Happy Birthday, Brennan!

Brennan is 7! We had his party on birthday eve here at home, opening presents, eating out at Koto's Japanese steakhouse (where he can eat twice his weight in fried rice and salmon), and eating chocolate Ganache cake back at home.

 

Since it's hard to have birthday parties with friends and family, we've taken to letting the boys pick somewhere special to go on their birthday. This also usually involves them getting whatever they want for a cake, and choosing where to eat out either the night before or the day of. Last year Brennan chose the Baltimore Aquarium, known for its dolphins exhibit. This year, he wanted to go to the New England Aquarium because of their large penguin exhibit. 

In front of the African Penguin exhibit

Petting the sting and manta rays, and bonnet head sharks

During the penguin feeding

 

We also took part in a member's program that lets the kids go behind the scenes with the Fur Seals to see how they are cared for, and interact with them as well. This is the oldest seal at the Aquarium, Bearnoff.

The boys both got to feed Bearnoff

This is the wand the caretakers use to show him where to turn his
head. He's an older seal and doesn't see very well.

They got to spend about 15 minutes on the deck with Bearnoff. He was really mellow and loved fish and squid, which Brennan informed us had his medicine in it. 

Afterwards, we had a nutritious meal at Cold Stone Creamery - everyone got the Oreo Creme flavor with various bits of chocolate mixed in. We were stuffed, so we headed for home, full, happy, and smelling of fish.