Under The Sea

On Saturday we all went to The Blue Planet aquarium with my sister Helen & her friend Ian. This gorgeous picture of Luke just about sums the day up perfectly! Luke & Timmy were in their element seeing all the fish as soon as they arrived. Jordan, however was absolutely beside himself with terror from the moment we entered the building! He had got it into his head that the sharks would eat all the fish to which we pointed out he had nothing to worry about as he is not a fish! He then told us that the shark might eat him instead! We have no idea where he got this fear from as we have never discussed the matter together...
After many tears & screaming (!) Helen, Lee, Ian & I all managed to coax him into the first room! He kept on telling us that he would NOT go in the tunnel. Meanwhile Timmy & Luke were marvelling at all the amazing fish. They loved the cat fish with it's huge whiskers. In contrast, Timmy was desperate to see the 'scary' sharks in the tunnel.

Ian snapped away taking lots of photos of the fish & frogs. He let Jordan take a few piccies which really helped him to relax I think. Can't wait to see what the photos he took look like!
After about 15 minutes Jordan was OK with being in the same room as the fish & posed for a little photo with Luke...

.. Next thing I know Jordan is stroking the Rays in the touch pool & is loving it!! (This is what they are doing in the photo above but you can't really tell!) All 3 boys just loved touching the Rays & were fascinated watching them have their squid breakfast. Jordan said it was much too late for it to be their breakfast! It was about 11am by then.

Lee decided to take Jordan into the tunnel to face his fear. I heard crying for a little while as they went through... Minutes later Jordan came running back through the tunnel to find me & Timmy & Luke with a great big smile on his face saying 'Mummy, Mummy! It isn't scary at all! I love it & I've found Nemo!' Lee told me that Jordan had kept his eyes closed half way around the tunnel, then had suddenly looked up where the tanks of Clown fish & Pyjama fish were & realised that it was actually OK! Timmy loved the Pyjama fish & kept saying 'They're going to bed! It's night time!'

We went round & round the tunnel over & over again for about an hour! The boys loved seeing Mr Ray & the guitar fish & Mr Shark especially. The yellow fish (in the photo above) get yellow-er when they are happy so we told Jordan they were so happy that he had come to see them. He liked that! Luke ran around the tunnel twice for every one the rest of us did! Timmy said 'Hello Mr Ray!' at the top of his voice every time one swam by.

And as you can see from the photo above, Jordan got very relaxed in the presence of the sharks & lay down on the travelator to enjoy the experience more fully. He said that the tunnel & stroking the Rays were the highlight of his day. We were very proud of him facing up to the thing that had scared him so much at the start of the day. It really was worth it!

We also spent a good while looking at the otters outside & playing on the new Octopus Adventure Playground. The boys really enjoyed it. It's well designed for little kids by the Little Tikes Company. We did sustain a few injuries, however which marred the experience a little. Jordan got knocked off the tight rope by a bigger kid & had a really nasty fall & Luke got a HUGE bruise on his forehead but we don't quite know how! Lee said he started shouting at some kid for 'no reason' so Lee decided it was time to go. It wasn't until a bit later when we sat down to have a drink that we saw the awful bruise on his head! No wonder he was cross with the kid!! Anyway, the boys loved the day at Blue Planet & keep asking to go again so we will definitely be back again. It is well worth the rather hefty entrance fee (for a family of 5 that is)!

On Sunday, Jordan was really unwell (which may have accounted for some of the hysteria the day before although there was no other sign of him being ill) so he stayed at home with Helen & Ian while we all went to church. Lee was singing in the band & I was leading Sparklers (the 3-5 year old kids) for the last time. There were 15 boys & 1 girl in total (less than we usually have but my goodness! FIFTEEN boys & ONE girl!)!!! We had great fun singing & playing games & watching a video all about Easter Day & talking about what Easter means to us as Christians. We made little Easter boxes with a tomb stone door on it that you could roll back to get the mini eggs out from inside it! The kids loved them! ;O)

Anyway, after church we went to Crosby beach with Helen, Ian & Jordan (who had had some Calpol & said he was feeling much better but we think it was more likely that he was just desperate to go to the beach). Had fun playing with stones & making sand castles. The boys really played together beautifully allowing Lee & I time to cuddle & chat while we watched them play. It felt very luxurious! We finished the trip with the traditional ice cream where upon Jordan's energy fizzled out again bless him! We said goodbye to Helen & Ian after we had driven them to the Wallasey Tunnel by which time all 3 boys had fallen asleep exhausted! It really was a fantastic weekend & so great to spend time with Helen & Ian too.