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I am a retired English teacher and department head, the mother of three grand mother of four, and have been married to the same man for 52 years. I subscribe to Dr. PM Forni's concept of Civility. I was born in South Philadelphia and grew up in the 'burbs. I love soft pretzels and cheesesteaks, the Phillies, the Eagles, and San Diego. I love being Mom, Aunt Kathy, Nona Kathy, and Teacher. I spend a lot of time in my gardens in the spring and summer, and in the winter I plan what I'm going to plant. I also am an avid reader and photographer.

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Saturday, August 14, 2010

Sharks, and Sting Rays, and Turtles, Oh My!

The weather has finally broken here in Maryland and we're enjoying a few days of temperate, albeit cloudy, weather.  We'll take it, knowing full well that the hot stuff WILL BE BACK.

It's Restaurant Week in Baltimore:  an opportunity to try new restaurants and re-visit faves.  Most places have a special, prix fixe menu -- three or four courses for about $30.  Last night we had a wonderful dinner in Locust Point at The Wine Market.  I had tile fish and Richard had a wonderful cod filet poached in butter.  Tonight we go to one of our favorites, Cinghalie.

As it's been way too hot to enjoy the National Zoo in DC,  Richard, middle daughter, two grand daughters and I went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.  It was a bit crowded, but the building is quite large.  We were initially hesitant about having to 'check' the stroller, but quickly understood why as we never would have made it through most of the exhibits.  Although at the first exhibit, a huge pool of sharks and sting rays, the baby yelled, "LET'S SWIM IN THE POOL!"  That's when daughter picked her up and held tight. The building is equipped with riserless escalators, so it wasn't too bad.  The girls enjoyed the exhibits and husband and I enjoyed watching our girls.

                                          We saw turtles!!

                                          And sharks!!

                                           And a rain forest...

             And crawled all over our mother and cousin at the dolphin show!

Afterward, we walked around the Inner Harbor to see the USS Constellation and then went to lunch at Mama's On the Half Shell (right next door to it's sister restaurant Nacho Mamas) where I had a seafood club  sandwich (Whoa Mama!) and two mojitos.  It was a great day and we all slept well that night!

13 comments:

TAG said...

Sounds like a fun day. Gotta love those days with the children and grandchildren.

TAG

Betsy Banks Adams said...

What a wonderful day you must have had with your daughter and the grands. I'm sure that little gal LOVED seeing all of the fish... What a neat thing to do on a hot, summer day.

Hugs,
Betsy

Anonymous said...

I love that entire area surrounding the Aquarium. Still working on hubby to some day move back to Maryland... heck, it's only one state away! Just load up the house and go, right? LOL

Di

Purple Flowers said...

I am glad you were able to get out of the house and enjoy some entertainment. The weather is the same here in NJ, and I love it! Last week we went into NYC and today we went to our favorite pie cafe - yum. Once in a while I must have pie for lunch! Take Care.

Rick Rockhill said...

I love the National Zoo. Actually I enjoy most zoos. Its so great to be some close to and be able to appreciate animals! Great pics, btw.

Bilbo said...

If you want something interesting to do with the grandchildren, try the Lego exhibit at the National Building Museum. They have a group of enormous Lego buildings that are awesome, and a large play area with lots of kid-height table space and bazillions of Lego blocks of all shapes and colors. We had a blast. Warning, though: get tickets ($5) in advance...it sells out fast on weekends.

Gilly said...

Sounds like a great day out! But I don't think swimming with sharks will ever catch on! ;)

And she is a real poppet!

Lena said...

What a wonderful family outing. Sounds like a good time was had by all!!

happyone said...

Sounds like a great day. I've been to the aquarium a couple of times but not recently.

George said...

It sounds as if you had a fun day. It's always wonderful to be with grandchildren at a place like that.
Would you mind sending some of that temperate weather down our way?

Mage said...

Sounds like you had just too much fun. :)

RYN: You did leave me a note on yesterdays entry. :)

Sweet Virginia Breeze said...

I love aquariums! Sounds like everyone had a fun day.

KiraAJ said...

Sounds like a wonderful day darl! I cant wait to get home and visit my fav aquarium in sydney :) cant wait for my son to experience it thats for sure! We have been having similar weather here the last couple of days i must say i have enjoyed every minute of it! :)