Fun Field Trip

DH had last week off work.  He's been putting in 65-80 hours a week since Thanksgiving, and he was in great need of a break.  We decided to start his week off by taking a trip to New Jersey where my in-laws live.  Gigi had not seen them since November.  Plus, I'd been wanting to take her to Adventure Aquarium in Camden for a long time and her Grandparents offered to fund the whole trip (gas & all)!  We were very grateful for that.

WHAT FUN!!!  That place is a blast!  Not only is it educational, it really is adventurous!  Gigi enjoyed it so much!  We've been studying marine life for a while and she got a kick out of seeing it "up close & personal" — & some of it was just a little too close for me! lol. 

Here is where you can touch sharks.  I told my DH & M-I-L that Gigi would not be touching a shark.  I KNOW my daughter and that is just something she wouldn't do.  They were sure that they could talk her into it.  My F-I-L was standing with me when we heard Gigi say, "Hey, I'm Dyslexic, not dumb.  I am NOT touching a shark!"  I thought my F-I-L would explode from laughing so much.

Gigi pointed out the Brown Banded & White-Spotted Bamboo Sharks as well as the Dogfish Sharks.  Grandpa was impressed (which is saying a lot).  Grandma was too upset that I was right & she was wrong to listen to Gigi.

Elliot:  "Saw the whole thing, dude. First you were all like 'whoa', and we were like 'whoa', and you were like 'whoa..."

Gigi:  "You, Mini-Man, takin' on the jellies. You've got serious thrill issues, dude. Awesome."

So much for the Latin...but those kids were having a ball!

The "Please Touch" exhibits were too cool!  Gigi loved touching the sea stars.  She also got to touch a pulsing moon jelly fish, a stingray, a lobster, & many more that I'm forgetting.  The anemones were really neat, too.  I was impressed that they had hand sanitizer at each of these exhibits.  You sanitized your hands before & after touching anything.  Thumbs up for that!!! 

This is Gigi with Elliot.  He adopted us about 15 minutes after we arrived.  There were tons of kids there on their school field trips.  It was chaotic to say the least!  Thankfully they left about 45 minutes after we arrived.  The aquarium had opened early that day for those school kids.  Once they left it was so peaceful.  The chaperones were doing a pathetic job to say the least.  The kids were just running wild all over the place!  Poor Elliot was so alone.  His group was just ahead of us, but he decided to stay right with Gigi.  His teacher came over & spoke with me to make sure it was okay.  Apparently he had been bullied & trampled on all morning.  I still can't get over the fact that the teacher let him walk around with strangers!  He was a very sweet, polite young man.  Gigi & he had a blast together.  When his class was leaving they were both very disappointed.  I really hurt for him having to get on that bus, but very thankful that Gigi didn't!

This is not a picture I took.  All my shots have Gigi's face in them.  I got it from the aquarium site.   This is a shark ray.  They have two that we saw.  One was 8.5 feet long & weighed 246 lbs.  The other was just a bit smaller.  Gigi was searching for these.  I was so glad when we spotted them!

Gigi got her face painted.  The girl who did it was really good.   It was a company named Stacey's Face Painting (which Gigi found very funny).  She chose the mermaid princess look.  It turned out so pretty!  They even took a picture of her to use for their display board.

We had such a great day!  I was pretty much exhausted.  My legs were shot!  I should have used my wheel chair more, but I was enjoying holding Gigi's hand and getting right up close to things.

When we finally  left the aquarium we were all starving.  My M-I-L wanted to go to McDonald's (thinking Gigi would enjoy a Happy Meal).  My F-I-L spoke up & said he wanted to treat his D-I-L to a nice meal.  (He could see that I was hurting.)  They took us to the Olive Garden.  What a nice surprise!  I love that restaurant!

To say that our relationship with DH's parents is strained would be an understatement!  I must admit that we had a wonderful visit with them this time.  It was probably the best visit in years! 

The next day when we were finally home Gigi began drawing everything that she had seen.  We're turning it into a beautiful picture journal.  She keeps adding more and more drawings.  I'm so very proud of her.

She's been asking when she can play with Elliot.  I told her that I didn't even know his last name or where he lived.  She ran to her bedroom & came out with an index card with his name, address, phone number, & email address on it.  When I asked her how she got that she told me that he wrote it down quickly before he left and gave it to her.  I was standing right there & missed him slipping that to her.  Bad Mommy!!!

She's barely 7 & already has boys slipping her their personal information.  Should I be worried???

There's more to tell about last week.  I'll try to post it as soon as I can.

Stacey

WOW!!!

7:59 AM, May. 29, 2008 .. Posted by deedeeuk

Sounds like a truely wonderful trip! I'm so glad that Gigi had a great time and that things went well with MIL and FIL too! What an answer to prayer. Don't worry about the phone number, just ask her from now on every time you come home to hand over all the 'personal info' that anyone passes to her and you will be fine! LOL! She is just so friendly and it sounds like that poor little boys is simply desperate for a friend!

Sounds like a great day!

8:09 AM, May. 29, 2008 .. Posted by kcmyworld

Glad it all went well for you. I, too, wouldn't worry about Gigi getting Elliot's personal info. It sounds like he needed a friend and she was the best option. He might need a friend in the days to come and your daughter could meet that need. Who knows how you and she might be blessed or be a blessing through this?

Blessings and again, glad it was a great day for both of you.

Robin

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