Baltimore!

Earlier in the week, LL came home and said, "Since I'm off on Friday, do you want to go to the Baltimore Aquarium?" So after a little research, we decided to do it! Andy, Taryn, and the kids came, too.  Although with 8 of us now, car pooling is a thing of the past!

Our goal was to leave at 6:00 in the morning (this was Andy's idea), although it was actually closer to 6:30 when we got on the road.  Collette was awake and talking for a while, and then dozed off:

Wearing upside-down sunglasses and holding Trey's hand.  So sweet.

We drove about half way and then stopped for a nice breakfast.

When we got to the Aquarium and got our tickets, our entrance time wasn't for almost an hour, so we decided to tour some of the ships in the harbor.  We did the submarine first:

The kids had a blast!
(Checking out the sub's engine, sleeping quarters, cafeteria, and steering the sub)

 

After the sub it was time for us to go to the Aquarium! We had a blast but it was packed full.  And they don't allow strollers.  Isn't that crazy? So LL had Collette on her Otter backpack (say what you will about "restraining" a child; losing a 2 year old in a place with 7 levels and 1,000 kids is not my idea of a good time.  Plus, she LOVES wearing it!) and I had Trey in a front carrier. But we managed and got to see lots of cool stuff.

I think our favorite part was the Dolphin Show.  Collette was sooooo excited.  She kept cheering for the dolphins every time they would do a trick-- "Go, dolphins! Gooooooo, dolphins! Clap, Mommy! Clap!" It was so cute.

Mesmerized kids:

We also saw a 15 minute Movie in 4-D (with special sensory effects) of Happy Feet.  It was Collette's first time in a movie theatre and she really liked it.  I think 15 minutes was a good amount of time!

Posing by the giant shark's mouth (crazy!):

When we left the Aquarium we were all beat, but since we had bought tickets to see two boats, we went ahead and toured the Constellation:

The kids had a great time running around below deck and checking everything out.

 (Collette testing out the sleeping hammocks on the boat)

Attempting a group shot of Dads and kids on our way out... Tabby didn't want to be in the picture at first, and Trey had fallen asleep the way LL was holding him.

Then Isaac and Collette decided to be "cool kids" and their arms crossed:

 And this is a pretty accurate shot of how we were by the end of the day...LOL

Collette was asleep before we even got around the block leaving Baltimore! We stopped for a birthday dinner for LL at Red Lobster (irony: spend all day looking at fish, then go eat some). And got home about 9:30 at night.  We were BEAT!!! But what a fun day. :)