Sonya's Blog - Day 162 - The Aquarium
Sonya’s Blog - Day 162 - December 1st - The Aquarium
It was decided that we would go to the Aquarium today. The forecast called for rain today and we didn’t want to be all cooped up in the RV again today. Suzanne and the kids didn’t have a very good sleep again last night so Suzanne decided to go to the Aquarium, come back for lunch and then head home this afternoon instead of tomorrow morning. They are just too sick and not getting the kind of sleeps that they need.
We had breakfast and took off to the Aquarium, which is only about a 5 minute drive away and really the only indoor thing to do in Virginia Beach for the various age ranges of the kids. I wasn’t overly excited because, well I just don’t love Aquariums. We went to one in Chicago and this one isn’t going to be very different. Plus they are depressing because there is a lot of information about how people are ruining the earth and the oceans.
So, it was expensive to get in. We were $90 for our family because both my kids qualified as adults here. Kids are 11 and under at this place. It is never the same. The Aquarium is in two different buildings with a nature trail and ropes course in between the two. We were in the smaller of the two buildings. Natasha and I headed out, after checking out the otters to see how far we were from the other building. As it turns out, it was farther than I expected. The rest of them were coming at their own pace and would catch up with us, so Natasha and I just went ahead and did our own thing. They had lots of turtles and Natasha loves turtles, so that was a bonus for her. We saw a Komodo Dragon, various other turtles and snakes, lots of fish, rays and some smaller sharks.
The rest of the group finally made it over to the larger building and we caught up with them by the sharks. There was a pool where you could touch the rays as they were swimming by you, so I got a picture of everyone trying to do that. The one ray came right up on the side and splashed Natasha when she tried to pet him. It was pretty funny.
That was the end of the Aquarium. The kids explored the ever present gift shop and then we took the nature trail back to the first building. Natasha and I quickly explored this building before we left while the others went and put the little ones into the car and truck. This part of the Aquarium was really small and there wasn’t a lot to look at. They had lots of snakes and pointed out the differences between the venomous ones and the non-venomous ones. There was a Rattlesnake, Copperhead and another venomous one. I don’t remember any of the non-venomous ones. There were also some seahorses and a few other displays.
The Rattlesnake in this picture wanted to see us as much as we wanted to see him.
We went out to the cars and everyone was all buckled in, so we drove back to the campsite. We had Simon in the truck this time for his last ride in the big truck. Kate and Simon are quite taken with our truck and have little arguments about whose turn it is to ride in it.
We all had lunch and then Suzanne packed up the van, loaded up the kids and headed home. Kate fell asleep in her carseat before Suzanne even got the van out of the campground! After they left, we tidied up and then Natasha and Blake got ready to go to see 21 Pilots in concert. The concert is in Norfolk, which is about a 1/2 hour drive away. There was no assigned seating, just general admission so they needed to get there before the doors opened at 6. The concert was at a small theatre called The Norva. They left around 5.
Isaac and I decided to watch a movie and tidy up so that we were somewhat ready to leave tomorrow. I was also busy washing all the sheets and blankets that Suzanne and the kids used. Isaac decided he wanted to watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. We got everything set up and started the movie. Isaac thought it was pretty funny, he liked Ferris Bueller. I haven’t seen it since the year it was released, so I didn’t remember a lot of the movie. We had fun watching it together, it was pretty silly.
After the movie we read some more Tom Sawyer and then Isaac went off to bed. I still had to do the dishes and I had one more load of laundry I was waiting for. As it turned out Blake and Natasha got back before I finished my laundry. Natasha was pretty excited and told me all about the concert. There were two opening acts, Paris and The Struts. She really liked The Struts, as did Blake. They are a group of English boys that play some rockin music. The lead singer had a great personality and put on a good show. 21 Pilots were also very good. The crowd knew their music well and sang along with gusto. It was just a tiny venue and Natasha liked the experience of seeing a concert in a smaller venue.
We move to Wilmington, NC tomorrow. It is about a 5 hour drive so we don’t want to get out too late, but we won’t be getting out early due to our late night.
Sonya