Trip to the aquarium

Well I finished my first year of dental school, and all I keep hearing is how hard next year is going to be. Which makes me want to redouble my efforts at making this summer a great one for my family. Since Wednesday Jerusha and I have been relaxing and taking things slow. Yesterday Jerusha needed to go shopping with her friend Megan Mower, so she took Isabelle with her to the outlets and I took Millie with me to the Aquarium. Isabelle definitely got the short end of that stick, but I'll make it up to her later.

Since Jerusha and Isabelle took the stroller and the car Millie and I ended up walking the short distance to the T station. This wouldn't have been so bad if Amelia hadn't been wearing her pink jelly sandals that she kept catching "rocks" in. Millie defines "a rock" in her shoe as any particle larger than 2 microns in diameter. About every ten steps she would complain of another rock in her shoe, so I would take her sandal off and brush it out. Finally I got tired of undoing the little buckles, and I put her on my shoulders.

Once at the T station we took the orange line to state street and then the blue line to the aquarium. While on the train Amelia felt the need to touch everything. This included a discarded newspaper, some gum on the floor, and a few of our fellow passengers. After hearing me tell her that so many things were dirty she began to point to things and ask if they were dirty too.
While pointing at the slash marks in her seat, "Dad, is this seat dirty?"
"Yes Millie."
While touching the grease smudged window, "Dad, is the window dirty?"
"Yes Millie."
While holding onto the hand rail, "What about this poll is it dirty too?"
"Yes Millie, that's why we need to wash our hands before we eat."
While pointing at the lady across from us, "Is she dirty too dad?"
"No Millie, do you want a drink or a snack? Let's look out the dirty window. Oh, look boats!"

Once at the aquarium we saw many things, but by far Millie's favorite were the penguins. Although she did get excited by the giant sea turtle and the brightly colored anemones too. After about an hour and a half it was time to go home and I took her to the bathroom so we wouldn't have any accidents on the T. Unfortunately, I needed to go as well and Millie spent her free time scrambling under the stalls surprising unsuspecting bathroom goers. She also nearly succeeded in washing her hands in one of the urinals.

As we stepped out of the aquarium into the bright summer sun the wind caught hold of Amelia's hair and threatened to whip her butterfly clip out, so I took it out before it was lost. Millie then said, "Now my hair is loose like an anemone so you can swim through it."
That comment made the whole trip worth all the trouble.