Under the Sea

We can't remember when Gil last went on a train, so it was thrilling to get the train to Birmingham today on our visit to the Sea Life Centre.

Gil learnt to use a ruler and measure centimetres this morning so on our way, we discussed how long things are, considering that the longest thing he'd measured was 10cm. He guessed that his foot must be about 15cm (pretty accurate) and that a train must be a trillion billion centimetres long.

We chatted to the Gentoo Penguins on our arrival at the aquarium, crawled through tunnels of tropical fish and Gil was happy to meet the sharks, despite being a little unimpressed by their size (was he expecting Jaws?)

The undulating rays were stunning, we could have watched them for ages and we also spent a lot of time spotting seahorses with Gil telling me all the facts he knew about each sea creature we saw. He knows that octopuses can get through tiny holes by morphing into different shapes and that they have three hearts. He also knows that Daddy seahorses have their babies growing in their tummies and that piranhas have scary sharp teeth. We encountered some turtles that looked like dinosaurs and Mo, the sea turtle who is 40 years old and was originally found in a lady's handbag at Heathrow airport!

After watching the sea otters (they were huge!) being fed we felt rather hungry ourselves so went off in search of lunch.

On our way back to the station, Gil proposed that getting wet in the fountains in the newly refurbished Centenary Square would be very much on topic. So he did.

Later on when Gil wrote about his day I was intrigued to see the order in which he recorded the events of the day..

I went on a train to Birmingham and went in a water fountain and I 
had three biscuits. I also went to the Sea Life Centre.