Some Ado:
Every time we go to an aquarium, I get a certain song stuck in my head. And I feel the need to loudly share it with those around me.
That includes you, dear reader. (Note: the relevant part starts at about @ the 40 second mark.)
Obvi, you shouldn’t sing the word ‘Aquarius’. Rather, you must Sing-Shout ‘Aquarium.’ (π΅)
I promise your children will love it. Especially your 5- and 8-year olds. ππ
After I had gotten my sing-shouting out of my system, we all piled in the car. And Siri told us that it would be a 10-minute drive. Siri Lied.
45 minutes later, we finally arrived. At this point, I just felt like shouting.
It turns out that there was a 5K to end homelessness (Hooray!) downtown which caused a lot of craziness with traffic and such (less hooray). And because much of the parking downtown was occupied by cars of runners, we ended up parking a little bit further away, which actually worked out nicely in the end, because we got to walk through Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park to get there. #cute
The 1996 Summer Olympics are actually the very first Olympics I remember, and so they have a special place in my heart. (10-year old Jill was determined to be the next great thing in gymnastics. And I remember running olympic games for my siblings after that.)
With no further ado, The Aquarium(π΅)
The Georgia Aquarium (π΅) is a two-story building with a large central atrium around which all the exhibits are organized (some of which encompass both floors). Each exhibit is accessed from the atrium: you walk through on one side, and you exit back back into the atrium. It’s a smart design.
Also, it must be said: I am extremely loyal to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium (π΅). And so, I wasn’t expecting to be wowed by the Georgia Aquarium (π΅), but it was pretty dang amazing. I was wowed.
The very first exhibit we went to was the Ocean Voyager exhibit. The habitat itself is just shy of the size of an American football field. (The acrylic viewing windows were 2 feet thick!!) And it had not one, but TWO whale sharks, which are the largest known fish (whales are mammals). The largest one found in the wild was 60 feet in length. So they are #bigboys. And this exhibit was built specifically to house them.
There was also a manta ray (maybe more than one, I honestly can’t remember) which can grow up to about 20 feet wingtip to wingtip. #AlsoABigBoy I’m gushing here a bit. It was pretty amazing.
I also loved walking through the acrylic tunnel to get to the main exhibit.
You go through an acrylic tunnel to get to the main viewing area. 
Logan was very excited that this fish was the same size as him. 
Isaa boy was very excited bout the fishies. 
E.E. too. 
The Whale shark and its entourage. 
One of the great things about this exhibit is that you have an amazing view no matter where you are in the room. 
Captured both whale sharks 
And wide angle 
Yes, that is in fact a Sea Turlo. 
The twins were absolutely enthralled. That was truly my favorite part of the whole day: seeing their wonder and excitement. Those twins are such a handful right now; but, they make everything pretty dang magical, too. #yams
While we were at the Ocean Voyager exhibit, the kids talked to a docent and learned that most of the touch pools were closed, but we could still go pet a (de-stingered) Sting Ray. So that’s what we did.
By this time in the morning, the aquarium(π΅) was starting to get busy. Spoiler alert: it was crazy-busy the rest of the day π It makes me glad that we opted to buy memberships. (We only need to go 1 more time for it to pay for itself.) So we’ll go back another day when it’s not such a madhouse.
Next to the Sting Ray touch pool was the freshwater “River Scout exhibit”. We were on the second floor of this exhibit, where the the Alligators were located, so we went over there next. The aquarium (π΅) has 7 alligators, 4 of which are Albino. So that was really interesting to see.
At this point, we it was time to head over to the Dolphin presentation, which we had reserved spots for. We weren’t terribly close to the dolphins, but it was just fine, cause there really wasn’t a bad seat in the house. And also, we wouldn’t get wet (we learned our lesson after the Universal Studios bilge ride).
And man, we are plumbing the depths of my childhood here in this post today. When I was a little person, before I wanted to be a gymnast, I wanted to be a dolphin trainer. It brought back such fond memories of young Jill’s dreams.
The show itself was awesome and the kids really enjoyed it.
After the show, we figured it would be good to get some lunch into us, preempting any hanger tantrums. So, we went over to the cafe: Cafe Aquaria (π΅) and got in line for food. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, tantrums occurred. And so Jonathan and the twins went to find us a table, and while C,J, L and I went through the line. (We think poor Isaa-boy was just getting a little overstimulated. Heck, I don’t blame him, I was too!)
