Aquarium with Grandma

Happy 200th blog post, Z Chronicles! Can you believe it? 

As usual, I have a little catching up to do. My mother-in-law, Betty, flew back to Wichita this morning. She stayed with us a little over a week. We had another a great visit with her -- Abby loves her grandma so much.

Last Wednesday we took Betty to the Florida Aquarium. I love "Swaptember" when zoo members get free admission. We usually try to squeeze in 2 or 3 visits. 

These fish kept swimming right up to the edge of the glass while Abby leaned in to get a closer look. They'd splash water out of the tank and she would squeal with surprise.

Lemurs! I love their long striped tails. I think it's a little strange that they have a Madagascar exhibit in the middle of an aquarium. Abby is NOT a fan of the hissing cockroaches in that area and I don't blame her one bit.

 

We'll stick with the cute furry animals. 

'Night, 'night little lemurs.

How about this giant guy? Abby thought he looked like the pout-pout fish.

No hesitation in touching the sea anemone.

She also touched a spiky sea cucumber.

Some sea creatures are creepy looking, right? I don't like this guy's mouth.

Flashback: remember when Abby was only 5 months old and this little?

Now look at my little monkey.

Seriously, see creatures are creepy.

Yuck.

Like all good Florida establishments, the aquarium has a great splash pad outside.

It was lunchtime so we decided to walk a few blocks to the Columbia Cafe, a smaller version of the Columbia restaurant -- Spanish food -- the we love in Ybor City. This little cafe is tucked into the lobby of the the Tampa Bay History Center.

Betty stayed with the classics and ordered a Cuban sandwich and the famous "1905" salad. 

I did, too, and ordered the salad with black beans and rice.

I couldn't talk Abby into rice once she heard "mac and noodles" was an option.

I have a round of pictures to post from Disney next. Abby finally found her sense of adventure and rode both the carousel and Dumbo. The summer crowds are gone so the number of rides we had time for set a new record: 8!