Our membership to the Baltimore aquarium was due to expire the last day of June. So we decided to take full advantage of our membership and go visit the D.C. aquarium (its also included in the membership) for FREE while we had the chance.
The aquarium has an Everglades exhibit with an American alligator. I had the opportunity to sit right next to him at the window. He was a little annoyed that I was in his personal space, so he moved away. Later while we were walking by again, he was in the same place basking in the light. :-) I thought that was kind of funny. :-)
Do you know what those odd shaped things are in the photo above? They're shark eggs!!
The D.C. aquarium is much smaller in comparison to the Baltimore aquarium, but we really like that we had an intimate look at the fish.
The lionfish is beautiful but has become quite a nuissance in the U.S.
To learn more about the lionfish, here is a helpful article: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/07/19/top-5-myths-about-lionfish/
A starfish.
I love their faces of fascination! Kids absorb so much more than we ever realize.
We had a super time at our first and last visit to D.C. aquarium!
Then, we made our way to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.
We learned about the life cycle of our sun. One of our favorite activities is going to the planetarium at the Baltimore Science Center.
Afterwards, we visited a brand new exhibit, Genome: Unlocking Life's Code.
I took this photo for Brad. Frederick Sanger, a biochemist, studied and did his research at the University of Cambridge & the MRC. Walter earned two Nobel Prizes for chemistry in his lifetime.
Then the girls and Brad did an activity where they "unveiled" the code.
One of the many reasons I fell in love with my husband is that he is an incredible teacher. He is able to explain the most complex things in simple terms. He is passionate about it too, I don't think he really ever tires of talking about science. While we were dating, he was my "tutor" for Biology. He helped me get a great grade in my class! I am so glad that the girls now are blessed to have him as their teacher too.
All of these letters were constantly scrolling through, yet the human genome is so huge that it takes a FULL YEAR for one person's genome to scroll across the screen. Scientists decode a genome by looking for the order of the four chemicals that make up DNA: adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine, or A, C, G, and T.
Despite this mind-boggling size, the human genome folds into a ball so small that a copy fits inside every cell in your body.
Then we met a scientist from the NIH. We looked through a magnifying glass and a microscope too!
It was another great building block of knowledge for our possible future scientist daughters. ;-)
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