The National Aquarium

Yesterday was the first swim lesson for Natalie and Leah. They came bouncing out after their half-hour proud and happy and eager to go again. Luckily for them, tomorrow is the next one. Becca and I spent the time visiting with my mother -- my new next-door neighbor -- and my grandparents who are the neighbor to her (borrowing the cabin we are about to begin renting), in town for our family reunion this weekend.

After the visiting we had an early early lunch and headed up to Baltimore for the day's feature event: a trip to the National Aquarium. It took two hours to get there. We spent four hours there, including a visit to the cafe for strawberry shortcakes, and the Dolphin Show. We spent four hours on the return trip since I got REALLY LOST (which I always do when trying to navigate the one-way streets in the downtown part of the city) and we went to Towson for some pizza. The girls were interested in seeing Goucher College which their cousin attends. We arrived back at home at 8 pm.

The children were most excited by the non-fish things, actually. They loved

• the rainforest exhibit (especially the birds and the golden tamarind monkey)


• the caimans, snakes, and frogs in the Amazon river portion of the aquarium


• the octopus


• the puffins (which were adorable)


• the shark tank


• the giant turtle


• and watching the scuba divers feeding the rays

They liked the dolphin show also.

Today I decided we wouldn't leave the house all day. Natalie isn't even dressed yet and is relaxing in her sleeping bag with a huge pile of books. Leah is also reading. Becca has her bathing suit on and is happily scrubbing the kitchen floor with a bowl of warm soapy water (Dr. Bronner's lavender) and an old cloth diaper. Life is peaceful and good.