A Visit to the Downtown Aquarium

Dear Jack,

I think if you could picture heaven right now, it would be an ocean. You love fish so very much. So for you, Monday was perhaps the best day ever. We went to the Downtown Aquarium. We got there when they opened at ten in the morning and other than a break for lunch, we stayed until four in the afternoon with no nap. You were such a happy boy.

I asked you and your sister to pose for a picture by this shark. Sydney immediately reached over to the shark. "I chuch shark!" you said. So both of you touched the shark.

The best part of the experience was that you got to share it with Gram, Aunt Rachel, Will, Jamie and your sister and me.

The Aquarium is special to Will because his daddy, your Uncle James, brought him and Aunt Rachel here on their Houston visit back when you were a very tiny baby in the summer of '09. Will likes to show his sister Jamie the places that Uncle James thought were fun. For you, though, I suspect that the draw will be Will and Jamie and that this is a special place for you and your cousins. I imagine that would have made your uncle very happy... that his son and daughter and his niece and nephew have a special place to go together.

The part that you and Will thought was the best, though, was the spot where you can pet the rays, the bamboo sharks, the horseshoe crabs and the starfish.

When everyone else was ready for lunch, you and Will needed more time with the fish, so we stayed behind and wound up visiting with one of the docents. I was explaining to the docent that you like to learn the names of fish the way other boys like to learn the names of dinosaurs or construction vehicles. The docent thought I was talking about Will until I asked you what kind of shark was in the tank and you said, "ba-boo shark." The docent looked completely surprised and asked how old you were.

I was quick to explain that your cousin Will is also very interested in ocean life. Will corrected me to expand that to "all animals." With that, the docent launched into a very interested series of spiels about the different animals in the room.

He let Will hold the Horseshoe Crab upside down. Will mentioned that he had heard that their tails break off easily and they can regrow them. The docent confirmed that and showed Will how the crab he was holding was mid-molt and that if the crab had lost his tail, it would regrow it during the molt. He then added that a Horseshoe Crab molts seventeen times and for sixteen of those, the crab is a female and on the last molt, some number of them will molt into males.

Seeing your big cousin holding a crab made you want your own turn. I was too busy helping you to get a picture, but you clearly said "huss-su kwab u-side down" and the docent let you hold one of the smaller ones.

He then showed us a bamboo shark egg and used the light on his phone to illuminate the baby fish and the yolk. How cool!

We then left the aquarium and went over to the Hard Rock cafe for lunch.

You were very cool about the whole thing.

After lunch, Gram needed in from the heat and Jamie needed a nap. You needed to see more fish.

We also saw the other animals they had, like the white tiger and the reptiles.

I had to take a picture of you and the milk snake. You know why? "Red touch black, friend of Jack!"

And of course they had jackfish in one of their big tanks.

You also found the pigeons extremely interesting and chased them all over the grounds.

Towards the end, you and your sister happily played in the fountains and then we took one last ride on the train and left.

Overall, a very happy day for a Jack.

Love,
Mom