Penguin-palooza!

Despite getting less than 5 hours, cumulative, of sleep last night (with a 1 a.m. bedtime, 1:45 child wake-up, and 6 am early riser), Mama and I decided to make it a big family day and head to the aquarium today. We hadn't been to the aquarium in awhile and so the kids, who love aquariums (having been to Mystic, NY, and the Maritime aquariums, plus SeaWorld), were thrilled. It was penguins, penguins, penguins, our first and last tour stops, where we watched the penguins swim and dive and even later bray like donkeys (these were South African "jack***" penguins). Bud coordinated the whole visit completely, with the aid of the map that he carried in front of him the whole time), leading us, with little help, to sharks (Bud's favorite), turtles, seals (Sis's favorite), otters (my favorite), stingrays, and other creatures in between, plus lunch and a quick stop at the shop to pick up souvenirs (a small stuffed penguin for him and a stuffed seal for her).

Before heading to the IMAX to see their first movie! It was billed as preschooler-friendly (which was, for the most part, true except the scary/creepy crab part) 32-minute, zany animal adventure, "Animalopolis." We prepped the kids--it'll be loud, big, and dark. Much louder, bigger, and darker than watching "Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies" on our 15" tv. But otherwise, the same concept: a video of animals doing their things. But immediately both were overwhelmed--was the Earth going to come out and squash them? could the crabs get them? why was the room moving? (at which point, I feared Bud would upchuck from motion sickness, but he made it through okay) Sis sat on Mama's lap while Mama covered her ears for her. Bud sat next to me, obsessed with "where" the animals were--is that Africa (for the lions)? where are we now (bears in the Rockies)? Ah, Africa again (zebras)--until the gross crabs appeared at which point he ended up in my lap and almost needed to leave. And, while they didn't laugh when the lions sang opera or the rhino yoddled (we had to keep telling them it wasn't real but a trick. Otherwise, seeing is believing for 4 year olds, even in this age of CGI, and they would have thought that lions could sing in Italian), they had a good time. When it was over, Bud declared, "That was the best movie ever!" and proceeded to dance all the way to the exit.

Then, waving goodbye to all the animals as we left, and with promises to come back to meet the penguins "on the loose" (a close-up encounter program that was way too crowded 30 minutes before it even started, which is why we went to the movie), we headed home, having had a great day.