Shanghai Ocean Aquarium

For our first weekend in Shanghai, well technically second, we had sunny skies and warmer temps.  We enjoyed the donuts we'd picked up yesterday at the mall for breakfast and then made our way to the aquarium.  I used my iPhone app to show the taxi driver the name and address we wanted to go to and he nodded yes so we all piled in.  We get near the aquarium and it becomes obvious that he doesn't know where it is.  He pulls over and asks a cop and a bus driver, but neither know where the aquarium is either.  Finally another taxi driver gives us directions and we finally make it.  The driver was nice, and even stopped the meter when he realized he was lost, a first for me.  Turns out my address was wrong.  I'm going to have to double check address now before we go out, guess I will be writing a complaint to the person who wrote the app. 

 The aquarium was very nice and wasn't too crowded considering it was the weekend.  The kids had fun looking at all of the fish, especially the underwater tubes.  Unfortunately the penguin display was closed, I don't know if they were just cleaning it or redoing it.  We did get to see seal, sharks, jellyfish, and all kinds of other sea animals.  Not sure what giraffe were doing in an aquarium but Lily liked them.

 Had to bribe Charlie with food to get the smile.  When he has food on the brain there is no distracting him.  Once he had some snacks he was happy to check out all the fish.

 We will have to go back when the penguin exhibit is open, I know the kids would have loved watching them.  As we went through the aquarium the kids like always drew a lot of stares and even a few took their pictures.  Usually they are both completely unaware that they are a curiosity and just continue on their way.

When we got to the part of the aquarium dedicated to jelly fish Lily asked for the camera and told me she wanted to take a picture of the jellies.  From this point on she was the official photographer and I only got my camera back for a few minutes when she allowed me to snap a few pictures of the sharks. 

 A large part of the aquarium was these huge tanks with a tube running through it.  It was actually really cool to watch the animals swim over you or right next to you.

With Lily having such fun with my camera that I took out my phone and got a shot of my little artist in action. 

We all enjoyed the aquarium, but it was all over in an hour.  Lily keeps up a fast pace.  We exited in the gift shop, big surprise there, and both kids came home with new stuffed animals.  Lily and pink dolphin and Charlie a seal.  Not that they need anymore stuffed animals, but at the moment they have so few toys that I couldn't say no, plus they weren't near the cost of souvenirs in an American gift shop.

After the kids and daddy napped, Lucas took them to the indoor play place so mommy could read in peace for an hour.  Then it was a walk around our new neighborhood for an hour before we came home. 

It was a big night for me, I used my brand new rice cooker and made dumplings (frozen) for dinner.  Although I just boiled water and pushed a button, I'm very happy with my first attempt at Chinese cuisine.  It was a big hit with Charlie, but not Lily.  She did finally give in and ate around the dumplings.