Finding Nemo

Luke recently watched Finding Nemo for the first time, and is currently interested in all types of sea life.  I thought that it would be fun to take a day trip to the Atlanta aquarium to visit some of these ocean animals in person, and have our own Nemo adventure.  We met our Atlanta friends at the aquarium on Thursday and spent a great day exploring and checking out all of the aquatic creatures.  Luke was underwhelmed when we actually "found Nemo" and located the clown fish exhibit, but he did love the jellyfish, rays, and sharks.  We also had tickets to the dolphin show at the aquarium and both Luke and Leah enjoyed watching the dolphins jump and play.  Mark and I took Luke to the Atlanta aquarium for the first time when he was 20 months old, and it was fun for me to watch Leah (who is just a few months shy of this age) explore the aquarium and react to the sea animals, much like her older brother did at her age.  Here are some pictures from our day:      

Leah, Luke, and our friend, Ashleigh, at the Ocean Voyager exhibit.

Luke and Ashleigh petting the sea anemone.

My two fish.

My attempt (with Leah) to recreate the "profile" jellyfish photo I took of Luke at this age...  not quite as successful!

Fascinated by the large sea animals. 

Leah preferred watching the little fish swim.

The kids' favorite activity by far was the "moving sidewalk" exhibit that was surrounded completely by glass.  As you ride through a 100-foot tunnel, hundreds of fish swim all around you.  When a large shark passed right overhead, Luke and Ashleigh began screaming and squealing, pointing and jumping up and down with excitement.  They didn't stop until the end of the tunnel, and were quite a sight.  I had tears running down my face from laughing so hard at their unbridled enthusiasm.  Hopefully these pictures capture some of their incredible astonishment and amazement: 

(The two older girls beside Ashleigh and Luke have reactions typical of most people: open mouthed silence and wonder.  Now picture two squealing, overjoyed preschoolers among all of these quiet tourists.  Got it?!)


We also made a brief stop at Centennial Park, which is located across the street from the aquarium in downtown Atlanta.  There are great fountains for children to splash and play, and Luke and Ashleigh had a great time in the water while their younger siblings watched.  Here's my cute man enjoying the splash park:   

Our day at the aquarium made us very excited for our vacations at the ocean next month where we will continue our pursuit to find Nemo!