We got up early to make sure that we got there right when it opened (luckily there was NO traffic! Can you believe it?) Getting there early was totally worth it. Obviously, its not as crowded yet, which allowed us to let Blakeley actually walk and explore all the fish!
She did not like the jelly fish very much. She had a death grip on Justin.
This is Blakeley seeing all the fish for the first time. When she gets excited and laughs, she puts her hands over her mouth like she is trying to contain herself. ;)
One of the few pics of Blake and me looking at all the fish!
Isn't that one GINORMOUS fish in the background! whoa!
Justin was a great daddy and crawled through the tunnel with Blake so she could see the penguins! (She finally figured out half way that she didn't have to crawl!)
This is Justin holding Blakeley up through the tube to see the penguins.
At one point we were walking down a ramp, and Blakeley thought it was a slide. She sat right on her "bobo" and started saying "weeeeee, weeee". We finally got her up when she realized it was fun to run down too. :) Silly girl!
And once again, Justin was a great daddy and crawled into another tunnel with Blakeley to see some fresh water fish!
We did have one scary moment where we "lost" Blakeley. We were walking with her into the play area where you can touch the sting rays. Well, she turns one corner and literally she is NO WHERE in sight! The play area has all these plastic tunnels and stairs (like at any fast food playground) but they were blocked off. We thought she had managed to climb up in one (in like 1 second) and we didn't see her anywhere! I don't know how I managed to not totally LOSE it from the beginning - I kept my cool knowing the area was small and we would find her. After about 3 minutes though, I started thinking that she is only 2! She knows her name - but she wouldn't know to tell you if you asked her! Luckily, right as I was thinking that, we realized there were stairs to up to get to a slide - as soon as Justin checked the stairs he saw her immediately. She had no idea that anything was wrong (which is great- I would never forgive myself if he found her crying and scared!) But he said she knew something was wrong when she looked at his face and immediately looked "sorry". And now we've started trying to teach her "What's your name? Blakeley Johnson". It's still a work in progress, but lesson learned!
Any way, we did not let that ruin our trip, however after that episode, she seemed over the whole experience. Granted, we had been there for over an hour and she had done a great job looking at everything there was to see! Overall, this was a wonderful family experience, and it has made me realize the clock is ticking to when we will no longer be a family of three!! I want to cherish these precious moments with my little girl!
