Georgia Aquarium

the coke store next door

The Georgia Aquarium has long been on my aquarium bucket list.  Finally today we got to go.  It was super super crowded.  Like we stood in 3 different lines for over an hour to buy tickets.  We never got into the dolphin show because even though we lined up for the que twice we were too far back both times.  When we went to the bathroom first there was a line for the toilet, then a line to wash your hands.  If my kids were smaller I would have HATED it. They wouldn't have been able to see, and I would have been scared for the lives.

As it was they were really good and we still had a fun time.  I wanted it to be a lot more fun than it really was.

The belugas were super cute and fun to watch.  The whale sharks were amazingly big.  We waited patiently and got to see a lot of stuff. We also spent a small fortune on lunch, which bummed me out. Grace really wanted to buy something, anything, in the gift shop and I said no so we left on a sad note since everyone has to shuffle through the gift shop on their way to the exit.

Beluga whales

whale sharks

bioluminescent screen

Atlanta is a beautiful city.  The area we are staying in is very very pretty.  It's green and southern feeling.

cute gift shop

After the aquarium we went to best buy for Ethan's birthday present.  He wanted an ipod and we've been looking at a couple of stores to find the right one.  The guy who helped us handed us the box and sent us up to the front.  The guy in the front said "who gave this to you??"  We looked at each other confused and then said "a guy in a best buy shirt back in the apple section".  Turns out this was a huge no-no as ipods have a high incidence of walking out the door in peoples purses.  He asked us what the guy looked like and we were all confused.  Turns out 6 years of living in MD has made us color blind.  None of us knew if he was white or black. I thought he was not too tall and Hannah remembered that he might have a tattoo on his arm.  We would be bad witnesses at a crime scene.

All in all it was a fun day.  I feel a bit like our wallets are hemorrhaging lately and I'm looking forward to getting on the cruise and relaxing with the family and not having things to buy the kids every other second. I told them that on the ship they could have whatever they like that is included in the million dollar price tag we already paid, but if it's extra then no way.  If I hear any complaining we will move to a third world nation and spend a year living in a village digging wells, immunizing the natives, teaching English and eating grubs. And I am not the least bit kidding.