bawlamore, hon.

Really, this post starts with a plea for prayer. My sweet little friend is in the ICU with a yucky infection on top of his chronic lung disease. Ever since the day that he was born (9 weeks, or so, early) God has done so many great things and shown Himself in amazing ways- but he is fighting another little battle right now.

In an effort to help out his mom and dad in even the tiniest way, we spent a couple of days with his big sister, trying to keep her 5-year-old-self occupied and entertained with some of the fun that Baltimore has to offer.

First stop, the Maryland Science Center. When we first arrived I thought this adventure would only be short lived. The dino bones were only so-so compared to the cheap-as-free Smithsonian and for a five year old, Newton's Alley just wasn't going to cut it. As much as I tried to interest her in gyro-sphere's, how pulleys work and a stringless harp, it was a little above this kindergartner (and she's the smartest!). And, one can only stare at the giant animatronic blue crab for so long.

Then... we found the Kid's Corner...

A special haven of wonder for kids only up to 8 years old- this trove included the simplistic joys of knobs to turn, buttons to push and running water to splash around in. And it, was, awesome. We spent well over an hour playing "captain of the ship" and other such imaginary games.

Here we are "under water". This section featured 4-foot tall ceilings... hooray!

Day two we visited the National Aquarium, because, "prices take a dive, fridays after five". As a side note, you may or may not know that I have a relatively irrational fear of aquariums. Mostly it's a claustrophobia thing that tends to be very real when I have to drive through underwater tunnels (don't judge) and all I can think about is the amount of pressure above me... somehow this transferred to aquariums which is just embarrassing.

Anyway, I've gotta tell you- National Aquarium- really not so bad after all. (phew!) I found that most of the tanks housing the fish were small and spread out.

And truly, all of the fish and squid and eels and whatever that live underwater are pretty incredible creatures.

Of course, we eventually got to the gigantic panes of glass lodging only sharks, and I was less than excited about that section.

It was a little tighter of a space and I believe that I have a healthy and totally justified and rational fear of sharks. To anything that bears its two rows of razor-sharp teeth and moves too fast for me to be able to even snap a picture of, I say, no thank you.

She felt the same way...

But don't worry, once we made it through we thought we would do our best to show those sharks what we are made of!

Whadd'ya think of our jaws, you Baltimorean mega shark?!