Aquariums

Me - Aquariums, wow! I love aquariums. I recently went to the Jenkinson's aquarium at at Point Pleasant on the Boardwalk. It was so awesome, but my little sister, Aurella was terrified of almost everything. She only liked like about one exhibit.For example, I remember she liked the seals. She also liked the turtles and the frogs, but not the poison frogs. However, I liked just about all the exhibits except for the turtles because of my finger's recent encounter with a snapping turtle. Now, I despise turtles. I really liked getting to pet a stingray. I have touched one before at another aquarium. However, then I was younger and I was a bit afraid so I touched it and quickly pulled my hand out of the tank. Near the stingrays, they had a beautiful macaw in a cage. They also had another cage with some of the most adorable things I had ever seen in my life -  pygmy marmosets. They were so cute! They were climbing all over the place and being all active. They were much cuter than your average monkey. However,  I didn't understand why they were in an aquarium. An aquarium is for sea animals. They belong in a zoo. I also loved the seals. I love seals in general. I think seals, sea lions, and sea otters are cute in general. In fact, they are the cutest animals in all of aquariums. However, this aquarium only had seals including a blind seal. I wanted to see them feed the seals but we weren't there long enough. I was also disappointed that we didn't get to see the penguins which Jenkinsons is known for. However, they were redoing the penguin and the alligator exhibits so we couldn't see them I would have liked to see the alligators too but not as much as the penguins. Some day we'll have go back when the penguins and alligators are on exhibit again and see them. I also really liked a group of frogs all in the same tank. One was in a little fake tree. It was easy for a person to spot that frog. Then, right as we were leaving the tank I spotted another one hanging from the upper left corner. Then, Aurella spotted one in the down right corner. I spotted one in the upper right corner just sitting on a branch and blending in. Then, I realized that there was another frog standing on it leaning against the wall. They also had sea horses. They were much smaller than I thought. In fact, they had some that were so tiny they looked like specks of dust. I wondered how small their babies could be.When I was younger, we went to the Camden Aquarium. I got to hold a shark, touch a stingray as I mentioned earlier, and I also touched a starfish. They had swimming with dolphins, but you had to make an appointment, and we didn't. I didn't even notice any dolphins in the tank anyway. One of my favorite parts and one of the only parts I remember about the Camden Aquarium, there was a pool of sharks and there was a tunnel you could walk through so the sharks were swimming on the sides and above you, but they were in tanks and there was glass so they couldn't get to you. Aurella was so scared. She was practically crying, but she was really young then. Now, as I look back at that I realize that if had any kind of sharp object even if it was something with a thick sharp corner and it fell from my hands or my pockets, it could have cracked the glass and the sharks would be free. I don't remember much of that aquarium, but I do know I had fun, and I remember having fun at Jenkinson'sAquarium. I hope to have fun at some other aquariums some day too.

Mom - This past week we went to Jenkinson's Aquarium by the Jersey shore. While I enjoy Aquariums, I do not like them as much as zoos. Maybe, that is because I am not that into fish. I had fish when I was younger and both of my girls have fish. Still, I find them kind of boring. I mean all they really do is swim, eat and eventually die. You can't really interact with them like you can with a dog or a cat, or even a guinea pig or a gerbil or something. The Aquarium was fun though.At aquariums, I usually like the dolphins or seals or the little furry sea creatures like sea otters. Seals are not actually that small. They are a lot bigger than I ever realized they were. I also like  penguins. At Jenkinson's, I  was disappointed that they were renovating the penguins exhibit, and we were unable to see the penguins. Penguins are what Jenkinson's is known for. We really enjoyed the seals though. Someone told me they even have a blind seal. They also had really cute pygmy marmosets and beautiful macaws although what they have to do with the sea and why either of them would be in an aquarium I have no idea. A few years ago, we went to Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ. It is much bigger than Jenkinson's and has many more different types of animals. I especially enjoyed the hippos, seals, and penguins there. My girls really liked getting to touch various sea creatures, such as, sea urchins and stingrays, and even a shark. At Jenkinson's, they were able to touch some sea creatures too, but not a shark. I think my favorite sea creature is the sea otter. Years ago, I went to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago where I fell in love with the adorable sea otters. Maybe, next we'll go to the Baltimore Aquarium. Despite, many trips to Baltimore over the years to visit family surprisingly, we have never been there or at least the girls and I have never been there.

And that's our view. What is your favorite sea creature?

Tune in tomorrow for funny friday.