Rock Lobstaaaah!

We are trying to take advantage of our newfound family free-time and do as many fun things with Dresden as we can. The Friday before Labor Day we finally decided to go to the new SeaLife Aquarium inside Grapevine Mills Mall. We were wholeheartedly unwilling to wait the 3.5 hours in line that this summer's opening entailed, and we do not regret it! When we went on Friday afternoon there was hardly anyone there, and we ultimately ended up going through twice with the all-day tickets to get our money's worth. Dresden was free, but that was sort of moot because for the two of us it cost around $40, so  we're pretty sure his ticket price was just surreptitiously tucked in to that little bundle ;-) Still, we are always happy and eager to try new things, especially for Dresden's sake. It was a lot of fun walking through it with him, except he kept running ahead and I'm always terrified of losing him in public places. The kid is a speed demon. He was so excited and on sensory overload with all the new things to look at.

Funny little crab...

Funny little crab, I mean, Dresden... ;-)

We Three Rays

The lighting was pretty bad, obviously, but I love the colors in the tanks that Alex was able to capture in soft, yet vibrant ways

Hello, Mr. Lionfish!

Under the sea...

We like to talk over each other a lot...

 A sweet stolen moment

I just think this picture is awesome, the stark red against the royal blue!

A lone jelly. Apparently, we are steering away from the name "jellyfish"; every sign there just called them Jellies. Is this a new thing? Because they aren't technically fish?

Sharkboy!

This picture makes me think of Peach from Nemo, like it's going to peel back one of it's arms and start talking to the fish behind it, hahaha.

They had these cool little tunnel things for kids only that they could crawl into...

This must be some kind of Urchin. I think it looks like a heart!

Under a tunnel!

And these pictures make me think that Dresden has a career in theatre. Does he not look like he's a ragamuffin singing a song from Les Mis, or perhaps reciting a monologue from The Tempest here?

"Here I am, stymied in this rock..."

And this one is called "twins"! I don't know what we'd do with double the cuteness!

I don't know why, but prehistoric fish both terrify and fascinate me. Modern fish are weird and freaky enough. To think there were even bigger things with even sharper teeth swimming around in there just blows my mind!

And Alex's favorites, the majestic seahorses! They are so cute. 

We had fun, and even managed to escape the gift shop (relatively) unscathed. Still, I think in the future we will return to the little $8 per-adult aquarium at Fair Park for future aquarium adventures. There, they don't have all the bright colors and bells and whistles, but they have all the same kinds of fish, plus a few more species, and their shark and ray tank is awesome. Still, for something close by when you are in need of something entertaining to do, SeaLife is an easy choice. Oh, the only other thing they need to upgrade is their music. We heard the same crazy new-agey songs (and not even good new agey like Enya) OVER and OVER, and I even heard one young kid say "I gotta get outta here, this music is driving me CRAZY!" LOL! Oh, and if you can, go early, so you can go through more than once, which makes you feel better about the price!

Love,

Cassie