Summer Highlight—A Visit to the Aquarium

As families get ready to go back to school, the hustle and bustle are bringing summer to an end. It seems summer just started, and kids this year locally actually had three full months off.

That’s unusual. As I look back on my summer, all I see is rain, rain, muggy days with a little time at the pool. If you’ve been keeping up with this column, you know I’ve had a job change and have been busy most of the summer. Most of my busy times took place inside.

I would have love to see more of my “summer” but life happens sometimes where you must do things that you’d rather not and the important things get left by the wayside.

This summer we did do something fun however. We went to the Georgia Aquarium. My good friend, Edric, and I took four kids to the aquarium for a day. Edric has three children, Ariana, Marina, and Edric, Jr.. They are ages 11, 9, and 7 respectively. I also took my mentee, Summer, who hit it off right away with Edric’s kids.

I’ve been to the aquarium several times myself, but seeing it through the eyes of children made it that much better.

When we got to the aquarium the kids were anxious. They complained a little about waiting in line as kids do. But once we were inside there was no complaining. Each kid wanted to do something different. If you haven’t been to the aquarium you don’t know what you’re missing. There is so much to see.

The kids began their day petting stingrays (above) and touching different types of coral. They learned the coral was a living creature and that stingrays didn’t sting you if you petted them on the top of the head.

Ariana, the oldest, couldn’t wait to see the penguins. Summer looked forward to the dolphin show and I liked the otters.

Mariana was fascinated and didn’t want to leave the whale room. And little E—he pointed out every shark and sword fish that we saw.

The aquarium has everything you can imagine. We walked through different rooms, each witih a distinct theme. There was even a Georgia route that only displayed plants and animals native to Georgia.

The kids got to watch a 3-D underwater show and at the end we watched a live dolphin show performance that ranks up there with those of sea world. 

I sat on the front right with the kids in the splash zone. Edric would have none of the getting wet. The kids loved the dolphins they are still talking about it months later.

Edric’s children spend much of the year in Minnesota, which has the Mall of America, but they think Georgia is awesome.