life aquatic

I'm skipping over various outings to post today's, but not permanently.  I'll go back and upload those pictures, too.  Just might as well capitalize on today's momentum while I have it and post something! 

I decided, a bit spontaneously, this morning that Josephine and I would head down to Coney Island to go to the New York Aquarium.  It's on our subway line, just an hour and a half at the other end of it.  Still, it wasn't too daunting since we were guaranteed a seat (since our journeys started at the ends of the line) and I didn't have to mess with transferring trains with a stroller, stuff, and kiddo in tow.  Josephine brought a baby doll to play with, and she's a pro at these little seek-and-find picture pages.  Add a few sheets of stickers and a couple nice passengers that inevitably find themselves drawn into charming her for part of the ride, and an hour and a half can pass surprisingly quickly.

These outings, like the zoo one, have to be fairly unplanned for me to enjoy them.  Otherwise I stress about them in advance.  Much better to wake up, judge her disposition, the amount of cumulative rest over the last few days, the weather forecast, and my energy level, and then if the factors line up, hit the road.  Downside is that things like camera batteries aren't sufficiently charged in advanced.  But I did get some pictures-- I just couldn't click away as much as I normally do, so this is pretty much all I have to show for the day.

I think the largest sea creatures they had were the two walruses.  They were sufficiently huge though, and would fill so much of the viewing pane that Josephine declared the walruses to be for "mom to watch" while she watched the seals in the next tank.

They also had a couple big sea turtles and a few full grown sharks, which surprisingly, she seemed to have an instinctive trepidation towards.  After her nonchalance towards fierce carnivores at the zoo, I wasn't expecting that kind of reaction out of her.

The aquarium is really not on par with the Bronx Zoo in terms of size or impressiveness, especially since I was spoiled by the Georgia Aquarium before we left Atlanta.  But it was still good.  They had a cute section of seahorses, a cool jellyfish house, and a fun sea lion show.

(Josephine wanted a picture of her baby doll next to a fish tank.  She said the baby said "cheese.")

Other than on movies like Free Willy, I don't think I've ever seen a show with sea animals doing tricks.  It was adorable-- Josephine really got into it-- the music was loud and peppy and the sea lions had some funny dance moves and other tricks.

We were both impressed, and I loved how much she loved it.

Their 4D Happy Feet Experience was a flop though.  The 3D glasses would barely stay on her face, and for a kid whose never been in a dark movie theater, watching a large screen movie while your chair vibrates, wind gusts through the auditorium, water splashes on you, and bursts of air pop from behind your neck randomly.... WHILE watching killer whales attempt to eat the cute penguins in gale force winds... yeah, it's a bit much.  She was a firm advocate for bailing, and I couldn't really blame her.  About the same time we left the theater, another mom was coming out with her distraught two year old; Josephine was very pleased to see that another little girl didn't like it either.

We recovered by eating a funnel cake along the Coney Island boardwalk before I let her run in the waves a bit, and then we headed back home.

A memorable day, on whole, and one that I'm glad we did pre-baby.  Every time I saw a mom juggling two small kids  --especially during the first hour at the aquarium while gazillions of field trip kiddos were swarming around the facilities--  I was deeply grateful that the one flopping around inside of me was safely contained, silent, and completely taken care of without needing a second thought from me.  My energy levels are waning rapidly these days, but I must take advantage of the relative simplicity of having just Josephine over the next few weeks; it's going to be an entirely different ball game when we're back here in the fall.