'DAU-FINS!!!!!'

In case you hadn't guessed, Lily Ruth and I made it to the aquarium again. Daddy had to work down there last week, so we drove down with him, and played while he worked. Poor Daddy.

Lily Ruth is so funny! I let her 'take' several pictures of the dolphins in the underwater viewing area. Immediately following each one, she would turn the screen around, and run up to the window excitedly yelling 'dau-fins, is YOU! Is YOU dau-fins!' She genuinely couldn't understand why they didn't rush over to see themselves on camera.

At one point, she had been sitting quietly with me on a bench when she abruptly jumped down and ran over to the window. She whapped both hands against the glass just as one of the dolphins swam by. He stopped, flipped over onto his back, and glided in (nose first) toward her with his mouth open in a huge grin. Just so you know, an upside-down dolphin grin is VERY toothy. Lily jumped, shrieked and looked at me with wide eyes. I said 'he's so silly! That silly boy is playing with you!' She thought about it for a short second, grinned, turned back to the dolphin and giggled. He obligingly lingered near her turning, flipping and generally showing off. Heaven.

We had a great time. In addition to extensive time with her new boyfriend the dolphin, we petted rays, flirted with turtles, and learned to swing from handrails... thank you, hoodlum jerk kids, now my daughter is obsessed with swinging from things meant to keep people back from exhibits... but it was worth it.

Since it was almost her birthday, we bought a little something in the gift shop. Lily Ruth is delighted with her new water bottle :-)

She had to take it to Starbucks the next day and show it off to her barrista friends. She was so excited that she even SPOKE to Abby - who has been waiting for that day for a very long while!

Cutie Patootie, no?