Underwater World

We made our very first trip to Underwater World at the Mall of America today. We actually went up because there was an exhibition called 'Passport to Korea' going on at the Mall. Sorry that I didn't notify everyone but I found out about it so late that I didn't get any emails out. Anyway, we also managed to get to Underwater World too. We LOVED it!! Unlike our visit to Mystery Cave, this exhibit was loved by ALL family members. Charles was in his element as you will see in the pictures. Henry thought it was incredibly cool. And, Min... well Min at times was so excited at some of the fish that he would shake. Very much worth the trip to the Cities. Henry and Charles by the scuba diver advertising 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. I think Henry is pretending to be strangled. I'm not sure...but I didn't think you were at risk for being strangled by scuba divers. Hmmm... I may be wrong.

Charles posing by the poster for the movie.

Not sure what a 2 year old thinks about when they are sitting on the back of tortoise statue.

Quite a bit happier in this one.

And, Charles by the replica of his beloved Titanic. This boy is obsessed with ships and ocean storms and why ships sink. He has about 4 Titanic books. His favorite movie is The Perfect Storm. This was terribly worrisome to me for awhile because his favorite part of that movie is when the fishing boat sinks. He knew that I didn't like that movie much. Finally, I explained to him that when the boat sinks, the people die. They don't get to go home to their family. He just looked at me and said, 'Well, God just goes down and gets them and takes them to Heaven.' I didn't have anything more to say.

Charles by the waterfall. Another favorite of his. He loves waterfalls, rivers, hoses, swimming and anything else that has to do with water.

All in all, the trip was good. The boys had fun and so did mom and dad. The Korean exhibit was good. I wish we had gotten to go on Friday or Saturday when the performances were different, but we were happy with what we saw and it appeared to be well attended.

Oh no...a 2 year old on wheels!!

Oh yes... Min is learning to ride a trike. As you will see, he's not very fast so he isn't too dangerous yet. But, he will only get faster. And....steering is a definite concern. Thankfully, he likes to wear his helmet.

Mystery Cave

We took a day trip to Mystery Cave this Sunday. Charles has been very interested in caves ever since we looked through the gate of the cave at Quarry Hill. The tour was fun...about 1 hour. The big boys did great. It got a little long for Min, but he did okay. This is a lake in the cave. Very interesting. I was amazed at how clear the water was.

The fossil of a cephalopod. I'm no geologist so can't really tell you what they look for real, but the fossil was pretty cool.

A bat. Yes, there were a few bats. They were all mostly like this...sleeping, I think. At the very least, not flying around. We did see one bat flying but it was about 20 feet in front of me and, thankfully, flying the other direction. That saved me some embarrassment as I'm sure I would have screamed had it flown toward us.

The boys in one of the passage ways.

Min making his 'dork' face.