And because we’re smart, we got dippin’ dots from a vending machine after our lunch. To prevent fighting and spilling, Jonathan held the bowl and scooped the dots into all of our mouths, like a cute little bird mother.
Up next: SHARKS! Predators of the Deep exhibit. All I can say is that seeing Hammerhead sharks in person is crazy. They are so strange looking, almost alien. It was awesome.
Right next to the shark habitat is the Tropical Diver exhibit which contains all the tropical fish exhibits as well as some Jellyfish, which is always one of my favorite things at any aquarium (π΅) I could sit and watch them forever.
There was also a very cool tropical coral reef. Clara quickly proclaimed that this was her very favorite exhibit. This was no surprise to us, she has always loved coral reefs. When we went snorkeling in the Philippines, she was absolutely in heaven.
We had a little time before our next reserved event, and so we walked through the next exhibit, River Scout, though we probably didn’t give it the attention it deserved. We still saw some awesome things like Pirahnas and river otters.
Next, we went to the 4D theater experience. And it was awesome. Basically, you watch the segment about Octopuses (Octopodi?) from Blue Planet II in 3D and there are physical effects synchronized with the movie. At the beginning, bubbles come down from the ceiling. And at various points in the show, when it is thematically appropriate, ‘wind’ blows through the theater, or you get a quick spritz of water in the face.
The best one though: there are a couple of jump-scares in the movie, and at just the right time, the chair pokes you in the back. And of course, this happens for every chair in the theater and so everyone gets startled all at the same time. It was awesome. There was quite the commotion whenever that happened.
Once we came out of the theater, the kids realized that we were pretty close to the Sting Ray touch pool, and they insisted on doing that again.
Next, we continued onto the Aquanaut Adventure section (Not to be confused with the Octonauts (currently the favorite show of the youngest three children.)
This part of the Aquarium (π΅) seemed to be a little bit of a catch-all. It has a section about the technology and innovations used to study the oceans, complete with old-timey diving suit; some glimpses into careers in marine sciences; and there was a window overlooking the Ocean Voyager exhibit, so you could see some of the behind-the scenes stuff.
It also included a section about the adaptations of animals that inhabit extreme environments.
And there were insects…. not sure how that fits in with the marine theme. But it was cool all the same! Although, I’m not gonna lie, it made my skin crawl a little bit. There were some overly large bugs.
As we were coming out of the Aquanaut section, there was a Virtual Reality experience that you could pay a little extra to do. Logan was super excited about this. And so, he opted to pay the $9 from his allowance to do it. Jonathan accompanied him.
The rest of the kids and I slowly meandered toward the cold water exhibit.
Logan and Jonathan went off to do the VR 
The Kelp forest (sadly, not real kelp) 
PNW tidepools were featured. 
Belugas! 
The belugas were very fun to watch: they were very active. 
They usually rubbed against the acrylic viewing window as they were turning around. 
Sea dragons 
Sea dragons again 
Sea otters! They are so dang cute. 
Another otter. Cause this is my blog and I can do what I want. 
Puffins and sea birds 
I’m actually quite proud of this picture. I managed to find a place to put my lens between all of the water spots. 
you can see the water spots here a little bit better. So, be impressed with that last pic! 
The beluga tank from the second floor 
They’re pals
When you first walk in, the first thing you see is the Kelp Forest exhibit. And then a little spot dedicated to the rocky beaches and tide pools of the pacific northwest (which made us all so happy).
We hung out for a while at the Beluga whale habitat, which is home to 5 beluga whales. They were very active! And so they were really fun to watch. That was pretty cool.
We also got to see penguins, puffins, and otters.
Jonathan and Logan rejoined us at some point in the Cold water exhibit. The VR was cool, but pretty short, so they caught up quickly.
Also, Evie fell asleep. Which was very happy-making. Those little critters definitely do better when they’ve had naps. After walking through the cold water area, we made our way over to the Sea Lion presentation area. We had reservations for a show. After we checked in, Jonathan and Evie hung out with the stroller for a bit so that she could sleep as long as possible.
The Sea Lion show was a lot of fun. It was quite humorous and just plain fun. The kids loved it. The Sea Lion theater has a Pinniped-themed arcade out in the waiting area, so we went back through and the kids got to play games for a while.
At this point, we could have stayed at the aquarium longer, but we decided to end on a high note. And so we walked through the gift shop, bought some postcards and stickers, and made our way back to the car. It was a great day overall.
Although, like I said before, I’m looking forward to coming on a weekday when there aren’t so many people. Cause that was a little crazy. Definitely worth it though.
