Week 48 (aka Month 11)

Today is Lily's 11 month birthday. I can't believe we almost have a one year old! We made an impromptu decision to visit the aquarium in Gatlinburg today. The idea was to find a way to do something fun, while beating this oppressive heat, so we thought we'd go take a swim with the fishes...(not in the "Mack the Knife" sense).














I think Lily really enjoyed the day and her attention was split between the new sights and sounds of the sea-life.... and all the other little kids there to enjoy the day. The aquarium is super kid friendly and there is an interactive area for the kids to play.














The "fish" resting on the tunnel is called a "sawfish", though it is closely related to sharks and rays. This one was probably about 6 feet long, but we saw some of his relatives that looked like they approached 10 ft. Other residents included sand sharks, nurse sharks, hammerhead sharks, tarpon (Jimmy Buffet fly fishes in salt flats for this big fellas), all kinds of clown fish, puffer fish, lobsters (the lucky ones anyway), jellyfish, lion fish, king crabs, and an ugly looking fella named a stonefish which is supposed to have the world's most deadly fish venom. There was also a ray pool where you can pet the rays. We were open to it (despite the Crocodile Hunter's misfortune) but they seemed more interested in resting peacefully on the far side of the tank than fooling around with the tourists in flipflops.

As for this last picture, what can we say. We tried to keep Lily out of the water, but she shares her brothers love for swimming...and selective hearing. Emily had to go in after her...