Stingrays, snakes & butterflies, oh my

Make sure you come back by tomorrow to check out my first VLOG and to get the scoop on a giveaway that I'm doing. In the meantime, let's go on a field trip!

We had a great outing to the TN Aquarium a couple of weeks ago with some good friends. Here are some highlights from the visit.

Big A is fascinated by the butterfly garden. She always wants to go there first. And each visit is a new quest to get a butterfly on her finger. I'm happy to report that this trip was a success x3!

Little A wasn't going to let big sister have all the butterfly fun.

Little A has no fear of animals. She was all about this boa constrictor. I once scared at least 5 years off my mom's life with a boa constrictor. That's a funny story I'll have to share sometime.

The girls love the pool where you can touch the sharks and sting rays.

Here's 75% of the kids checking out the Blue Macaws. These birds crack me up. They tend to talk incessantly and often say rather humorous things.

This jellyfish tank is one of my favorite spots. So serene. One of these days (when I figure out how to REALLY use my fab camera) I'll get a really great shot.

And there's the trip in a nutshell. If you're ever close to East Tennessee, you should check out our aquariums!

A Day at the Aquarium

When it's pouring down rain outside, what better way to spend a morning, but wandering around some of this city's finest attractions. My city is the site of the Tennessee Aquarium. This fabulous place was opened at the tail end of my junior year in high school. I can still remember working as a volunteer during opening weekend. It.was.crazy.

The first building that opened was River Journey. It's all freshwater fish and mammals. Ocean Journey opened a couple of years ago and it houses the really exciting penguin exhibit! Here's our morning out in pictures. And the morning I'm referring to is this past Sunday morning.

This is a Hyacinth Macaw. Gorgeous blue feathers and master imitator of voices. He was saying "hello" and "goodbye", which was amusing, but then he started to imitate the different laughs that he heard. That was hysterical!









Ocean Journey has a touch tank that's full of sharks and sting rays. The kids had a ball with it! The rays were hilarious because they kept swimming up on the glass and seemingly waving their fins at us.




Big A LOVES the butterfly garden. This trip she was determined to catch one of the many butterflies on her hand. After many failed attempts, she finally lured one (with daddy's help) and was so excited!









The ever popular penguin exhibit opened last year and it's a HUGE hit. I could watch those penguins for hours! The Gentoo and Macaroni penguins in this exhibit are very social and love to interact with the humans on the other side of the glass. Little A and nephew were enjoying this penguin's diving show.



This penguin loved Little A. He kept swimming up to her and looking at her. She was hypnotized and very amused.











This was my proudest shot of the day. I'm still trying to get used to my "big fancy camera" and finally managed to turn the flash off and use a manual setting. VERY SCARY. Anyway, these are some jellyfish that I captured. Big A was enjoying watching them move in an underwater ballet.



The kids loved the dive show. The divers actually talk to the audience and interact with us while telling us about the fish and sharks that live in this exhibit. My favorite is the elusive sea turtle who occasionally makes an appearance.








We finally made our way over to River Journey where Big A found something to climb on...finally. This is the top of the River Otter exhibit. Gorgeous waterfall! The otters were being shy this day.









This is something that I just found to be too funny. Apparently this alligator and turtle have grown up together. So, here they are, taking an afternoon siesta. The alligator is actually resting his head on the turtle's back. This is something you probably wouldn't see in the wild.



Before heading to lunch, I wanted to grab one last pic of this fountain in the courtyard. Hubby & I were photographed in front of this fountain just before our wedding reception. If I can dig out the photo, I'll post it here. It was VERY cool. Here's nephew enjoying the view.

Rollin' on the River

I hope everyone out here had a wonderful holiday weekend! We had a low-key 4th, but decided to venture out yesterday for some family fun. Here's the recap.

