We have a membership there. We don't go as often as we do to the zoo, but we have a membership because we go often enough. Several times a year. For the most part nothing changes from visit to visit. Maybe some baby fish have arrived or one of the monkeys is sporting a little one on their back. In general, nothing too earth shattering. It's just nice to be there with my family. To go to each display and look inside, and name the inhabitants without looking at the t.v. monitor on the side.
That is not how Tyler goes about these things. This particular tank here. I have many pictures of him standing here. Walking around to the other side and waving back at me through the tank. The inhabitants of this tank are the same as they have always been. Maybe a few new babies of fish that are already in there. This trip though.... Tyler climbed up and sat down on the ledge. He sat there and watched the fish. Actually looking at the fish. And was amazed. He couldn't believe his eyes. LOOK AT THAT FISH!
This giant clam has been here for years. We have seen it every time we have come to the Aquarium. Yesterday was like the very first time Tyler had ever seen it before. He couldn't believe how huge this clam was. I was forced to take a picture of it. The fact that there were two of these massive things in the same tank was simply amazing!
When we went to see the sea turtles Tyler could not believe his eyes yet again. The sea turtles are in a tank with a HUGE school of lookdowns. These lookdowns race around the tank in a circle. Tyler, exasperated says, "It's like a fish highway!". They are in his way of being able to enjoy the turtles. Nevermind the fact that these lookdowns have always been here. They have always raced around the tank in a silvery blur.
When you come into the aquarium you start at a very rainforest like point. Not just in the exhibit itself but with the way the flow of the place is from there. You begin in the trees. Birds and little monkeys. Even a sloth. Then you work your way down in layers. Three layers down you finally reach the bottom floor of the rainforest. Then you go down yet another floor. Down here you get to see inside the "river" that you've been seeing the surface area of during your rounds the past three levels. Here giant catfish, fresh water turtles, and manatees swim by a giant window. Floor to ceiling, wall to wall. Here my daughter says, "Mom, he sees the manatees every time we come here, and yet every time he always acts like he's never seen them before."
This got me thinking. Look at how exciting, fresh, and new everything is to him? He knows he's been here before. He knows he's seen these things. Yet each visit he sees it with new eyes. He is just as excited and happy to see something for the 100th time as he is to see it for the first time. The whole visit he rushes ahead and then runs back saying "COME ON, COME ON, COME LOOK AT THIS!" He has a wonderment in his eyes. His heart. In his very soul. What a gift I had for Mother's Day.Thank you Tyler! :)
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