I wish I was a mermaid and was friends with all the fish

..... a shiny tail and seashells, that would be my wish.

Except the rather large, 120-year-old alligator snapping turtle, I don't think I want to be friends with him.

Last weekend, we finally put Cole's Christmas present from me to good use. Muse tickets! Since the concert was in Tulsa, we decided to make a day out of it and make a pit stop at the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks.

Holy star fish! There was lots to see. There also was lots to touch! One of the first exhibits was a set of small ponds and streams where you could stick your hands in the water and touch the fish, shrimp, and horse shoe crabs (yes, these were the exact same size and shape of a horse's hoof - and yes, I am qualified to make this statement).

While I had my hand in the stream, patiently waiting on Nemo to swim up to me (he was really close, guys, no lie!) I may or may not have let out a very loud shriek. That huge yellow fish in the picture to the right came OUT OF NOWHERE, and swam between my fingers. I kid you not. It was scary ya'll.... Like fish nibbling on your toes in the middle of the lake kinda scary. To the lady behind me that jumped about ten feet in the air when I screamed, I sincerely apologize... but you woulda done the same thing! 

One thing I really loved about this Aquarium is that it was broken up into sections such as "Aquatic Oklahoma" and "The Ozark Stream," which allowed you to view animals and fish that are found in your area, much like the way the Oklahoma Zoo is set up. Wow, Oklahoma, you are full of some monster catfish. I guess thats why Noodling is such a big hoo-rah?! Did you know Alligators are found in Oklahoma, too? Yikes. That makes me second guess swimming across the cove at the lake.......


Of course, like any good Aquarium now-a-days, there was a large supply of Nemos and Doris to make sure it gets the kid's stamp of approval Thanks to Nemo, however, I now have a lot of trouble saying the word "anemone." I just can't spit it out! B, T, DUB, did you know anemones are sticky? Yeah, thats right, your fingers stick to them like white on rice (they had an anemone touching exhibit, too, thats how I know!).

"I shall call him squishy, and he will be mine, and he will be my squishy!"

In addition, the Aquarium had a giant walk through shark tank, a turtle feeding station, a sting ray feeding pool, an Extreme Amazon tank that kids could climb through and stand inside of (I was too big to fit through the hole, sad face), and your fair share of creepy crawlies like electric eels and water snakes. Yuck! My absolute favorite, however was the beaver. I had no idea beavers were so cute and playful!! I could have watched him for hours. He was a showoff, swimming back and fourth and doing flips in the water, always coming up to the glass to say hello. Mr. Beaver, thanks for putting a smile on my face! 

After the Aquarium, we headed to dinner at Brooks. Creamy mac and cheese shells, you make my heart flutter... Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches don't hurt much, either (so not Paleo, tisk tisk). Then it was off to the concert! If you like strobe lights, this is the concert for you. Even if you don't know the songs, Muse is still well worth seeing live. They put on a great show and can truly be called "entertainers." Don't believe me, Beiber fans? See for yourself:

*Thanks to my good photog friend Mitch Alcala for making this post possible by helping me recover these photos. 

Tip: Learn from my mistakes... make sure you hit "import all" instead of "delete all" next time you are importing pictures!