It's all about the animals.

He loves them.
All of them.
He loves to read about them, study their tracks, pet them, hold them, share interesting facts about them.
So I decided Aidan and I would spend our one on one time at the Living Planet Aquarium.

I think the building is deceiving.
It doesn't lend the passerby any ideas as to what
animal treasures are inside.

Touching the manta rays was definitely a highlight. Last time we came he was too nervous, but he tackled it over and over this time. I got in on the slimy action too. One manta ray even came up out of the water at Aidan as he went to pet it. It was scary cool.

Of course the sharks were awesome.  So beautiful and strong and right in front of your face. We caught a glimpse of a sea turtle spending it's first day in the shark tank too. 

My number one favorite animal there were these Gentoo penguins. They are the fastest underwater swimming penguins in the world!  And they were fast. They'd dive and circle around and pop back up onto land. Aidan and I sat and laughed and pointed, spending most of our time watching these cute penguins. Aidan took the penguin quiz and announced, "I'm kind of an expert on penguins."

There were so many fascinating things for us to see; pygmy seahorse, octopus, jellyfish, poison tree frogs, anaconda, piranha.
What I loved about spending this time with Aidan was his excitement for the next animal ("Mom, come on you've got to see this!) , the way he'd hold my hand from exhibit to exhibit, how he'd take his time really looking/studying each creature, no fear of any animal just fascination. It was a great day spent with my Aidan and the animals.