Exploring the marshes and the aquarium

On a couple of mornings last week, the kids and I explored the saltwater marshes. Galveston suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Ike, so there was a lot of debris to work around, but the Es loved seeing the giant boats and the birds. We saw some spoonbills and egrets, but I only got a picture of the great blue heron.

In the afternoon on Tuesday, we went to the aquarium at Moody Gardens. The Rainforest Pyramid and the Imax were closed for repairs, but we got to see a shark exhibit and the kids especially liked the seals and the penguins.

Here's one of the best non-people pictures. Who doesn't love a pufferfish?

And this is one of my favorites with people. I love Ella's reflection in the tunnel wall. (Just FYI for anyone who hasn't been to this aquarium, it's a good one for little ones because they have neat features like this tunnel and it's not overwhelmingly long. We were there for about and hour and half and got to see all exhibits, find all of the shark stamps for the scavenger hunt, and play for awhile at the touch tank.)

Here are Ella and Egan inside a diver's cage. Ella kept telling me not to get too close because she was a shark and she would eat me. I tried to explain that the sharks (hopefully) stay outside of the cage, but she liked her game better.

Nico was awake and happy pretty much all of this excursion.

Ella convinced Egan to get low and talk to these fish. I wish I could've gotten the view from the other side.

I've got some more pictures from this trip that I'll get posted later today or tomorrow. Hope you're enjoying them as much as we enjoyed taking them.