Tonight as we talked about our days and weekends, we asked Kiernan about his trip to the Science Center. He said his favorite part was the Flying Monsters movie, which surprised and delighted me. I loved that part too. For one thing, it was a 3D movie I actually liked. For another thing, we bonded during it. But there were other parts of the adventure I liked better.
Like what you see above. Here we are in the little aquarium part of the center. We started up on the top floor, out in the open where you get to see the effect of wave motion on the kelp systems of the ocean.
Here's Kiernan observing the tank from that top floor with his friends Oliver and Mason. It's hard to capture what they're seeing with a camera, but here's my best attempt:
Kind of hard to tell through the glare of the tank glass, but there's a mesmerizing school of fish there that kept swirling around in a cyclone-like pattern. Around and around and around. Fascinating and cool, but it felt a bit like watching a fish tank from the top. So Kiernan's friend Oliver insisted we head down "into the tunnel" to better see the fish. We told him we'd get around to it. He persisted, politely. We repeated that we would get to it. He insisted, again politely. We relented.
Once down there it was clear that Oliver was right. It was a much better view. The boys grabbed these little placards showing all the fish and other life that could be seen in the tank. I have a better picture of this on my phone, but this one will have to do.
They parked themselves there and tried to identify every creature they could. Kiernan loves to do this at aquariums. Doesn't matter the size. This one at the Science Center. Various tanks at Disney World. The huge tanks at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. The every day tanks at our favorite pet store, Kahoots. Doesn't matter how many times he's done it. He loves to look at the list of what animals should be in the tank and find every one.
I'm so happy he has found a friend who wants to do this too.
How cool is that?
