Local Attractions: Northern Delaware

Delaware Museum of Natural History:  Interesting exhibits for parents, and this place had a great room designed just for hands-on play for little ones.  We could probably spend at least an hour there alsone.  I wish I could make Theodore's room look just like this!

Camden Children's Garden:  We had a great time here with our cousins!  This place has limited hours, but kids two and under are free and the rest are $6 if you can go a time that they are opening.  Theo loved the carousel, as well as the ability to run around outside and see exhibits.

Milburn Orchards:  In addition to picking fruit, they have a petting zoo year round and a newly remodeled farmer's market.  They also have a playground, wooden train, sandbox, and other outside attractions for the little ones to play on.

 Adventure Aquarium:  Similar to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, a great place to spend the day.  Is better in the afternoon, as school groups tend to dominate the exhibits in the morning.  They have many touch tanks for the kids to feel the creatures.

Delaware Children's Museum:  This is a fairly new museum, where we can spend an hour or two with our active toddler.  There are quite a few different exhibits, but T. spent a large amount of time at this one last time:

National Aquarium in Baltimore

About a month ago, we ventured out to Baltimore on a very warm Saturday to visit the aquarium and harbor there. Brian and I had a good time spending the day together. The aquarium was almost good enough to earn the expensive entry fee. There were lots of different exhibits focusing on different habitats. There was also:

-a 4-D show in the immersion theatre (lots of surprised/screaming children)

-a dolphin show: Our Ocean Planet (always amazing to watch these creatures)

-the jellies exhibit: Jellies Invasion: Oceans out of Balance (who doesn't love a jelly fish?)

We also spent some time strolling around the Inner Harbor. It was packed with bustling people.

We're thinking the babies room is going to have an ocean, under-the-sea theme, so I'm thinking my sister should make us one of these for her arts and crafts project for next year. They are so cute. We found them in the gift shop.

Guest Post: Brian Introduces You to Coriander and Our Other Pets

Shannon has been bugging me about doing a post for a while now, so I figured I'd do the official post about our new dog.

We acquired Coriander on June 11th. She is a mixed breed, probably somewhere around 25-40% Beagle (her sire looks like a Beagle, but is quite a bit larger and lankier, with smaller ears) and her dam looks kind of like some kind of Collie, but not in coloration. Cori is about three months old and well behaved for her age, obeying commands about 60% of the time. Despite being a fairly calm puppy, the cat is not happy about having a new animal in the house.

So far I've learned that our dog likes:
Being near Shannon and me
Eating sticks
Drinking water
Chasing and chewing on tennis balls
Chewing on ropes
Sleeping in the cat's bed

She does not like:
Treats
Ear medicine
Baths (although since she discovered she could drink the water she doesn't mind as much)
Being growled at by the cat

Dog breeds that scare her include:
Staffordshire Terriers
Bulldogs
Golden Retrievers
Miniature Poodles
Papillons

The last two are particularly embarrassing.

In other critter news, I also put a Percula clownfish in my tank. There is a local breeder that has been supplying them relatively cheap to the fish store across the street, and Shannon has been wanting me to put a fish in there for the last few months, so I thought I'd surprise her with one when she got back from her "Girls" trip. In the background of this picture are my colony of Aiptasia, which is kind of like the dandelion of the Cnidarian world.

The other thing that may not interest people as much is that I also have a red alga that has been growing vigorously, and looks pretty cool. As near as I can tell, it looks like some kind of Laurencia sp. but I'm not 100% sure. Other things in this picture include a red anemone and about a dozen little white feather-duster worms.

Shannon also wants me to not forget to mention the cat. I think Kiki feels a little neglected because she can't come sit at the dinner table with us anymore due to the dog, but she's been coming out and roaming the house again, so she isn't completely anti-social, just bitter.
Now, I've been a good boy so I'm going to help myself to some ice cream.

Aquarium Update

The shells are from our trip to Assateague Island. As you can see there are still no fish yet, Brian's still getting the tank set up.

These are the red crabs that killed the snails in these cool shells so they could have them for their own.

This is the newest addition, some kind of little tree. It's closed up in this picture.

And finally the new bubble anemone-it's a little sick right now (it was on sale-and since the tanks still adjusting it seemed like a good idea to try an anemone that is on sale in case there are any problems) but it is still pretty.

Brian's Aquarium

Brian has been setting up a salt-water aquarium for a few weeks now. He started with the live rocks, and then added some snails and crabs. Things are really starting to come alive. Here's a preview: