Georgia Aquarium

With Pete in meetings all day today (Thursday, April 2nd) the kids and I decided to hit up the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. I was fortunate to reconnect with a friend via Facebook who happens to work there. He was nice enough to get the kids and I in for free and then show us around for 90 minutes. We hit up the most popular attractions and then got a behind the scenes tour of the penguins.

Before we headed out though, we discovered this really cool tunnel in the parking lot of our hotel that went under the road.

You will never guess what was on the other side??? My favorite...STARBUCKS!!!

Ready to hit the exhibits - snack in hand. Are my kids the only kids that think if we get in a car or stroller that food is needed immediately?


It was very crowded that day - cold, rainy, and spring break. We probably would have stayed longer and explored more if it weren't so hectic. The kids were a bit overwhelmed with the crowds and me rushing them through a couple exhibits due to the people in line behind us.

There were some really cool highlights though: walking in the first exhibit which had you walking through a tunnel of sea life. Fish to the left, right and overhead. It was really cool! This led into a room with an enormous water tank filled with the same fish (and some whale sharks which I only know of from Diego). There was stadium seating, though you could also walk up to the wall of water, just because it was easy to sit and watch for a very long time. If we weren't with my friend, and I would have had a magazine, I am quite sure the kids would have been happy to sit and watch this exhibit for an hour.



touching the stingrays, and trying to touch the shrimp.

the octopus

beluga whales


Perhaps my favorite was the Spider Crabs. Aren't they cool?


The kids did like this bubble that they were able to stand in and peek through to see me on the other side of the tank


Izzy was on a mission to find a pink fish...you can't see the fish in this picture, but she found one


On the way out we bumped into this guy. Izzy then asked me if next time we come back can we just see him :)


The kids finally asked to go back to the hotel so we grabbed some lunch at Pizza Hut and headed back. With Pete being gone through dinner the kids and I looked up another friend of mine. Kristine and I grew up together and our families are still very close. In fact, may Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays get celebrated together. She lives in Atlanta and invited us over for a drink :) The kids were exhausted, but I put them in the car and headed to her place at 6:30 anyway. We had so much fun just visiting that we didn't return back to the hotel at 9:30 - just as Pete returned as well!

Friday would find us killing time until Pete got done around noon and then off to Orlando we would go!