the aquarium.

Two weeks ago, we packed up for the day and headed south to Atlanta for a birthday surprise for the little one.

Baby Girl is quite the animal lover so her Dad and I got tickets to the aquarium in Atlanta for her birthday. I just knew she was going to love it. Mr. P took Tuesday (her actual birthday off) so we could spend the whole day together.

The plan was to get up around 5:30 am to hit the road by 7. But someone ::hangs head:: supposedly got up and turned the alarm off so we got a late start.

*I'm sticking to my story that that never happened and that Mr. P never actually set the alarm. So there's that.*

As much as that would normally throw me in a tizzy, I let it ride and focused all my energy on just making the day special for BG. We would get there when we got there.

We woke her up to balloons and a song, Mr. P spoiled her with a special breakfast, then we let her open her new Dora movie for the ride down and we hit the road.


Eventually we made it (even with our debacle over the parking ticket....) and we were inside.


Somehow I missed the memo that Atlanta schools were on Spring Break, so it was beyond packed out which I wasn't expecting, but it ended up being fine. It took BG all of five seconds to be in her comfort zone as she ran up to each display yelling for the "FISH!!".


There was a moment pretty early on where Mr. P was convinced she might be a bit too young for this still as she completely lost interest about five minutes in, but she snapped back as soon as she saw the whales. Thank goodness.


She took a "break" in the stroller while in the frog display while her father and I laughed at a pair we stumbled upon in the moment.

We are twelve.

Lucky for you, we didn't take pictures. Only because he had the camera. I would have.

Maybe I'm twelve..

Eventually we headed to the restaurant in the aquarium for a birthday lunch, complete with cupcakes. Duh.


After lunch, it was time for the dolphin show. I was a bit nervous she wouldn't sit still, or would hate the noise, so we almost considered skipping this show.

I am so glad we didn't.

Hands down her favorite part of the day.

She laughed, she bounced in my lap, she squealed, she clapped. They had her attention from the minute the lights dimmed.

Clearly I need them to perform at my house at least once a day.

After the show, she still didn't want to leave the dolphins, so she sat by their tank for a while and just hung out.


Melt my heart.

Then on to the other displays...


She loved the penguins.


We went to the 3d movie, but the little one was beyond tired. She watched it, without the glasses. Her Dad and I rocked those for her.


We strolled through the last exhibit after the movie and then let the little one go down the big slide once. Our only tantrum of the day was because of that slide. The child who couldn't keep her eyes open did not want to slide just once. Fun little battle.


The tantrum was short lived. Meaning as soon as we strapped her in the stroller, she was ready to kick back.

It was such a great day. I couldn't have planned it any better. Mr. P and I love hanging out with this girl and she's just getting to be so much fun. Such a win of a day.


And? She was asleep the minute we got on the interstate so we had a blissfully quiet ride home. Amazing.


Such a great day to turn two!