Virginia Aquarium

September 27, 2014 by anyonecantakeapicture

I’ve been to many, many aquariums. I’m pretty sure I’ve said it before, but I stop at every aquarium in every city that I visit. The VA Aquarium is one of the larger ones I’ve been to, but the exotic-ness of the exhibits are a little bit lacking. Nevertheless, I’ve been twice so far, once in 2010 and again this year.

2010

Yes, that’s me in the bubble.

The aquarium consists of two buildings and there is a nice trail through the marshes connecting them.

I have no idea what this is but I love his face!

The sea lion exhibit near the entrance is a big attraction.

2014

I have a better camera than I did the last time so I have more photos to share!

Still trying to get a good shot of an octopus.

Clownfish looking at its reflection.

The sharks were hard to shoot; reflections, not enough light, people getting in the way, etc. I usually wait for people to move so I can get a shot without them, but they actually added to the scene so I didn’t mind them this time.

The way this shot turned out reminded me of a scene in Jaws 2.

The sting ray tank was probably one of the best ones I’ve seen. The water was clear and the glass was clean enough to actually see them clearly.

So clear I actually got a shot of its mouth! I’ve never actually seen one open and close its mouth.

You could see part of the sea turtle tank from the sting ray exhibit.

The other viewing side was amazing! I probably sat and watched them swim for at least 15 minutes.

Like the shark tank, I purposefully took some shots with people in them. The father and son were fun to watch. I think the dad was just as mesmerized by the sea turtles as his son was.

There was an art exhibit on display called Washed Ashore where all of the pieces were made from trash found in the ocean. It was meant to educate and create awareness of ocean debris and plastic pollution and its effect on marine life.

Walkway through the marshes between the two buildings.

They added an adventure ropes course which looked extremely fun! I would have tried it if I had had more time. Maybe next time :)

I tried to get some shots of the otters swimming in the water, but they are fast!

Puffer fish, frogs and alligators

Sea lions

And finally, me!

A new bird!

September 14, 2014 by anyonecantakeapicture

I noticed a new type of bird eating out of the feeder this afternoon! I think it’s a Grackle of some sort.

Scout & Misty – 4 months old

September 14, 2014 by anyonecantakeapicture

The kittens are getting so big! They were old enough and weighed enough to be spayed, so they went under the knife last weekend :( But they both bounced back the very next morning and all is well :)

They are still playing like crazy and have discovered the joys of paper bags (particularly jumping on top of it while there is a cat inside).

Scout still loves chewing on boxes and Misty still loves chewing on Scout.

They are both A-DOR-A-BLE!

One of their favorite things to play with are these fake flowers. They are constantly taking them away from each other.

They are so quick when then play that it is very hard to capture the silly movements and jumps they make, but I was finally able to catch them in the act!

Kittens will be kittens. They play hard and then they crash hard.

And they still snuggle with each other during nap-time.

Scout & Misty – 3 months old

August 9, 2014 by anyonecantakeapicture

Posting weekly on the kitten’s progress is a little time-consuming, so I’ll start posting monthly. They are turning 3 months old soon, we think. They are gaining weight, their eyes have gone from blue to a yellowish-green-hazel color and their tails are getting looooooooong.

They are still playing in boxes and chasing things on strings.