A birthday outing

I told Jeff and Biscuit that I wanted to go to the new addition to our science center as part of my birthday weekend. I knew it would be a little crazy because they just opened the addition on June 29, and it has been packed since then.

My patience was truly tested while trying to find a parking place. Biscuit was excited, and he was asking a thousand questions. And people were driving like maniacs. People had parked all over the place with their cars hanging out into the driveways. People had parked at the end of rows, so if you went down a row and didn't get a spot, you had to do a three-point turn to get back out. It was crazy.

I finally drove up to the front of the building and asked Jeff and Biscuit to get out and get in the admission line, which reached around the building.

As they were getting out, I saw a couple of grandparents with a small child in a stroller, and I decided I'd just stalk them. I gave them plenty of room, but I followed them to their car, then sat and waited while they loaded up. The grandfather looked nervous as he tried to break down the stroller. He looked up at me, and I gave him a hand signal to take his time. I knew I would have a spot, so it could've taken them 5 minutes to get out of the space, and I wouldn't have cared.

I pulled into the spot and started getting out, and of course, it started raining. Could the day get any better?!

But then it actually did. I got a text message from Jeff saying that because we're members, we could skip the line, walk up to the front, get our membership cards scanned and walk right in.

Things were looking up.

We saw an African fishing cat, otters, penguins, stingrays, sharks, a moray eel and more. There's also a stingray touch tank and an Amazon exhibit with fresh-water rays (I didn't even know there were fresh-water eels). They have some exhibits that show how they got all the animals into the tanks and habitats and how they keep the water circulated and clean. It's quite a process.

Of course there were party-poopers. I overheard a lady in the bathroom saying, "I was looking for another room, but I guess this is it." I guess some people just can't be satisfied.

Biscuit was excited and wanted to spend about 5 seconds at each spot, so I had to keep reminding him that we were there to see everything, and we were going to take our time doing it.

The inside wasn't quite as crazy as the parking lot, thank goodness. I was torn between being frustrated with the crowd and being glad the place was drawing so many visitors.

Biscuit had a good time and asked when we could go back.

I didn't take my camera, but I did snap a few pictures with my phone.

The blurry brown things are two otters. They were playing and moving
so fast that I didn't get a single in-focus photo. See the girl in the
purple shirt in the background? They have a bubble you can stand in
that puts you in the exhibit. The otters will run right around your head.

Penguins! They were so cute waddling around.

Three penguins taking a walk together.

Stingrays in the touch tank.

The outside of the new addition.

We had a late lunch of pizza, and Biscuit got crayons and a
coloring sheet while we waited. He still colors with both hands.