The Living Planet Aquarium

Today was so much fun! We went to the Aquarium in Sandy with Robert, and loved it! (There was some drama, and that story is down by the picture) It wasn't very crowded in the morning, and there were lots of fun things to do. Robert loved looking at all the brightly lit displays with all the swimming creatures. It was funny because he hasn't learned about transparent materials, like glass.... so he would get really excited when he was looking at the fish, lunge to try and grab them, and then bonk his head on the glass. (Not hard, just a little tap! He also crawls straight into the sliding glass door at our apartment, we are hoping he learns to stop doing that soon!) He couldn't figure out why there was a barrier between the fishies and himself. So cute! His favorites were the octopus, and the stingray. After the Aquarium, we were of course in the mood for fish. ;) So we went to Summerhays' Halibut N' Chips on highland drive west of macy's. If you haven't been there, you HAVE to go! They have the best fish and chips in Utah. Seriously, no joke, the best. It was a great ending to our day.

Here are some of the fun pictures:


Robert looking at some trout: (Daddy says they will catch some when he's old enough)








Robert trying to grab the giant octopus' suction cups



The giant octopus





MoOOom, why can't I get the fishies?





Okay, here is the Drama:
Touching the Stingrays! It was so awesome, we had never done it before! A couple of minutes after we had already enjoyed the experience, a large group of children and teens started to come in. A couple of children were well-minded by their mom and dad, but there were so many kids at the stingray exhibit without their parents, it was dangerous. They were poking the stingrays in the eyes, grabbing their tails, and splashing each other. I'm sure they weren't purposefully intending to impose harm, but a parent could have kept them from getting out of hand. There were signs everywhere saying to only touch the rays on their wings, with only TWO fingers, and that children were not to be left unattended. Wes and I were very uncomfortable, and were upset that they were being so abusive to these poor animals. When a boy about 14 started to pick up a stingray out of the water, Wesley intervened, and in his certified "river voice" called out as he walked towards the young man, "YOU! Stop that right now! Read the sign, follow the rules!" Looking him dead in the eye. Everyone around the exhibit froze. The kid looked absolutely shocked, and mad, but didn't argue. We then found someone who worked there and informed them of the lack of parental presence. A man hurried over and gave a stern lecture. After the lecture, the boy's parents suddenly appeared, and there were pointing fingers, glares in our direction, and looks from his parents. We were just glad that nothing worse happened.


Robert and Mommy Touching the stingray



The South America Display

red tails


Pihrahna


Jellyfish



Summerhays' Halibut N' Chips
YUM