For our Valentine’s Day, we wanted to something fun as a family. So we all jumped in the car and drove west to the New York Aquarium. Graham wasn’t very interested in the sea lion show, but loved all fish in the large tanks. He especially liked shark tank and the round floor-to-ceiling jelly fish tank. He would watch the fish go by and point to them; he would tap the glass like he wanted to try to touch them and couldn’t understand why he wasn’t able to. All in all, we all had a great time. We had a blast running around the aquarium with him, and can’t wait to go back in spring. Many of the exhibits were outside, and we weren’t as prepared as we could have been with the cold, snowy weather. We bought a membership to the aquarium, which also allows us to visit the Bronx Zoo, the Central Park Zoo, the Prospect Park Zoo, and the Queens Zoo, so we’ll be heading to a lot of zoos this spring, summer and fall! And back to the aquarium again to see all of the animals that didn’t want to come out. One of the zookeepers said that the only times the penguins come out in the winter are during feeding time. I thought that penguins liked the cold weather, but apparently not these penguins!
Following our trip to the aquarium, we walked down the Coney Island boardwalk. It had several inches of snow, so it was tough to push Graham’s stroller. Eoin pulled him along so that Graham was backward and Graham was laughing up a storm. Everything was boarded up for winter, but we saw a bunch of members of the “Polar Bear” club going for a winter swim. (Perhaps they could have a talk with those recalcitrant penguins!) We also saw the Cyclone Roller Coaster and all of the other Coney Island boardwalk amusements awaiting their summer debut. They say that the Cyclone is the most famous attraction in all of Coney Island and one of the most famous roller coasters in the world!
We then headed to Nathan’s Famous for lunch. It’s known for the holding the annual hot dog eating contest on the 4th of July every year. (Last year, Joey Chestnut retained the title by eating 68 Hot Dogs in 10 minutes! That is a LOT of hot dogs!!!) Eoin had a hot dog topped with grilled onions, which he enjoyed. Graham had a plain hot dog, but he ate so many snacks at the museum so he took his home and munched on it later. And I don’t eat hot dogs, so I had a chicken sandwich. (I know…boring!) But we also got cheese fries, which I loved!!!!
So that is all that is happening in our neck of the woods. We hope you had an equally fabulous Valentine’s Day!