"It's a Shark! Oh My Gosh!

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. We had nothing planned for Saturday and I wanted to get out of the house and do something fun. And since Luke has been obsessed with sharks lately, we headed up to Gatlinburg to go to the Aquarium. The traffic was pretty bad getting up there. Where it would usually take less than an hour, it took us a little over an hour and a half. But once we were there, we were happy we came.

I couldn't pass up the photo opp in front of the pretty flowers.

Another photo opp...

That catfish was bigger than Luke...

You know, it was kind of an expensive little trip -

Tickets to the Aquarium - $50

Gas there and back - $25

Souvenirs and food - $20

Hearing your 3-year old yell "It's a shark - OH MY GOSH!!" - Priceless!!

What I love about Ripley's Aquarium is the tunnel - where the sharks can swim right over your head. Greg tried to lift him up so he could see it better, but he didn't like that too much.

I kept humming the Jaws theme every time one went over our heads ...

Check out the teeth on that shark!!! Vewy Scawy!

Luke liked the sting rays. And so, of course, we talk about Nemo's teacher Mr. Ray ...

(We made many many references to 'Finding Nemo' throughout the day.)

These sting rays crack me up ... looks like Casper the friendly ghost...

Check out that huge Spider Crab... said they can live up to 100 years!

That's an eel ... isn't he scary looking??

The picture really doesn't do this turtle justice ... he was HUGE!!!

"Ooohhh.... Barracuda" Couldn't help singing the Pat Benatar song when I saw them ....

And since they make you leave via the gift shop, he had to have a shark!

Oohh... A ferrari! (Yeah, It's not real).

I have no idea what this little pose is...

Just like a kid in the candy store ... ha!

Of course I had to let him get some gummy sharks, fish and turtles... and he had to get them out himself.

And here we are on the main strip. You can't tell from this picture but it was crazy busy. Tons of people and cars. Oh, and it was 95 degrees outside!! You can probably tell the little guy is hot - his face is really red.

He did awesome. He didn't get crabby til the very end and it was understandable - we had been walking all afternoon. I knew he was tired and hungry. But overall, he had a great day!!!

And we've had our fill of Gatlinburg for another year. Maybe next summer we'll ride the sky lift.