This is the Dawning of the Age of Aquarium!

Nathan took vacation days from Christmas through New Year's. That was a whole eleven days at home with his girls. He decided we should visit the aquarium in Jenks on the Monday after Christmas. The day before we went to Mom and Dad's for football day. As Mom/Gramma C told Sidney to have fun at the aquarium, I bust out singing, "We are going to the Jenks, Aquarium. The Jenks Aquariummmmmm! Aquarium!" (In your head you should be singing this to the amazing song, "Age of Aquarius" by 5th Dimension). This was a huge laugh. I found the song on Itunes and we jammed to it on our trip. We came up with all new lyrics including during the shift of the song to "Let the sun shine in." Our version, "Let the fishes swim!" Sidney thought we lost our minds, but hey our trip had it's own theme song!

After the two and a half hour drive there, Nathan navigated through the snow covered highway perfectly, we were ready to see some fish. I'm not sure if Sidney knew exactly what we were doing, but she soon found out.

This was the first of many tanks full of fish to look at. The look of surprise on Sidney's face was wonderful as Nathan held her up to see the swimming fish. She smacks her lip in a fish face when we ask her what a fish says. I can't count the number of times she did this during our visit.

If you've never been or haven't been recently to the aquarium, Team Adams highly recommends it! It's perfect for the kiddos because of size, variety in aquatic life (they have otters!!), and the hands on activities!

Sidney got to do things at 16 months of age that I've never done. You can see her here petting a horse shoe crab. She also got to pet a starfish and she tried to catch some shrimp in her hand. She didn't hesitate to thrust her hand in the water. She did seem a little bummed when it was over.

With almost 200 exhibits, there's a nice variety of aquatic life to check out. Both salt water and fresh water displays were clean, colorful, and fun to watch. This was a gigantic crab. Sidney kept pinching herself when she saw it because in one of her books we read the lobsters pinch. The teacher in me loves the text to world connection. :) There were also numerous types of animals I'd never seen before. This was a learning experience for me too.

One of these animals was a cow fish. Sidney moo-ed at it!

You could also feed the turtles carrots (for a small fee!) You put the carrot in a clothes pin that was attached to a long, bouncy stick. You leaned over this open aquarium of turtles and poked them until one ate it. The big fat one I'm pointing at with the stick didn't want the carrot. He just took being poked in the face. Another more hungry turtle, practically jumped out of the water to get the carrot. Very fun!

Sidney "roaring" at the lion fish!

This enormous snapping turtle and his buddy filled up most of this tank. Nathan wanted to give him a hug, but I'm pretty sure he would have snapped Nathan's leg off. Just look at that mouth. Do not mess with this dude!
One of the highlights of the trip was the giant catfish. We'll call him Clyde. Clyde was just chillin in his cave alone in his tank when the three of us came upon him. He laid peacefully in the water: belly resting on a log. Nathan decides to take a picture of Clyde. Unfortunately for Clyde the flash goes off as you can see in the picture above. What you don't see is Clyde coming out of his resting place at a slow, but focused pace. He swims up to the glass, nose practically against the tank, and gives Nathan the meanest look of all time. As if to say, "If you weren't on the other side buddy I would have taken you out!" Clyde swims back the way he came and rests again. No flash photography for the catfish!

Another open hands on exhibit was a gigantic tank of stingrays and sharks. You can see Sidney hear peeping in one of the windows around the tank. You could get an eye level view of the sting rays swimming about. Sidney climbed up on the bench and peered in at them. She kept saying, "Ooooohh," when they'd swim past. They also received Sidney kisses.

This is Sidney standing at the edge of the tank. As you can see she was having a very good time at the aquarium! What a smile!

Nathan tried to let Sidney pet the stingrays and sharks, but her arms were too short to reach the guys that were hanging out at the bottom. I had never pet a stingray or shark before. I didn't realize how squishy and soft they would feel.

Just a few action shots of the place. I love the reflection of Sidney and I in the jellyfish shot.

My favorite exhibit had to be the sharks. You entered a long tunnel that was the tank of the sharks. They swam seven feet above your head as they circled this massive tank. After trekking through the tunnel you entered a giant dome where the sharks swam beside and above you. It was disorientating, but so amazing to surrounded by these beautiful creatures. You can see the shark behind us just cruising. There were numerous types of sharks including bull and nurse sharks.

We enjoyed our trip and plan to go again. Be sure to check it out! Here's their website. It's Team Adams approved!!!