Newport Aquarium

One of the many great things about living in Lexington is its proximity to other cities and fun things to do.  Cincinnati, OH is about an hour and fifteen minutes away so Jordan and I thought a day trip one Saturday would be nice.  We had wanted to take Shadow to the Newport Aquarium for some time and woke up one morning saying, "Let's do it."  So, another Smith adventure was underway.

Newport, KY is just across the river form Cincinnati.  The Aquarium is in a promenade among restaurants and shopping with a great view of the Ohio River and downtown Cincinnati.  We took a few minutes just walking around, taking in the views, and then the seasonably hot weather lured us inside.

The Aquarium is home to thousands of fish from all parts of the world.  Some very pretty, some very ugly, and some that make you wonder, "Is that really a fish?"  But I think the thing Jordan and I enjoyed the most was watching Shadow's reaction to everything.  That is what is so fun about having children, you get to see the world again through there eyes.

One of the main attractions at this aquarium is a 14 foot alligator they have named Mighty Mike.  Shadow wasn't sure what to think about him, and I wasn't either.  He is enormous.  I tried to imagine what I would do if I saw this monster in the water or on a boat next to me.  As much as I wanted to tell myself I would be brave and be able to escape Mighty Mike, all I saw in my head was myself freezing in horror as I gave Mike an easy kill.  We quickly moved on.

This picture was taken after we had to get after Shadow for wanting to climb on the walls and beat on the glass.  He is too young to understand, but I had to tell him that it scares the fish and embarrasses mommy when he does that.  He ponders on this for a few moments and simply says "okay".

The Aquarium is home to penguins too!  Shadow kept laughing and saying "bird!" They all were very cute and properly dressed in their natural tuxedos.  Shadow wanted to take these home.

But the thing Shadow liked the most was the shark tank.  Every time one would pass us he would cry out and laugh and then look at us to see if we saw it too.  I was afraid he would be a little scared like he was with the alligator, but he was having too much fun.  It was hard to pull him away when it was time to go. You can see a video of Shadow and the Sharks below.

We quickly exited through the gift shop, trying to avoid the numerous displays of bouncing balls and stuffed animals and found some lunch at Five Guys.  We filled our tummies and were ready to head back to Lexington.  That is, after Mommy had to stop at H&M and Shadow went to the Disney Store. :)