Last summer, while we were at Dollywood, we saw a brochure for Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg. When we saw that the aquarium featured a "Penguin Playhouse," we knew it was just the place for Grandma Paige! Once P realized that there was a walk-through shark tunnel, he was hooked, too.
So in November the aquarium was on our list of stops. There were lots of neat things to see.
You could even climb up into a cylinder to get a view from "inside" some of the fishtanks.
P posed as a "sea divin' guy".
Both of the boys enjoyed looking up at the sharks as we walked through the tunnel, and P was especially enthralled. Here is a photo of the view above our heads as we walked.
There were areas for petting stingrays and a smaller touch tank for checking out some horseshoe crabs.
Of course we spent some of our time outside looking at the penguins.
When it was time for one of the penguins to head somewhere else in the aquarium, they turned him loose and let him walk through the crowd! They asked that no one touch the penguins, but we were lucky enough to have one walk right past us.
When we left the aquarium, we decided to do a little shopping in Gatlinburg. While we were checking out the fudge shop, P climbed into this sleigh and asked me to take his picture. I was happy to oblige, of course!
P was not allowed to eat the entire candy stick at once (actually, don't remind him about it, because he forgot about it and I threw it away before he had eaten much of it at all), and we headed to dinner at an Italian retaurant before heading back to our hotel. We had a wonderful day!
I absolutely love that you a) allow P to get super sugary treats on vacation that he'd never get at home and b) throw half of it away before he finishes it. I do the same exact thing with Maggie.
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