Happy Feet Down Under

Another rainy weekend day – what to do…Jeff suggests checking out the new Antarctica exhibit at the Melbourne Aquarium. So off we went, talking about penguins, Happy Feet, Pingu and other penguin favorites on the car ride in to town. The exhibit is very modern and quite beautifully designed but for me personally, Happy Feet has ruined my ability to look at penguins in captivity without thinking that they are longing to get out, trying to communicate, or waiting for us to leave so they can do their happy dance. The kids were quite taken with the penguins who waddled along the wall and seemed as captivated by all little people, as much as the little people were fascinated by them. Maddy was mimicking their walk, and they were all entranced to see them swimming in the glass pool. A ton of beautiful pics later we moved on to revisit the rest of the aquarium. The kids are finally reaching an age where they are beginning to enjoy animals and looking at things instead of necessarily doing things, and we have begun taking them to public places without strollers (much to the annoyance of all of the other public patrons) where we let them roam freely within a defined area. They get very excited and tend to get louder as their excitement mounts. Jeff and I wander around half watching, almost pretending that they aren’t really all ours.