Frolicking Flamingo: The Aquarium Post

On Casey's first real day of summer, I took the kids to the Aquarium and discovered the real challenge of having two kids -- taking decent pictures of both of them at the same time. This one's not bad:

But I took a lot more that looked like this one:

What is up with Casey? He already has that teenage malaise going? (He's just, like, so bored, sitting on a freshly hatched turtle.)

I'd get one of them into position and then the other one would turn around, causing the one in position to make a weird face. This is not a weird face, really, on either of them, no matter what you think Casey really looks like. Six year old boys just take goofy pictures.

I do better when I can just take pictures from behind:

See -- this one's better -- it's an action shot. Can't you almost hear Casey saying, "Look Mace! It's a shark!" -- and hear Mace say, "SHAAARRRR!!" (He's not big on ending consonant sounds yet).

I eventually gave up on getting a good shot of them together and let them play in the water. Mace did really well with the ladies. He kept just enough of a respectful distance not to appear too eager, but maintained enough eye contact so they would know he was interested. (I think all he was really interested in with this lovely lady was her hat, a nice floral number that she couldn't seem to keep on her head -- and Mace was testing out the rule Casey set down in our house in regard to toys, tools, and cookies: if you drop it, it's mine.) In this picture, though you can't actually see the hat, Mace is staring at it with great intensity, waiting for his opportunity.

He was very concerned for the well-being of the little girl below -- her mom kept putting her face in the water and Mace did not like it.

Casey took an enemy stationary ship captive, switched sides, and then captured his own stationary ship:

Here's Mace refusing to walk over the plexiglass window because there are sharks under there. It just didn't matter how many times we showed him that the plexiglass wasn't a hole in the floor, he wouldn't walk across it. He's no dummy -- he knows there's a first time for everything.