RE: Jesse's Visit

Last night after dinner, Jesse and Lara came back over and we had a ping-pong tournament for about two hours in the garage. We each got to play everyone else, and the winners turned out to be my mom and Jesse, who nearly tied every time. I left and went back with them around 9:00. Today, we went to have brunch with Gpop (grandfather) at the bagel bakery and I had a jalapeño cheddar with cream cheese, tomato, and smoked salmon lox. Afterwords, we decided to use his guest passes and go to the aquarium.

The last time I had gone to the aquarium was in the winter during the huge storm and blackout (the aquarium was the only place with power). Since then, they had redone the Splash Zone exhibit and moved the touch pools upstairs. We went around and saw all the regular exhibits, like the jellies, penguins, outer bay, and kelp forests. There was a presentation going on about how fish inflate their bladders to control buoyancy (a skill also present in armadillos that they use to float across rivers).

While we were looking at the various fishes, we were talking about many things and telling stories. Lara was telling me about how when she and her friends used to come to the aquarium, there would be a sign above the octopus tank reading Don't Flash the Octopus.

Sure enough, even though they moved and enlarged the tank and made about six new signs, they still said the same thing. Funny.



Another hilarious happening was how earlier today we were talking about Jesse's dog Sherlock's odd habits while going to the bathroom. While in the Wild About Otters exhibit, we learned that freshwater otters do practically the same thing. Here's the description on the sign...

Otters do the Darndest things.
Just before a freshwater otter poops, it does a "latrine dance." You might see it turning in a circle with its tail raised, stomping its feet up and down.

We left the aquarium around 1:30 and went back to the house, where I played Kirby Air Ride with Lara. They left back to Exeter at 3:30.