New England Aquarium

I have been neglecting my blog. We were busy for a few days and then last weekend my husband and I came down with the norovirus (which felt like certain death) over the weekend. He felt better after about 12 hours or so, it took me a solid 48 hours to get it together again. So bad we had to have family come take Boston for us for several hours. But much better now!
Last Friday, we made our first trip to the New England Aquarium with our aunts and Boston. I thought it might be a little early for Boston to enjoy it but boy was I wrong. He loved it! His eyes lit up, his little hands were reaching and touching the glass as often as possible and his little feet were kicking all over the place in excitement. I couldn't be much happier with our experience.
I enjoyed the aquarium, they had a lot of great exhibits including sea lions, a huge penguin section, giant sea turtles, a touch tank with stingrays and sharks, and of course a million kinds of fish. I think Boston's favorite were the tanks considered boring by others. One in particular was the herring exhibit, and he loved how fast the fish swam back and forth. He even got a little upset while leaving that one.
I hate to do this because I feel like I say this about everything, but I do feel like the sea life center in Alaska is better then this aquarium. But only a little! I did love the NE one, but I kept looking at exhibits like the penguin and sea lions and thinking it would be better if they showed an underwater portion so you can see them actually swim and play. Which is something they do at the sea life center in Seward, Alaska and it's amazing! There is an upper floor where you can see the tops of the tank and then a lower floor where you cans see all the seabirds and sea lions swimming around. So I wish that was a little different because as nice as their penguin and sea lion areas were, once they went into the water you couldn't see much.
If you find yourself on your way to visit the New England Aquarium, here are some things to consider:
Admission is high, currently $24.95 per adult. Plan to spend your day there if possible!
There is a cafe inside however it's typical cafeteria type food and since the aquarium is in downtown Boston, there are a ton of other options! If you want to do that, the aquarium staff will give you a hand stamp that gives you admission until closing.
They have a stroller parking area if you choose to use it. They give you a number card to get your stroller back when you're ready. This was great for us because we could park it and carry Boston around and get him much closer to the displays and not have to fight through people with a giant stroller. This is a free service too, btw.
The sea lion exhibit is outside and a little chilly in the spring/winter so bring a coat!

Here are some pictures from our trip.