Baby Visits the Seattle Aquarium

A few months ago, I finally got up the courage to take the baby to the Seattle Aquarium. Why courage you might ask? Because driving through downtown and along the waterfront in Seattle can be quite a challenge. Then there's the parking puzzle. Without other grown-ups to help me, I had visions an hour in bad traffic, struggling into a tiny parking space, hardly being able to get the baby out, and then having to stroller her through more heavy traffic for miles before getting to the venue. It turns out I'm just a huge worry wart.


Even though it was the latter end of morning rush hour, we made it into the city without any trouble. We were on the waterfront in no time, and we actually got parking directly across from the aquarium! I think it helps that we arrived just before it opened. Maybe we just got lucky. It still cost a pretty penny, but that was okay. Once we finally made it inside, and we could see the diver in the huge tank in the entry way, I knew it had been worth the trip.

Delphinium was silent and riveted on all the fish, on the swimming man, and then on the huge eel that swam past. She didn't seem worried, just really, really interested in it all. Then the diver actually waved at her! I think she would have been fine just to stand there the whole day, but there was so much still to see. We were there with our baby group, so we snapped a quick picture of all the moms and babies (and the diver too!) and then headed out to see the rest of the animals.

First came the touching pools that were supposed to represent the tide pools around Seattle. The variety is amazing. The colors on the sea stars and nudibranch is impressive, and you'll find huge purple monsters "holding hands" with smaller, finer fingered, orange ones. Delphinium didn't actually get to touch yet (I know I'm an over-protective mommy!) because there must be lots of people germs in there even if they've somehow sanitized the fish.

Next up we did the dark aquariums that are meant to show off the animals who live deep underwater. This was one of the baby's favorite parts since the aquariums are right at eye level, and many of the fish are brightly-colored. As expected the clown fish got a big reception even though she hasn't seen Finding Nemo yet. Her favorite was something called the Devilfish with spiny fins and red and black coloring. Certainly they were very impressive, if not beautiful, and she chattered at them for several minutes.

By the time we hit (not literally of course) the otters and birds and other outdoor animals, the baby's eyes were beginning to get heavy. We admired a few more displays, and then it was time to head for home. With a nap smack in the middle of the day, you can't do any one activity for more than a little while. We will need to head back to the aquarium to finish enjoying all the animals. That's no problem since it's a place I know were going to visit many times in the coming years. Next time we'll have to take Daddy.