What We'll Be Doing ALL Summer

Since I will be a whale during the fun  summer months with 100+ degree heat indices and 90+% humidity I decided that maybe we should find some indoor activities that the munchkin and I can do.  I know we'll be going to our friend's pool and probably the beach, but being in a swimsuit while pregnant is already giving me anxiety so I wanted some other options as well.

Our first option, and what I plan on using a LOT to justify the $150 family membership, is the South Carolina Aquarium.  It's not as big and impressive as the aquariums in some other cities, but it's right downtown, has some free parking, and (most importantly) it's air conditioned.

This past Saturday the weather was sucky, so we decided to head down there and see about getting a membership.  I could've just gotten an individual one since Andrew is free, but J said he would want to go some, too. So $150 it is.

We walked in and the first thing is this big tank:

He hopped out of the stroller yelling "Fish!!" and ran up to it (we probably should have strapped him in!).  He stood there for a good five minutes watching the different fish and laughing.  Finally we dragged him away and went up the escalator to the next exhibit.

At the top of the escalator was this bald eagle:

Eagle is one of the animals in his 100 animals book so he stood there saying "Eagle!" and "Bird!" over and over again.   Then we headed into the next exhibit.  Andrew looked at some of the fish, but was more interested in climbing on and jumping off of the ledges:

He did let daddy point out some fish and show him the otters:

He wasn't impressed with the albino alligator, but I thought he was pretty cool:

We headed outside to the aviary area and outdoor tanks.  It was a little chilly and I had a fear of being pooped on by the birds out there, but we hung out for a little bit.  Andrew just wanted to climb:

He did look at some fish and turtles, though:

We went into the ocean exhibit to show him the big tank and try to find some sharks.  He wasn't overly interested:

He did kind of like the big turtle:

By this point I felt like we were losing him.  You can only expect a 2 year old to be interested in something for so long and we'd been there for about 90 minutes. Before we left we did a quick walk through of the Madagascar exhibit.  He loved the lemurs and I think he would have stayed there watching them hop around and walk on ropes for an hour if we let him:

All in all it was a successful visit and it gave us something to occupy our toddler on a cold rainy day.  My plan is to take him there at least once a month while we have our membership (it costs $24.95/visit so four more visits with just me and Andrew recoups the cost of the membership).  I figure on Saturday mornings while J is out riding his stupid bike (I hate that hobby) the munchkin and I can hit up the farmer's market downtown and stop by the aquarium sometimes.  Anything to get this pregnant lady out of the heat and keep my rambunctious toddler occupied!!