arywn's birthday at the mystic aquarium

ok, so this post will be a bit of a retrospective, given that Arwyn's birthday was almost two weeks ago - but we didn't have this blog until recently, right? anyhow, we decided to take her to The Mystic Aquarium that day. i had worked the Presidents Day holiday on Monday, enabling me to take the following Wednesday off. we weren't sure how much she'd get out of the trip, given Arwyn's age, but we were hopeful. as it turns out, she loved it. you'll note in this picture she's not looking at the camera (unusual for the ham that she is, right?) because she was fascinated by the beluga whales in the exhibit:



Arwyn really enjoyed all the different animals at the aquarium, but of course she liked the outdoor exhibits the most. she is still all about being outside, that's for sure. anything hands-on is always a plus so of course she enjoyed touching the brain coral:



all in all, it was a really nice day. it wasn't even as crowded as we'd feared, given that it was a school vacation week. at the end of the day we were all pretty pooped. after a quick popcorn cake and juice recharge for Arwyn and some coffee for mom & dad it was time to head for home.