Chattanooga Post #2

Next stop on our Chattanooga Choo Choo was the Tennessee Aquarium. It was a beautiful day, and we arrived downtown around 10:00. We walked around the area for around forty-five minutes just soaking in the local surroundings! I love downtown Chattanooga, well at least this part of it. I've never been anywhere else in the city, but this part is great! Whoever their city planner was did a great job!

Look closely at the top of that arch and you can see Huett and Sam's little heads peeking through the rails.


Take a closer look! They were so excited about being there again! They remember going last time, and they couldn't wait to go up!


First stop, the sting ray tank! Their little arms weren't long enough to reach down to the bottom of the water to actually feel one of the sting rays but they sure did have a good time splashing around into the water!

Then into the butterfly world or whatever you want to call it. It was a little crowded because we somehow unfortunately managed to enter this side of the aquarium in the middle of an elementary school class so we didn't stop long enough to try to let them land on us like we did last time! I did, however, manage to go national geographic on the animals and take some pretty artsy fartsy pictures, which you are experiencing now!

I really like this one. They had something I can only liken to fruit shish-kabobs (not to be confused with Trish-kabobs) that hung on fishing line from the tree branches. They looked tasty to me, but I practiced some restraint and left those to the butterflies! What a pretty picture though!

These are some of the other sting rays that you were not allowed to touch! Oh, yeah! When Mikey was "touching" the sting rays we met earlier, he broke the rules and actually grabbed one. Disgusting, right? Anyway, that thing circled its body back around and bent in half so fast like it was going to bite him. It scared the bejeezus out of him. It was hilarious, and I am surprised that we didn't get kicked out of there on the spot! I kindly reminded him that Steve Irwin was killed by a sting ray!

Here is one of the macaws. At the aquarium. I don't get it, either.

This macaw said,

"What am I doing in a freakin' aquarium? I am neither fish nor amphibian! I don't belong here!"

Next, on to the penguin exhibit!

The penguins relevance, I get. Seeing that they live in and out of the Antarctic Ocean and everything. And they're totally awesome! It makes perfect sense. They are such funny creatures! They really are just like the cartoons that make fun of them! They are like weebles. They wobble but they don't fall down! And, they are deceptively fast under the water!

They boys were really excited about the tanks you could climb inside of! Lucky for them, at this point there weren't any other kids around so they got to stay in there for a while!

Sam kept posing like this all day. Not really sure why. I think it's his was of telling everyone, "Look at me, I'm the man." Duly noted, Sam.

Mikey went up ahead of us, and when we rounded the corner he was waiting inside this aquarium. The boys thought that was hilarious! Also in this section, the video of a seahorse giving birth. In the seahorse species, the male gives birth. In what I can only explain as his bellybutton are all the baby seahorses. When it's time to give birth, they shoot out into the water. Like one-hundred of them! It's like every time his muscles contract more shoot out. It's disturbing, and it must be seen. Google it.

We also ate at Cheeburger Cheeburger which is just a short walk from the aquarium. The boys really liked it, and so did we. Their food came in these little cars. Sam had a jelly sandwich and Huett just ate french fries. We had hamburgers that were yummy! And milkshakes, of course milk shakes!

Next stop...coming soon!

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BTW

Charlie isn't showcased in this post because he had a major blowout that required an entire wardrobe change right after we left the restaurant and headed for the aquarium. Once that was over with he passed out and slept in his stroller almost the entire time. Rest assured that he was there!