystic Aquarium

Every year, instead of a birthday party, we spend the girls' birthday doing something special and thankfully, this tradition has held so far!  A few weekends ago, we went to Mystic Aquarium and had a great time.  We went a few years ago, but the girls were a lot younger and we were in and out in a few hours.  This time, we were smart enough to buy a membership and it's a good thing we did - even though it's a hike, I have a feeling that we'll be going back a lot. They loved the sea lion show, the beluga whales, the jelly fish and many of the other sea animals.  Their little brains are like sponges and they simply couldn't get enough!!

Our little scientist carried a journal with her the entire time, writing down everything she saw.  Everything.  She might get her marine biologist genes from Lee, but her nerdiness comes from me.

Getting a little face time with Juno, one of the Beluga whales. 

Lee and Emily, up close and personal with Juno.

Juno was incredibly friendly when we were visiting. 

One of the great things about Mystic is all of the "touch tanks" it has - here is a sting ray that the girls got to pet.

Seriously, they pet it.

Elizabeth was clearly thrilled. 

Here is another touch tank - Elizabeth got to hold a large starfish.

To our surprise, even Emily liked the touch tanks - holding a starfish here.

Petting a shark at another touch tank.  Elizabeth freaked out after she touched it and Emily never actually put her hand in the water. 

One of the cool things we did was feed the sting rays.  We originally purchased the food for Elizabeth but she got scared when the ray started to take it from her, so Lee did most of the feeding (although I did it a few times).  Their mouths are like suction cups - they just suck the food out of your hand.