I live in a city that is split by a pretty major waterway. The Tennessee River. Hence, we have lots of bridges in this area. This bright blue one is called the Market Street bridge. I'll give you 1 guess as to why it has that name? Anyway, the bridge behind the Market Street bridge is called the Walnut Street bridge. Are you catching on here? A number of years ago, the Walnut Street bridge was turned into a pedestrian walking bridge. It's walking surface is wooden planks and it's the site of many festivals these days. It's a very cool bridge and something I highly recommend checking out if you're ever in the Scenic City. My infatuation with this bridge is also family pride. My grandmother was the very last person to drive across that bridge before it was closed. Kinda cool, huh?

And so to our journey yesterday. My city is home of the Tennessee Aquarium. This consists of 2 structures. The original building houses River Journey, which houses all freshwater fish and animals. The new building is Ocean Journey, which houses our really cool penguin exhibit and the ever popular sharks and sea turtles, among other things. My girls love visiting this new building especially!

Last week, the TN Aquarium launched their newest acquisition, which is a vessel called the Tennessee River Gorge Explorer. Here's a picture of her.

She's a gorgeous boat who is built like a catamaran. So, she can move pretty fast and efficiently on the water while carrying lots of people. The mission today is to take this beauty down to the mouth of the TN River Gorge. The TN River Gorge is an amazing ecological achievement. It houses one of the most bio-diverse habitats outside of the coastal states. There are so many varieties of plants and wildlife that can only be found right here. Very cool. These are just a few scenic shots that I grabbed.

This was something really cool that we saw on the way back. On top of this river marker, is an Osprey nest. Mom & Dad are nursing 3 chicks in this nest. Ospreys mate for life, which is something that I found to be really cool.

And last, but not least, a family pic. Here's hubby, myself and the 2 A's. We all had a great time and followed it with a yummy meal at a local restaurant. You should check it out too for a good meal if you're ever in our neighborhood!


Have a great Sunday! And make sure you come back tomorrow morning. I have decided to permanently house the Monday Morning Eye Candy exhibit. It will be here waiting for you!

Thank God It's Almost Friday!!

Hey folks! A friend that I don't get to talk with much these days called me out of the blue today. I was very happy to hear from her, but even more excited to hear that she's been reading my blog! I guess there are more of you out there than I thought! So, I then realized that I hadn't written since Monday and thought that I at least needed to give a quick update before my wild & crazy weekend.

I feel like I started this week, already behind. Monday morning came and I felt like it was already Wednesday. Geez! We've had lots of activities, which is nothing new. Thankfully, this week has wrapped up our music classes until Fall, so we get a break from that. I've been feverishly scheduling the couple of Summer classes that I want the girls to participate in. Swim classes and a fairytale ballet class are the 2 that we are tackling so far. I'm really hoping to utilize the several area museum memberships that we've got. The Tennessee Aquarium is at the top of that list! We've got a real gem in that facility and we just don't get there as often as I would like.

Last night, hubby surprised me with a babysitter and date night! That was a HUGE surprise, because ever since tiny tot #1 arrived (3.5 years ago), couple time has been reduced to waving goodbye as the other leaves for work or occasionally watching a favorite t.v. program together. Thankfully, he's jumped on board the Grey's Anatomy and Top Chef bandwagons, so I at least don't have to watch alone! We enjoyed a wonderful kid-free dinner at a local favorite, Tony's Pasta, and then Jake challenged me to a game of bowling. Big mistake. Due to my hatred of P.E. classes and the fact that my college required 2 P.E. classes for graduation, I opted for a recreational sport class...and it was bowling. Yes, I took bowling as a credit class in college and I loved it. And I got an "A" in the class and it was HARD! The teacher was a fanatic about the sport and did not take kindly to students who took his class for what was rumored to be an easy "A". So, I mustered up my skills from college and proceeded to whip Jake's tail by 50 points the first game! I was quite proud. Not one to take defeat easily, he challenged me to a 2nd game and then proceeded to beat me by 12 points, but I am still reeling from my victory! We ended the night shopping at Toys R Us for birthday party gifts for 2 friends and then coming home to enjoy a new episode of Criminal Nights. How exciting huh?

Well, my youngest is literally climbing my leg because she wants to watch those videos that I posted here last week. See, I told you they loved them!