"Swim so wild and you swim so free"...

Ok, so maybe she doesn't swim so 'free', but she sure is cute!

Yesterday Maddy and I went to the Aquarium to see the new baby beluga. For Christmas my brother in-law, Philip, gave me a membership to the Aquarium and it has become a great place to take Maddy when the weather is not so great. (There are only so many times you can hang out at the mall without going crazy). We've been a couple of times and mostly we just camp out in front of the beluga tank while I feed her. Well, not this time!! I have to say that I was really impressed with all the efforts they are doing to care for the baby beluga.

You have to line up to go into the downstairs viewing area. The line up wasn't too bad, I'd say we waited about 15 mins. When you get down there, you are not supposed to speak, and if you have to you are asked to whisper. They ask you to turn the flash off your camera and even ask you to take a test shot before going through the curtains to the viewing area. At the first window, there is a staff member who gives you facts about the birth and how mom and baby are doing. The whole time, there are other Aquarium staff members who are watching and recording every move mom and baby make. After a short time at the first window, they move the group (about 30 people) to the second viewing window. Here, you can ask questions if you have any. While we were at the second window the baby went to nurse from the mother. It was really neat to see and I even learned that the nursing is less of the baby sucking milk, but more about the mother squirting milk into the baby when she is latched on! While we were there you could here the staff reporting every move, including every time the baby nursed. "That was 20 seconds on the left side". It's nice to know that they are really doing everything they can to give the baby the best chance for survival.

Here is a shot of the baby nursing.


Understandably, the Aquarium was really busy, so when Maddy fell asleep I decided to go for a walk around Stanley Park instead of cruising around the Aquarium like I usually do. I found myself at the petting zoo and I decided to go in and 'surprise' Maddy when she woke up. At first I was quite excited and I couldn't wait for her to wake up, but the longer I was in there, the worse I felt for the poor animals. :) The poor things have so little room in there. There were some pigs that were in the same pen as two donkeys. Upon closer inspection, the pig was eating the donkey's poo!! Do pigs eat poo?!?! To top it off, he got really mean and vicious when the donkey tired to get in on some of the poo action. "Easy there big fella, there's plenty of poo for everything!"

"Please sir, may I have some more (poo)?"

When Maddy woke I took out of the stroller to see all the animals we read about in her "On the Farm" book. I think that she was a little grumpy or groggy because she wasn't impressed and didn't really like it. Maybe it was the hairy chickens that freaked her out. I have to admit they were a little scary looking! She warmed up a bit near the end, but we didn't stay long.

The hairy chicken

As the school year comes to an end, it's dawning on me that my year 'off' with Maddy is quickly coming to an end. I want to spend the next two months doing a lot of stuff like today to really enjoy every minute of it. If anyone has any ideas for other field trips I'd love to hear from you! If only the weather would cooperate!