I should start this post out by asking- have you seen the movie Dolphin Tale? Friends of ours recommended it and let us borrow their copy to watch. Our family loved it and wanted to watch the sequel right away. Then we told family and friends to watch it. (If you haven’t seen it, it’s a heartwarming and inspiring movie the whole family will love.) Bracken and I watched Dolphin Tale with my mom and grandma during our trip at Thanksgiving, and then talked about plans to visit the Clearwater Marine Aquarium (where the dolphins from the movie, Winter and Hope, live) when we went to visit my mom in Florida. (That’s where we were headed on our road trip up the coast, when we stopped by A Good Yarn, by the way.) We looked forward to visiting the aquarium for months. Our current reads are the books pictured above, that we got at the gift shop the day we went. Okay, I’ll get to the pictures of the aquarium…

When we got to the aquarium, the first question Bracken asked was if Rufus the pelican was real or just made up in the movie.  We were told he was real, but that wasn’t his real name. We went to where Winter and Hope were and got to see Hope swimming under the water. Someone told us if we put our hands on the glass she might swim close to us and she did come pretty close, so we got a great view of her. We weren’t able to see Winter very well that day, but we could say hello to her from afar. There were other animals to see at the aquarium too- like sharks and turtles.

My mom signed us up for a Sea Life Safari Boat Tour and that was a highlight of our day. During the boat ride, they did a net pull and then showed us the different creatures found in the water. It was interactive, and so great for kids. We learned a lot, and our guide made everything we learned so interesting while adding humor in all along the way. Then the boat took us to a tiny island they called Shell Island and everyone got to stretch their legs and collect shells before heading back on the boat to the aquarium. We saw dolphins swim by the boat and they recognized one they had rehabilitated and then released from the aquarium.

Going to the aquarium was such a memorable experience for us, I’m so grateful we were able to. Tomorrow I’ll share something at the aquarium that especially touched my heart…