Fishy fun

What a great day it's been. Perhaps the most productive day I (or Kyle) have had in a while. But, productivity aside, we had a really nice time as a family today. And that is always good.

We all got up this morning and left the house before 9am. This is significant in and of itself. We swung by dunkies and grabbed some hot drinks (and "yo-yuts" for Abs) because it was frigid today. The actual temperature was in the teens, but the wind chill was hovering between -1 and 5 degrees. So Cold! However, chill aside, it was a stunningly gorgeous day. Everything seems clearer when it's cold. But, the sky was blue, no clouds, and the sunshine was piercing. Beautiful. Still, we needed coffee.

The three of us hopped a train and headed downtown. The train ride enough would have been a good day for Abs, but we had bigger plans. After a bit of a detour on a busline that took us nowhere, we found our way to the New England Aquarium. I'd been once before, but this was Abby and Kyle's first visit here.

We had a great time. I only have one complaint - why or why must the aquarium be so dimly lit? Are they all like that? It was nearly impossible to get one good picture the whole time we were there. And, I promise, I tried. I'll share what we got, but goodness, my camera is NOT a low-light camera. So, my apologies for the blur.

It didn't take long for Abby to figure out that this was going to be fun.

As soon as this Ray or "blanket fish" came into the window - Abby clutched to her daddy tight!

This is Myrtle the turtle. She's 80 years old, 560 lbs. Awesome.

While watching some of the tank windows, the turtle came into view and stopped in front of Abby. They looked at each other for a few seconds and then she swam away. Because her flippers were constantly moving, it looked like the turtle was waving at Abby. She thought so too. The rest of the day, she would periodically start telling us about her trip to the aquarium and it always included, "and then? and then the turtle - the turtle said 'Hi Abby!' and then the turtle swam away! And I saw the turtle's feet! The turtle's feet were daaaaancing!"

Penguins. They have all types. Always a hit.

The aquarium has a small "critical care unit" for sick animals. Abby sat next to this turtle who was trying to recover from pneumonia for a while to keep him company. She was very sweet to him.

She was also quite fond of these little statues all over the place.

This is also, possibly, one of the only times I've ever posted a picture where I had to use the flash.

I'm generally anti-flash - but man, it was Dark in there.

After a few hours looking at all the fish, and as Abby would tell you, "the little fish and the Biiiiiiiiig fish too!" We bundled up and walked over to Legal Seafood for a nice lunch. I know, I know. We took the kid to eat seafood after spending hours watching fish. Aren't we awesome parents?

In her defense, Abby only had fish-SHAPED ravioli. Cute, no?

We did have fun coloring though. Abby gave me the color crayon she wanted and told me "mommy make red fish?" And then once the fish were drawn, she took the blue crayon and made "aaaaaaallll the water!" :)

Lunch was awesome, and it was just really nice to spend the whole morning together as a family in the city. We had no hard schedule and just enjoyed being in each other's company. It was grand. Once we'd eaten ourselves silly, we bundled up again and walked back to the train. It was still really really cold outside.

Abby was SO hyped up on the train ride home. She loves riding the trains anyway - but after a fun morning of activity and a big lunch - she was just in such a good mood.

She spent most of the train ride home singing (kinda loudly) and dancing in her seat. She can be really funny. We took a few pictures while we made our way home. I'm fond of this one -

fish-kisses

After we made our way home, we put Abs down for a nap. The rest of the day was a whirlwind of productivity for both me and Kyle. At the end of the day, the house is clean, our guest room and office have been combined - the will-be-nursery is empty and waiting to be converted, the groceries are bought (I saved more than I spent!), and...did I mention than everything is clean and put away?

Amazing. I had brownies for dinner.

I think this one sums up today.