Shark Bait. Ooh Ha Ha

Tuesday morning in Vegas, Pops had a little bit of time to spend with us - after his 6:00 and 8:00 talks. (Insane veterinarians going to talks at 6 am in LAS VEGAS?!?!  Although maybe the other folks were just making their way in from their overnight gambling experience. Who am I to judge?) With our time to explore, we went to Shark Reef, the only predator based aquarium in North America! If you have any interest in underwater life, make sure to click on their name above (a link to their website) and look around. They have some AMAZING pictures of parts of their aquarium that I could not get due to lighting issues. For example, there is a "reef tunnel" where you walk through an exhibit with the sharks and fish swimming all around you - truly amazing. But, with all the other people in the tunnel with us and the dark lighting conditions means that you would have seen more people than fish and more flash than beauty. So, I will excuse myself from that and encourage you to go check out THEIR pictures. They are ALL better than mine - except that I have these cute little kids in mine that they did not get. Unfortunate for them... imagine their marketing opportunities with these three kids, eh?

Sort of like a telephone to hold, we could listen to information about the fish in each tank. Blossom would hand hers to me and say, "It quit talking. They hung up." So, I would punch in the numbers of the next informational segment and she would smile and listen some more. I wonder what she understood and retained!! I think she certainly retained Pops saying over and over "Ah, shark bait. Ooh Ha ha." Thanks Disney for that Finding Nemo movie. We did find Nemo's friends in the aquarium, but we never found Nemo.

Bud wanted to find the barb on the stingray, but I don't think he ever did. The stingray was interesting to watch move through the water. It moved like a wave... strange.

We eventually found the touch pool where we could touch the top of a stingray. Have any of you ever done that? I am usually pretty timid at this sort of thing. I don't like gross, yuck, slime or any of the like. But, this time, I didn't let my undercurrent of thoughts get anything out before I pulled up my sleeve and reached right in. I reached my hand into the very cool water and felt the wing (?? are they wings? I really should have asked about its anatomy!) of the big guy and was startled by its texture! I kid you not when I say it felt like a mix between velvet and satin. If you haven't felt one and you ever have the opportunity in one of these touch pools - I HIGHLY recommend that you quiet your subconscious, pull our sleeve up and shove your fisted hand with one finger pointing out into the water and wait to feel... it is so worth it. I left my hand in and felt a few stingrays. Then realized that I needed to step away and get some pictures! So, like the good VanWinkle that I was raised as, I went to the hand washing station and took care of business before positioning myself across the pool from my family. 

I told them it was cool and that they all should try it. I waited. And waited. Finally, Bud pulled his sleeve up and got ready... but, he couldn't get up the courage to plunge his hand in and touch the stingray. This photo was as close as he got for my camera. So, I put my camera away and went over to the kids and encouraged and plunged my own hand again and AGAIN! Then we saw a small guy right under us hidden in the sand. (You can see the small guy if you are really searching for it in the picture above... under Bud's hand near the edge of the pool by the blue tiles. It is kind of in a shadow and looks a bit like a blob!) So, Pops pushed some of the sand off of it so that Bud could take a tiny touch. t wasn't GROOOOOOSssssssss, so he got more adventuresome and did eventually touch one that was swimming around. Truly - a very cool experience.

This is a lionfish and while it is pretty (in an ugly kind of way) it's spines are venomous, so watch out!! Be careful, just like any good mother told you. Would you believe that their stripes are as unique to each individual lionfish as a fingerprint is to each human?! So, if you do get stung by one of those creatures, take note of their stripes so that you can identify them in the police line up. How's that for science learning today? Glad to help in your quest for lifelong learning. Let's move on. He is a weird kind of pretty/ugly and to top that... sort of sad looking. Just look at those jowls. My goodness, Mr. Tropical Fish, smile for Pete's sake! I can't find Nemo either. But, I know Marlin finds his kid, Nemo, in the end. Geesh, it's Disney and quite predictable, come on lion(king)fish!

We are all quite drawn to stars of any kind in our family. So, this starfish caught all of our attention and had to have its picture taken. So, it is placed here on our family blog and some day I'll have a nice collection of star photos that I can compile and share our fascination! For now, this post is long enough!!