You know how I said I wasn’t really “a zoo person”?
Well, I’m not really “an aquarium person” either.
I mean…eh. I’ve generally always felt that there are things more exciting than glass walls with fish behind them. Like eating those fish with soy sauce on top, or looking at things that make noise, like movies.
Anyway, I’d like to retract that statement. I was not “an aquarium person” for the bulk of my lifetime, up until the point when I had a child and discovered that zoos and aquariums are basically prizes for parents. You get your children’s arms into jackets that they clearly view as the visible manifestation of misery and confinement, pack up their diaper bags, maneuver them into their five-point harnesses (we’ve got three kids riding in one backseat at the moment, so the simple act of fitting together all those puzzle pieces is a pretty impressive feat in and of itself), wrestle them through the front doors of wherever you’re going, pay your million-dollar entry fee, and:
Prize.
And by “prize” I mean “children that are both happy and having a reasonably educational experience that does not involve Dora La Exploradora.”
(Is their favorite part the actual fish? Of course not; it’s the railings.)
Now, see that fountain? It’s outside the aquarium and a place that I am now intimately familiar with. I did a series of wind sprints around it because my son has not yet realized that he’s supposed to be jet-lagged, and is instead reacting to the time change with completely inconceivable amounts of energy during all hours of the day (and night; last night was like a 10-hour rave in our bedroom).
Anyway, this is the other prize that Morgan and I got after taking our kids to the aquarium: chocolate ice cream topped with olive oil and seat salt, which is – I’m serious – one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted in my life, so much so that I need you to step away from the computer right now, go get yourself some Ben & Jerry’s, and put some olive oil and salt on it.
Please do as I say; this is an important one.
