The Pate Potpourri: Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies

We have been to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies several times but this was Greta's first time. It never gets old :) I love this aquarium! The soundtrack is awesome and very fitting for an aquarium. The exhibits are top notch and the children's interactive area is the best! This is a place that I can take my children to year after year because they learn something new with each stage of life that they are in :)

I will never forget the 1st time we went to this aquarium. It was just Jeremy and me. I was 25-26 weeks pregnant with Ava. We just walked through the exhibits and talked all about how we would bring our little girl the next year. And then the next year rolled around. Ava was about 8 months old when we took her on her first trip to this aquarium. She loved the seahorses. I remember standing at that exhibit with her for what seemed like a half hour. In reality, it was probably only a few minutes. We skipped a year at this aquarium because Greta was only 8 weeks old and was still on a pretty strenuous feeding/nap schedule. We just couldn't fit it in. Then this year came. Both girls were at a great stage for us to visit again. I expected the seahorses to be a big hit again, but they weren't. Instead, the girls loved crawling in and out of the see through tanks in the interactive area. We really did stay there for a half hour. Ava dressed up in little sea creature costumes and Greta explored her independence by trying to run from me! I look forward to many more memories we will make here!