Week 13 Theme

I bounced and pranced all the way to the entrance, my stressed-out mother holding my hand.
"Oh, Mommy! I'm so excited for this! Do you suppose there are sharks in there?"
"Well, Holliann, it is an aquarium." Mom said as we walked into the entrance of the Boston Aquarium.
Inside, I was surrounded by colors, sounds and exciting things to look at. I had never been to an aquarium before! In the middle of the room was a huge tank that had a stair case wrapped around it. Inside of it was bright blue, and yet beautifully clear water. Living in that water were the most colorful fish I had ever seen!
I pointed and cried, "Mommy, look!"
She quickly turned to me and shushed me. My dad strolled in behind us with Donny in a stroller and Cindy on his arm. Flustered after the day of travel we've had, (I'm sure 6 hours in the car with us wasn't exactly a relaxing ride) she approached the desk and paid for our tickets.
Once we were on the other side of the desk, I ran straight to that giant tank.
I pressed my little hands against the glass and smiled.
"This is pretty cool, huh, Holl?" Dad asked as he stood next to me.
"So pretty!" I cried. Because of my speech impediment, not everything that came out of my mouth was exactly audible. But I was so excited that I didn't care.
"This is so cool!" My sister said and came up on the other side of me, "This is the sort of stuff I want to do when I become a marine biologist."
As a family, we started looking around the exhibits that the aquarium had to offer. I cringed at the sight of an octopus sticking to the side of it's tank; Cindy got overly excited at the dolphin tank; Donny giggled as the penguins as they waddled around their habitat.
At one point in time, I had my face pressed against the glass of a tank. I didn't know exactly what animal was in said tank.
Nothing was appearing in the tank. I was waiting and waiting for something great to appear. Maybe there was a whale in this tank!
Just like that, a giant shark appeared in front of my face.
I shrieked and shot back from the glass.
It's not like he could hurt me from where he was, but I still didn't want my face so close to him! He had big, ugly sharp teeth. I watched as his gills moved in and out; his small eyes watched me.
At first, he scared me. But now I didn't really mind looking at him. He was nothing but a big fish. He was on the other side of this tank. I had nothing to be afraid of!
I smiled at him, and for a second it looked like he smiled back at me.
I heard Mommy call my name. I waved at Mr. Shark and moved on.
Once you got to the top of the very tall staircase that was around the giant tank, you could look down and see a tank full of big sea turtles. There were bright colors of blue everywhere, and this tank was full of every color flower you could ever imagine.
Mom and Dad chased Cindy and I around as we looked at every single thing we could look at. We were both fascinated by everything around us.
Once they rallied up their two girls, my parents took us to a sea lion show.
It was a very crowded room, and we got there a little late so we sat very high up on the stands. There was a pretty blonde lady in a wet suit stood near a pool with a big, shiny sea lion whose name was Guthrie.
At first, I thought he was a little scary looking. But, when I watched as he hopped through hoops and caught beach balls on his nose, I found that he was... cute. He had big brown eyes and whiskers like my dog's. He sorta barked like my dog did too.
"Okay, so now I have an idea." The blonde lady yelled to the audience and tossed Guthrie a fish, "I want to bring some kids down to ask Guthrie some questions. Who wants to ask him some questions?"
As if I had no control over it, my little arm shot up. I waved it around in the air, hoping that she called on me. I wanted so badly to go down and ask Guthrie a question. I tried to hold my arm higher then any of the other kids' arms.
"Little girl in the glasses," The blonde lady called and pointed my way. My eyes got huge, "Do you have a question?"
Because of my speech impediment, I didn't want to talk. I thought I'd sound funny in front of all these people. I shook my head.
The lady smiled, "Did you just want to come down and say hello to Guthrie?"
I nodded quickly. She told me to come on down, and without missing a beat I shot up and ran down to where she was.
Up close, Guthrie was bigger then I thought. But his eyes were still kind and brown. His body was big and he looked slimy. He smelt a little like fish.
"Now, what is your name, honey?" She asked me. She was much prettier up close.
Very quietly I answered, "Holli."
She smiled, "Everyone, this is my new friend Holli. She wants to meet Guthrie." The lady turned to the giant sea lion that stood next to her, "Guthrie, this is Holli."
Guthrie put out his flipper.
"Go ahead and shake his hand!" The woman encouraged.
Nervously, I put out my hand and shook his flipper. The crowd clapped.
"Now, Guthrie," The woman yelled, "Give her a kiss!"
It didn't really register, what she said... Not until I had the snout of a seal in my face.
First, he kissed my nose. I giggled at the prickle of his whiskers. Then, he kissed all over my face. It tickled and scratched; it felt so funny and weird. He breathed in hot puffs and he smelt even more of fish up close. His breathing fogged up my glasses. He was so much taller then me! The crowd was laughing and enjoying the show. The blonde lady was trying to get Guthrie to stop.
I was giggling and couldn't believe what was going on. I was being kissed over and over by a seal!