Chattanooga Aquarium and a new nephew, what more could a girl want?

For a Father's Day present, I planned a trip to Chattanooga, TN to check out the Tennessee Aquarium there. I had heard that it was supposed to be a great one, and Mark loves aquariums, so I thought it may be a good surprise! To make it even better, my mom's dear friend Jane was able to hook us up with free tickets to the aquarium and the IMAX theater. So, we were able to have a great day together, for the cost of food and gas only! You can't beat that!

We have a season pass to the Georgia Aquarium here in Atlanta- and we've been there 3 or 4 times- so I wasn't sure what we would think of the one in Chattanooga. I knew the GA one has the biggest single aquarium in the world. It is beatiful, and it is definitely worth checking out when you are in Atlanta, but it doesn't compare to the experience in Chattanooga. Each exhibit is an experience- complete with sound effects, temperatures similar to what you'd experience in nature, and even live trees and plants throughout. You would walk through the doors and feel like you are in a rainforest in South America, or in the Everglades in Florida with gators! The Tennessee Aquarium is smaller, but you get to experience the different aquariums from all levels to really see the fish. They also have a butterfly exhibit, which was my favorite part of the day by far- not only are there beautiful butterflies all over, you can actually see them coming out of their coccoons! I have never seen that in person- and it was pretty amazing, especially since butterflies have been so meaningful to me for the past few years. Alexa was scared of the butterflies- which was adorable! The whole aquarium was amazing- we really enjoyed every minute of it. The IMAX movie playing was a 3D ocean one- Alexa didn't really care to watch it. She made it through about 30 minutes of it (which is an improvement over the first movie she watched) but was really wriggly and squirmy. So I let her daddy finish the movie while we walked around outside. All in all, it was a perfect day!







To add to our good day, we got the news while we were at the aquarium that Alexa had a new baby cousin! Thomas Christian Kauffman (T.C.) was born at 3:04 pm on 6/28/09 (on the actually due date, amazingly enough). Megan did a homebirth, and considering TC was 8 lbs. 15 oz, I told her she was superwoman! That was a big baby, especially with no pain medicine at all. But he was healthy, so that is all that really matters. It was very hard for me to be gone during that time, but I know I will get to see him soon. I think it is so wonderful that he is named after my dad- who was Thomas C Kauffman- I know it would have made my dad so happy to have the first grandson named after him. I only wish he could have been here to hold him.