Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween

 We had a little snack before heading out.

 Happy Halloween!
I'm pretty sure this is my favorite picture.

 I was going to take off one of those pictures since they are pretty much the same, but I just couldn't choose. Also, you must know...she put those pumpkins exactly where she wanted them.


 We got to go out with a few of our friends from MOPS. We had a great time! Considering there were five children (technically 6, but 1 didn't want to get in the picture) We actually got a few pictures where they were looking in our direction.

 Off we go!
 Trick or Treat


 Night one of "can I have a piece of candy?" Tonight the candy of choice was a Reese's cup.



Sunday, October 23, 2011

Turtle Dance

Every opportunity Elise has to dance...she takes it! 
This turtle was dancing outside the aquarium when we were about to head back to the car.


Both girls were so cute, dancing with him. I'm pretty sure she even gave him a hug when they were done dancing in the street. Ha!
If you want to see a short video, just click on the link. Turtle dance

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Newport Aquarium- lots of pictures

Somehow we were lucky enough to get a mini-vacation in this year. We spent the weekend with Grandma, Papa, Aunt Sis, and Uncle Matt in Cincinnati. I know, real adventurous, but hey at least it is a short drive. We arrived Thursday night just in time for dinner, so no real adventures. But today was one of our big days.
We went to the Newport Aquarium. I know what you are thinking, 'it's not even in Ohio, let alone Cincinnati.' Yes, but it is close! 
And Elise has not been to a true aquarium.

As the aquarium opens they have a "parade of penguins." Sorry the picture is kind of dark, the foyer was not well lit. Anyway, there was an MC and this 'penguin' that danced around and talked for a few minutes before they brought out some penguins. I actually thought they might have trained the penguins to just walk through the lobby, but they were just put on a float type cart and pulled through the crowd. And yes, Elise walked right up to the 'penguin.' I told her we were very proud of her for doing that because anyone who knows some of my family know that they probably wouldn't care to get within 10 feet of someone in a costume. She didn't seem to mind too much, and made the comment that there was someone in the suit.

Now, off to the fish!


For awhile we just walked around and she took it all in, wandering to all the different tanks.








Then we got to touch a starfish.


She really wanted to touch the horseshoe crab, so Daddy was able to help her.








 A beautiful sea turtle!


 "Nemo and Marlin"-Elise




 These crabs were seriously creepy. Note-I did not alter the color. It really was that dark with the pink light in the aquarium. These are VERY large Japanese crabs. The plaque said that they can get as big as 13 feet!! We should have taken a picture with someone standing next to them because I bet these were at least 4-5 feet.



"hello turtle"

Into the Frog Bog & Rainforest

 Getting her to look at the camera was completely impossible. But in the frog bog there were these large frogs that you could climb on. They also had buttons on their backs that, when pushed, made the sound that the frog makes.


 First time through a turn-style door. This led us into the rainforest. The funny part was Elise thought we were at the Indy Zoo because it looked like the entrance to the desert.
 These birds were free to fly around in the space where we walked. I even had one fly right over my head. It was a little weird, but neat to see them so close.


 MORE FISH...go figure, we're at an aquarium. :)


Some of these pictures are hard to tell what they are, but we were in a tunnel part of the aquarium and these are some overhead shots. We happened to catch feeding time with a diver. The fish just swarmed him, so it made for a jumble of a picture.


Jellyfish!







These 'orange' jellyfish were in a skinny rectangular case that could be viewed from both sides. Elise thought Daddy was actually in the tank! Ha! I think the best part was that this section was playing continuous elevator music. Apparently the fluid motion of jellyfish makes people think of classical music.







This was some kind of motion sensor screen savor projected on the wall. When you got close to a jellyfish it turned around and swam away. Elise thought it was pretty fun!
Sharks and Pengins
(But not together)



There was a very large shark take in, what seemed, the middle of the aquarium. Or at least the last section of it. Here was saw sharks from many different angles and could see them very closely because some of the pathways were tubes through the tank.



This was another part where they were actually below us. Elise is looking down at one of the smaller sharks that swam underneath.

TEETH!

 If this gives you any idea how big some of the tanks are, those are 2 divers just hanging out. (Strike that- I have no idea what they were doing. I don't think they were feeding, but they could have been testing or something)







I actually forgot to take a picture of the live penguins!!!
We watched/listened to a short presentation about all the different penguins at the aquarium, and they had a large viewing tank. Elise just wanted to give them a hug.


Well, that was our day. Sorry to bombard you with pictures, but believe me I didn't load half of them. 
We had a great time!