We have been wanting to go and check out the new aquarium over in Tempe. We finally took the kids a couple of weekends ago. It definitely was nothing compared to the aquariums that we have been to in San Diego with my mom but it was still a nice aquarium that was fun for the kids on a Saturday afternoon. 
We got there just in time to watch them feed the sharks in the large tank. It was really dark and I was having a hard time getting my camera to focus so the pictures are sort of blurry. They fed the sharks with a pole and fish and talked about their feeding/hunting patterns. They let the kids go up and sit right by the glass which they loved. Every few minutes one of the sharks would glide right up against the glass past their faces and they would all jump back and start laughing. Even though the sharks were not large sharks it was still really neat to have them get that close up to you.
They had a small tide pool area where the kids could touch a star fish, crabs and a sea cucumber. I was surprised that Emma was really excited and actually touched the starfish when Deke lifted her up to see it. She kept wanting to "pet" it. It reminded me of the first time Hunter went to Sea World and touched his first starfish. He was almost exactly Emma's age and he held it in his hand and was touching it and talking about it and showing us. He was doing such a good job of being gentle with it. Then we told him it was time to go see something else and to put the starfish back down in the water. Before I even realized what he was doing he had wound his arm back and pitched the starfish towards the tidepool and well he's got a good arm. The poor thing hit one of the rocks, bounced off and splashed down into the water. "Hunter, no!!!" I said horrified at what had just happened and panicked that he had probably killed the poor little thing. The Sea World employee who had been watching and seen everything started laughing. "Its okay, it actually happens all the time. They are actually really durable so it'll be alright." It made me laugh as I watched Emma handling the starfish as the words, "they are actually really durable" ran through my head. Difference between boys and girls however Em did not want to put the starfish back and kept pointing at it and saying, "hug...hug" yeah no starfish may not survive that one.
A stop by to see some sea horses.....
A walk through the shark tunnel which is just like the one at Sea World except it doesn't have sharks as big as Sea World. Still really cool though and it had glass on the bottom so you could see the sharks, fish and manta rays swimming right below your feet. Hunter and Avery were glued to this and Avery practically threw herself on the ground shading her eyes watching the different creatures swimming around beneath us. Hunter couldn't stop talking about the model of the "prehistoric" fossil that was inside the tank and if it was ever really a real animal and if so what was it called and what did it eat etc. etc. etc.
Emma had been loving everything up to this point but she was totally frieked out by the floor. If we were holding her she was okay, a little unsure but okay and would still point at things and talk about them. However if we tried to put her down on the ground she flipped out and would pull up her legs crying. It scared her so much, we kept trying to show her that it was the ground and that it wasn't really water but she never warmed up to it. It really scared her. As we walked around the aquarium it was neat because they had these little bubbles that you could stick your head up into and view the tanks from a different angle. This was by far Ave's favorite thing. Once she would see once she would run over and put her head in it and start waving at us or pretending that she was swimming with her lips tight and cheeks puffed out. Goof ball :) :) When we asked her on the way home what her favorite part was she said "those see through bubble things."
Emma's favorite thing I think was probably the tiny clownfish. As soon as we saw them in the tank she started squealing "baby Nemo's! baby Nemo's!!" and waving at them. I took her up inside the tanks little viewing bubble and she kept pointing at them one by one. "Nemo, nemo, nemo" she would say as she pointed at each one swimming by. She also loved the viewing bubbles and kept wanted to go back in again and again and not only check out the fish but wave to Daddy on the other side. cute kid.
Hunter's favorite part was the manta rays. We spent a lot of time hanging around their tank and watching them. It reminded me of our last trip to Sea World when we got to feed some which was really cool. They were Hunter's favorite thing there as well.
Had to take a picture of this shark hanging out on the top of the tank. It was neat for the kids to be able to really look at the gills and watch it breathing. Deke lifted them up so they could "touch it"
Dad and Hunter....
After we had spent all afternoon there and checked out all the tanks once, twice or three times for their favorites. We stopped by the aquariums indoor playground and let the kids play for awhile. Emma decided to sit and color pictures with daddy.
Then we watched the kids play and sat and watched Emma move the little chairs one by one from one table to the next. Arranging and organizing them, spacing them evenly apart.
Definitely seeing some of her daddy coming out in her. Well it definitely is no Sea World but it was still pretty fun, glad we went and checked it out.
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