A couple of weekends ago Jason and Sam called us up to see if we wanted to join them for an outing to the NY Aquarium. It was on our 'to-do' list of things to do with the girls in the city, so we said sure. We hadn't done it yet because it is an hour ride on the train out there (to Coney Island). But we decided to brave it that day.
And I'm so glad we did. The girls (and us, too) LOVED it!!
We could have stayed in the foyer for about an hour just watching all the amazing fish swim in the huge hallway of coral reef.
There were several outdoor exhibits, too. Luckily it was a beautiful day that day so it was nice to be outside.
Annie wasn't quite too sure about some of the larger animals. She's a bit more of a scaredy-cat than Audrie.
My favorite was the HUGE walruses. They were so cute and playful!
Except this one swam right up to the window and took a huge poo- the whole crowd gasped in disgust. It was awesome.
Samuel seemed to like all the cool sea life, too.
Sharks and sting-rays aren't my favorite creatures, but behind the glass they were tolerable. :)
The glowing jellyfish were really cool!
After the girls had their fill of the aquarium we went outside to walk on the boardwalk around Coney Island.
It still seems weird to me that we live 30 minutes from the beach. I can't quite wrap my mind around that.
Samuel practiced his cute wobbly steps.
It was a fun family outing!
I love how this Instagram photo turned out... almost looks like a miniature.
Coney Island itself was shut down for the winter but it was still nice to walk in the sunshine on the boardwalk. Audrie had plenty of room to run.
Also the home of the National Hotdog eating contest is out there at Nathan's Hotdogs. So we stopped in a got some lunch.
There was a long line because just as we walked up a huge tour bus of people hopped in front of us. So Jamie had a big fake smile for the "tourists" (which we like to say with some disgust, right? since we've lived here a whole 8 months now... ha!)
Luckily the girls were having fun playing outside and didn't mind the wait.
After the fun outing it was almost 2:00 before we finally headed home. Another hour ride back on the train. And if you have small children you know what a ticking time-bomb that was. Annie did great. And Audrie was awesome the entire day... until about 10 minutes left on the train.. and she decided to have THE melt-down of her lifetime right there on the crowded subway. We felt like parents-of -the-year at that moment. But oh well. That's a part of life. We still had an awesome day! :)
Thanks, Jason and Sam, for inviting us!
(And Audrie if you're reading this in 30 years I hope your 4 year old just threw a huge screaming tantrum in public. So there!)
