Grant's First Aquarium & Beach Trip

A couple weekends ago (yup, behind again) we decided to take a  day trip down to the Carolina Beach area to take Grant to the aquarium there and maybe spend some time on the beach if we had time. We'd been talking all summer about a trip like this but the truth is...we're not beach people, really. And it just didn't happen. So we waited until after labor day to do it when the crowds would be way less than during the "summer season".

The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher was our first stop. We were really excited about taking Grant there. When we took him to the science museum back in February, he loved all the fish and turtles swimming around so we knew he'd love the aquarium.



I tried to get him to pose with Husband but Grant was ready to explore.

 

There was lots of pointing. He loved the fish.

 



The turtles were another favorite of Grant's

 

An albino alligator! They had some regular (and HUGE) alligators
in another area but they made Grant a little nervous and
he wasn't willing to pose for a picture.

 

Still not willing to stop for pictures.

 

Posing in the crab. I had to crawl in with him so I could
hold him up to the face hole.



And Husband had the camera...



It turns out they've got a great playground area outside. Grant played
for a bit and then we all had a late lunch of very tasty snow cones.

We were exhausted when we left there. The aquarium was unbelievably humid and Grant was the only one of us that didn't seem to care. If Husband had said he wasn't up for an hour or two on the beach, I would not have been heartbroken. But he didn't. He wanted to go. So we stopped at the beach, changed, and trudged out on the sand. The ocean was feeling very tsunami-ish that day so we didn't take Grant out far. But he went in far enough to know he loved it.


Beach boy.

  

First time the ocean hit those little feet

   

Hanging out like Daddy.



Of course, the monster trucks had to come too.
That's Crushstation. Fitting, yes?

  

Easily my favorite picture of the day!

 So stopping at the beach turned out to be a good idea. We both had lots of fun playing the water and sand with Grant. But by the time we got home...holy crap were we tired! But it does make me look forward to doing it next year. (I'll just make sure we're much better prepared...like maybe bring towels next time. Because we forgot this time)