Third Year Anniversary Trip: SeaLife Aquarium

April 7, Zack and I celebrated 3 years of marriage.  In the spirit of celebration, we decided to take a trip down to the SeaLife Aquarium in Tempe, AZ.  It was a hit!  Zack actually had to work the day of our actual anniversary, but the very next day, we packed ourselves up and left early for Phoenix.  We arrived there at 1 (we are serious early birds over here (I was actually a bit annoyed that we were so late and really wanted to be there by 10, but we're not exactly a hop, skip, and a jump away from being early birds.  Wallaces are almost always late.) 

BUT this place was a hit, early arrivers or not!  We saw giant fish, jelly fish, turtles, sharks, large lobsters, and some scary fish (that I have no idea what the name was), to name a few.  We also saw pretend dinosaur bone in one the the exhibits and Zack and I tried for the longest time to figure out the name of the critter it was suppose to represent.

Janni was so enamored and glued to all of the fish tanks and scenery, that it was nearly impossible to get her to look at the camera to take a picture.

Arizona isn't exactly next door to the sea (well, technically we are, but it's still a minimum 6 hour drive), so it doesn't contain seals, penguins, or any sea mammals that other aquariums right next to the sea would contain.  But Janni still loved it and had such a good time that she was super sad when we had to leave.  She was especially fond of the soft play area and had fun going down the slide over and over again.

The aquarium is actually located at a mall, so when we were done, we went to the food court and had lunch (we live in a small town, so our mall food area consists of a Subway, Dairy Queen, a closed down coffee shop, a cupcake joint, and a very dodgy Chinese restaurant, so the fact that this mall had about 30 different places to choose from was a real treat).  Zack and I both chose a taco joint and Janni went with her traditional pizza and we all were happy (the food wasn't picture worthy, so there were no pictures of the food).  We decided to walk around the mall to work off our lunch and see if there was any wedding anniversary gifts that we just had to have.  Luckily for our pocket book, nothing suited our fancy and we decided that we would buy frozen yogurt.  Always an excellent choice.

The aquarium was so much fun, and Janni had enjoyed it so much, that we decided to go through it again before heading home, since it was an all-day admission! 

 Yep, no idea what this fish is called, but it is the stuff nightmares are made of!

Janni still had a hard time, this time around, paying attention and being patient enough to take decent photos to show her joy, but reset assured, she had a blast!

We have been to several really nice aquariums during vacations to California, and so I was a little unsure about whether or not it spoiled us for aquariums and would find this one disappointing!  But I was delighted when I found that I wasn't disappointed at all!  Maybe it partly had something to do with Janni really enjoying it so much, but not entirely.  This aquarium was neat, interesting, and some of the larger tanks just floored me at how beautiful they were!  I definitely would suggest it to other people!