New Year's in the city, yet again

 I did not shoot much. My bag was heavy and it was crowded in the Mall of America. It was fun to just be...

I did have my camera for the Aquarium though!

Matt has always begged us to take him to the Aquarium at the MOA. I have always thought this is a very over priced exhibit and we have avoided it. This year when we booked our hotel through Priceline(an amazing hotel at a really great price!) we ended up staying in the MOA area. When I looked online to figure out what we could do I discovered that tickets are 50% off if you buy them online!! Little tip if you ever plan to go. This made it much more practical and worth the price of admission. 

 Matthew and I were so in love with these little Garden Els. They were pretty cool.

 This might be a little Jellyfish picture heavy...but I was so in awe of them. I wish it would not have been so crowded so I could have got even better pictures. 

 This little pirana was a rescue. Some pet store in MN had been neglecting him and he had swallowed 55 rocks. Matthew totally fell in love with him.

 We surprised Matthew with a behind the scenes tour of the aquarium. He got to see the research lab and the kitchen. Then they went above the aquariums and looked down on the fish. It was AWESOME(his words) and if you purchase it online it is only $6.00!!!

 Matthew's favorite is Koi. We watched them before his tour.

 ha! More Jellyfish. I am so in love with them:-)

 The first picture I posted was my favorite of the day. Matthew sat in the tunnel and watched fish swim all around him. He is such a science kid. I loved seeing the light bounce off his face as different fish swam by.

 This picture showed up a little dark but I wanted to show you how busy the tunnel was. The aquarium has four(I think) tunnels that connect in a C shape. Each tunnel has different kinds of see life. They were elbow to elbow packed with people. 

 This is in the Minnesota native tunnel. Matthew is giving a catfish a belly rub.

 After that we went to dinner and returned to our hotel to swim for a few hours. Then we retreated to our hotel room. Our cheap bid was accepted at the Sheridan 4 points hotel and it was incredible. I loved that hotel(even with the kid banging on his friends door across the hall at 5a.m.) 

Our bed was the best bed I have ever slept in in my entire life. It was perfect. Seriously the perfect bed(making the above kid...even more annoying, oh and when I say kid, I mean 23ish year old)

 and then it was midnight! 

 I personally am so glad to see 2012!

Right after the clock stuck midnight our little fish was out. It was a full day of fun and one of our best times together.