that's not true. but fireflight is playing a show at kings island on saturday so we decided to take a mini vacation to go see them. since we were making the drive, we decided to leave friday morning and take a trip to the newport aquarium in kentucky.
the aquarium was just over the bridge as we entered kentucky. we told hayden once we got into kentucky and he looked around and said "wow! kentucky is as fun as heaven sometimes!" too bad we didn't get to spend more time in heaven on earth. we were simply there for the aquarium.
when we went up to pay for our tickets we all froze in our tracks for a few minutes reading a sign that stated no strollers were allowed until after 4pm. we were in trouble. we walked in and they "parked" our stroller for us, looked at the fear in our eyes and asked "does he run away a lot?" ahhh, yeah. turns out they will give you a child leash if you want one. and if i were in charge, i would have taken it. dave decided to give it a try without it at first and if it was just too difficult, we'd come back up and get one. talan actually did pretty well though, and we didn't end up going back for one afterall.
the boys seemed to LOVE the aquarium. they were far more interested there then they were at the zoo. i think their most favorite part was the "great white cage dive experience." we went into a little room and stood in front of a movie screen. they made it appear as though we were in a cage and on the screen, great white sharks were swimming towards us. they would bump into our cage and the floor would move as if we were really under water in the cage. the boys loved it and asked to immediately go again once it was over. of course, i loved it too!
they had a great rainforest exhibit and we were able to buy some nectar to feed to the birds. most of the birds were pretty full so it took some time to find some that would actually eat it. hayden had a blast doing it. all of a sudden, a bunch of the birds flew around and one landed right on hayden's shoulder. he didn't realize it at first, but when he did, the nectar flew all over mom who was holding hayden. he didn't really freak out, it just startled him at first.
a bit later, mom was helping to feed one of the birds when the bird grabbed on to the cup. more nectar spilled on to her right as the bird turned around and pooped on her.
after the pooping incident we decided to head out so mom could clean up and so nobody else would get pooped on.
we finally made it around to the shark petting exhibit, which was what i was dying to get to. at first we headed to the slightly deeper water where some sharks were just laying and there were far less people. i was able to pet some while they lay there and i tried lifting hayden up and over to allow him to as well. his arms were a bit too short as he came up after his forehead touched the water but his fingers didn't get to touch the sharks.
after awhile, dave went to watch the penguins but i couldn't break myself away from the sharks. i brought hayden over to the more shallow waters where the sharks were swimming around in circles and hayden was finally able to really pet them. we loved it and i didn't want to ever leave!
we eventually did and then went to watch the penguins for a bit, which hayden loved. talan was pretty much at the end of his rope and didn't want to sit still for anything. it was quickly becoming very obvious we needed to head out and SOON.
the penguin exhibit was the last exhibit which worked out well for everyone. so we headed back out to our car, crossed over the bridge, leaving heaven on earth behind and entering back into ohio so we could check in to our hotel.
we got to the hotel (the kirkwood inn, which i HIGHLY recommend to anyone staying in the area) and decided we would eat dinner first so that the boys would have more time to swim in the pool after. our plan almost completely backfired as while we were eating a HUGE storm came in.
hayden prayed and asked god to make the rain go away so he could swim and was ecstatic a bit later that "god listened!" luckily the storm did pass and by the time we got back to the hotel and put the boys in their bathing suites it had totally blown over.
hayden had a great time swimming and talan was far more brave than he should have been. i guess he kept thinking the pool was no different than the one he had recently been in at grandma's house and thought he could simply step off the edge into the pool and be fine. he would get so mad when i would grab his arm and not let him just jump in.
we let them swim for a bit and then finally headed back into our rooms and got ready for bed. it had been a very long day but that didn't stop talan from staying up for hours after bed time.
hayden slept in the room with mom while talan slept in his pack 'n play in our room. for awhile he thought it was playtime and just messed around. at one point, i look over and he had gotten himself out of the pack 'n play and was climbing up onto the bed with us. when we finally turned all the lights off and he realized he really did have to sleep there, the screaming started. neither one of the boys have ever been good with sleeping outside of their cribs. so it took awhile for him to calm down and finally fall asleep.
day 1= a huge success and lots of fun. can't wait for day 2. a day of roller coasters and justica!
talan touching the horseshoe crab:
hayden's turn:
hayden touching the starfish:
talan's turn (dave thought it was dead):
it was amazing to watch hayden look so intently at every single exhibit:
you have no idea how many times talan got his head bonked in these tunnels. it was quite deceiving: 
hayden LOVED these lobsters. i think it's because they were from "florida":
hayden spied a gator:
this one was missing a foot. awesome:
the dudes spending lots of time at the gator exhibit:
talan just thought this was a big dance pad:
feeding the birds in the rainforest:
right after hayden noticed the bird that landed right on his shoulder:
this is a shot of mom feeding a bird just seconds before she got pooped on. so bummed i didn't get that shot:
jellyfish:
hayden was bad so we threw him in for a bit:
the shark tunnel:
that's dave, hayden and talan in a bubble on the other side of the shark tank:
hayden's ferocious shark face:
i could have stayed here all day:
he tried, but he never could reach them on this side:
we eventually pushed passed the crowd and had much better luck petting the sharks as they swam by us:
leaving the aquarium you can see all of the sharks from above. you have no idea how much it took for me to not jump in:
i was quickly trying to take this picture and had no idea the pose hayden had struck until after the fact:
kentucky. aka heaven:
it didn't take long for talan to crash in the car on the way to the hotel:
pool time:
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