When it comes to an exhibit about dinosaurs, I think "too real" might be a compliment? This wasn't for Nou, but some little dinosaur lover out there will be very happy, I think, with what the Virginia Aquarium's got going on right now. Eight animatronic dinosaur species, surrounded by their own particular habitats, a Paleo dig and fossil discovery station, not to mention a behind the scenes look at how the amazing robot dinosaurs were built! What more could you ask for?


Sure thing, little buddy.



Dinosaurs! will be at the aquarium until January 3, 2016, so there's plenty of time to go see them for yourself. More details here. And for what it's worth, we did find dinosaurs in the gift shop. Everybody's happy!

We've been to the Virginia Aquarium approximately a million times, but somehow, we never quite make it over to the Marsh Pavilion. It's not in the same complex as the main building, it doesn't have seals (mine and Anne's favorite) or sharks (James's favorite). But by not visiting, we were making a big mistake. The Marsh Pavilion is pretty cool, and worthy of a visit in itself, and here are a few reasons why.

1. OTTERS. They roll, they tumble, they dive and play, they are just as cute as seals (maybe more?) Watching these little fellows glide through the water is entrancing, I could have watched all day.

2. Snakes! Lately, Anouk's big obsession is with snakes (don't ask me!) She swears she is going to be a herpetologist when she grows up, and thus needs to go look at and "study" snakes whenever possible. Turns out it is kind of hard to find a place to see lots of snakes in the HRVA region -- except at the Marsh Pavilion, where there were just enough slitery friends to keep her happy.

3. Aviary. The half-acre aviary features a raised path that allows you to walk through and get a close look at the 55 bird species that reside there. Including the great horned owl, Owlex, who is a popular aquarium resident and always fun to watch.

4. Adventure Park. The new adventure park (zip lines!) is located along Owl Creek at the Marsh Pavilion. It's only for ages 5 and up (and definitely not for preggos) so we didn't visit it on our last visit, but boy, does it look fun.

Speaking of Owl Creek, did you know that you can take the Owls Creek path from the Bay and Ocean Pavilion to the Marsh Pavilion? It's a 10 minute walk along the marsh and woods preserves that border the creek, with a 30-foot observation tower to climb for an aerial view. During the summer, activity carts are stationed along the trail for a more interactive experience.

Have you been to the Marsh Pavilion? What's your favorite thing to see there?

In the interest of full disclosure, I didn't actually go to the Mr. Potato Head exhibit at the Virginia Aquarium -- I was struggling with a cold a few weekends ago, so didn't join James and Anne on their trip. But apparently it was a big hit because James came home and said, "You need to blog about this. It was amazing." What I can gather from that was it entertained a no-nap-that-day Anouk for longer than 10 minutes with no whining involved, which IS pretty amazing.

(Anyway, that explains the lack of photos for this post. James does not have a soul of a blogger and only took a few instead of the hundred million I would have taken).

The Mr. Potato Head exhibit, from what I can gather online and from talking to J. and A., is not actually so much about Mr. Potato Head the toy but about the adventures that Mr. Potato Head takes through an archaeological dig, to the bottom of the ocean, on safari, and into outer space. At each station in the exhibit, kids can run and play, dance, use tools, and explore each different scenario. The VA Aquarium website says that each of these activities are designed to encourage not only play but academic learning and problem solving. A. tells me there were buttons you could push to make noises and lots of lights that "moved around when I moved." (I'm not sure exactly what this means but admittedly, it does sound cool).

The exhibit is free with aquarium admission and will run until May 2015, so there's plenty of time to check it out (and for me to eventually see it for myself, hooray!)

Happy Monday!