The Antarctic Encounter

The boys and I had quite the adventure today.  We got up, had breakfast and second breakfast, and got all ready to go.  We walked down the street and waited at the bus stop for... the...

SHARK BUS!!!!

Amiri loves seeing the shark bus around town.  He was so excited to have a ride on it for the first time today. 

It took us to Underwater World.  We started out by playing on the sno-cats in the Antarctic display area.

And then we played in the big ocean-themed play area.  Amiri started out by climbing on the big turtle.

And then he got his courage up and went into the giant shark jaws model.  The sign told us that the prehistoric megadon was actually this big.  Yikes!

We rode on the tram through the penguin habitat.  The keepers give the penguins lots of toys to play with every day-- they especially like soccer balls.  The snow machines in the habitat make three tons of snow daily.  It was very cold inside, to make it like Antarctica, but the trams were heated and nice inside.  We rolled past lots of penguins, and a scary diorama of an orca eating a seal.

And then we looked at all the fish.  Arram asked to come out of his stroller and kept up nicely with the group.  I asked Amiri to help keep Arram nearby and safe.  Amiri took this responsibility very seriously and several times I saw him take Arram by the hand and lead him forward.  There were lots of fish to enjoy, mostly those native to nearby waters.  I liked seeing the huge crayfish and big strings of mussels (because they made me hungry).  The boys especially liked the seahorses.

The boys were wonderfully behaved.  No one had a tantrum, and no one strayed too far away from Mama.  Arram only had one poop the whole time, in contrast to past outings which have felt more like scenic tours of the city's baby-changing facilities.  So at the gift shop, the boys got to pick out a fluffy mommy and baby penguin to bring home.

Although it was very nice, the Shedd Aquarium it wasn't, and we were done in about two hours even after ample playtime.  We took the Shark Bus back home.  Arram had enjoyed his experience of doing lots of walking with the big people so much that he walked all the way home from the bus stop.