mote

Today's adventure was a trip to the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium. Really, this was supposed to be Henry's birthday celebration with Barb and Kevin, and Mike and I had planned to take Liam and Max somewhere else ("Somewhere less exciting so he doesn't feel like he missed anything," specified Max), but at the last minute Henry decided that he wanted everyone to go, so we all piled into our rented minivan.

Compared to other aquariums we've seen, the Mote wasn't huge, although it was spread out between two different buildings. It had a nice variety of sea life, of course, and plenty of creatures for the boys to get to touch, including stingrays, starfish, and even baby tiger sharks. We watched otters at play and manatees eating heads of lettuce, and we got great views of rescued turtles who were given special adaptive equipment after having been injured. (One of the turtles had weights implanted in its shell because it had been hit with a boat propeller, which caused one side to float higher than the other, impairing its ability to swim.) And yes, Henry walked out with several birthday present souvenirs, including Frenzy the shark. What a fun morning!