The Fishers Hangin' with the Fishes

June 23, 2012

The Houston Aquarium: squeezed into a teeny tiny space right up against the 45 freeway downtown, and yet, still so fun! When Jeff and I noticed one Saturday morning (5 days before Luke's 2nd birthday) that kids younger than 2 are free, we decided to pack up and go for our first visit right then and there! 

We had a great day at the aquarium. The best part was the train, which goes through a tunnel in a massive shark tank! Luke would have been happy to spend the entire day just riding that train over and over and over again!

hahahaha!

In the shark tank!

This thing popped out of the water with an extremely loud burst of air and water just after the shark tunnel on every train ride and Luke just about jumped out of his seat EVERY TIME. It was simultaneously hilarious and sad.

Ferris Wheel

The king of cheesy smiles.

A little pow-wow with Daddy.

Is it just me, or does this kid look really cute in a backwards hat? Oh, and check out the background. See what I mean? RIGHT next to the freeway!

Pointing out all the different cars and trucks that were passing by incredibly close to us!

Luke chose the crocodile. "Chomp! Chomp!"

The son of an engineer. Luke has always been fascinated by the gears moving above him on the carousel.

These two turtles had a serious rumble while we watched, snapping at each other and chasing each other around the tank!

We laughed so hard at this alligator floating spread-eagle around the tank without moving a muscle!

Beautiful.

Take a good look at this fish's face. SO funny! In a so ugly it's cute kind of way.

Python. Over 20 feet long and over 300 pounds! Luke was in awe of it!

I love sea horses! The way they intertwine their tails is so sweet.

Look at the potbelly on this lizard! So cute!

The lizard was taking a nap, but as soon as Luke walked up to the glass, it woke up and turned to look at him.

Luke was SO excited that the lizard came over to say hello to him! He was seriously giddy.

Petting the horseshoe crabs.

And the stingrays. This one kept coming around up against the wall so Luke could reach him. It seemed like he was doing it just for Luke!

Scuba Luke

This poor, beautiful tiger looked so sad to be cooped up indoors. I felt so sorry for it.

It was a gorgeous Indian-temple-esque enclosure, but I still just wanted to break the poor thing out!

Luke decided to do some acrobatics while we were waiting in line for another ride on the train. No matter where we were in the aquarium or what we were doing, Luke was constantly begging to go back to the train all day.

It is the cutest thing to watch Luke try to have a conversation with other kids! He was so excited these two were swinging on the hand rails too!

He ran around swinging on every section of the handrail! His energy is endless!

Little strong man!

Long Nose Saw Shark - seriously looked like a chainsaw on it's face!

It was a hot day so we were all excited to find misters in the "Cool Zone!"

So refreshing!

My not-quite-two-year-old was tall enough to drink out of the water fountain all by himself! Granted, these were a little shorter than typical drinking fountains, but still, where did my baby go??

Jeff was super excited to ride the sea lion Luke picked out for him.

High-five for riding all by himself like a big kid!

Notice my sea horse is wearing Luke's hat. When the shark Luke was riding couldn't wear it, he had to settle for my sea horse.

A long day at the Aquarium wiped this boy out. So thank you Downtown Aquarium for giving us a fun Saturday and for giving me some of my very favorite things: Luke cuddles.