Sleeping With the Fishes

It's not often that I get to spend quality time alone with just one of the kids.  I guess that's the way it is when you have three children.  This weekend was one of those rare times when I was able to spend a day with just Alex.  We went down to Wilmington with his cub scout den to spend the night at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher as part of their "Sleeping with the Fishes" program.

We had to be at the aquarium by 6 pm so I took a half day at work, picked Alex up at school early and hit the road.  According to Google Maps the trip was going to take about 3 hours.  We stopped on the way out to grab lunch, in the middle to stretch and get a drink and then again in Wilmington to eat dinner.  I let Alex pick where we would stop to eat so he was in heaven.  He picked Chick-fil-A for lunch and Moe's for dinner.

Once we arrived at the aquarium there were only 2-3 cars in the parking lot.  My first thought was that I mixed up the days, times or possibly both.  Eventually everyone showed up and my initial fears were relieved.  We were led into the staff parking lot to park for the night.  After we parked our cars everyone brought their bags and sleeping gear into the aquarium.  The kids were so excited when they were told we would be sleeping in front of the main aquarium.

Setting up camp in front of the big aquarium.

Each family picked a spot and set up their gear.  Initially the boys tried to all wedge into the limited space just in front of the main aquarium windows however parents soon intervened and spread them out.  After everyone was situated the staff went over the rules of the evening and then started the program.

First up was a reptile demonstration.  The boys learned what makes a reptile a reptile and then were allowed to touch different ones.

Touch a turtle

Touching a corn snake

Touch a baby alligator

Next up on the program was snack #1 (pizza and soda), a movie (Gus the Alligator) and the shark demonstration.   In the shark demonstration they learned about different types of sharks and specifically the purpose of the various types of shark teeth.

One of the cool exhibits at the aquarium was a display containing megalodon jaws.

Posing in front of the megalodon jaws.

The megalodon tooth is almost as big as Alex's head.

Following the shark presentation the boys painted t-shirts.  They each selected a rubber fish or starfish, painted one side of it and then pressed it up against a blank t-shirt to transfer the paint.  The shirts were set out to dry for the night.

Painting fish for t-shirts

After finishing up with the t-shirts the boys ate snack 2 (goldfish and popcorn).  By this time it was almost 10 pm which meant bedtime.   We all went back to the sleeping area in front of the main aquarium, prepared for bed and then settled in for sleep.  The staff turned on a movie (Cara the Sea Turtle) that everyone could fall asleep to.

The next morning we woke up at 7 am, got dressed, packed up our gear and met for a quick breakfast.  After breakfast the staff led us on a tour of the aquarium before turning us loose to explore on our own.

Luna the albino alligator

Around 10 am Alex and I left the aquarium and set out to visit Fort Fisher.  Before going there we stopped at the visitor center and discovered that there was an old World War II bunker about a mile away.  He was up for it so we hiked to the bunker.  This bunker is famous locally for housing the Fort Fisher Hermit, Robert Harrill, for 17 years. Mr. Harrill died in 1972 and the bunker has been vacant since then.

WWII bunker and home of the "Fort Fisher Hermit"

A little ways past the bunker on the tip of the island was an observation deck.  This part of the island was mostly salt marsh so we had to cross a number of wooden bridges to get there.

On the trail leading from the parking lot to the bunker and observation deck Alex noticed a small skull in a tree and insisted on taking a picture of it.  By this time the battery had died on both my camera and my phone so we had to go to the car for a while to charge up the phone.  He really wanted a picture of it so here it is:

Before leaving the island we stopped to visit Fort Fisher, a confederate fort from the civil war.

It was now past lunch time and we were both hungry so we drove off the island and back into Wilmington to find lunch.  Just like the drive in I let Alex pick the restaurant and he picked another favorite, Buffalo Wild Wings.  The timing was perfect when we arrived at the restaurant because the Carolina game was just starting.  We watched the first half while having lunch.  After lunch we made a detour to Leland to visit relatives (thanks Uncle David and Aunt Beckie!) for a little while before heading home.  We ended up getting home around 7 pm after a short but fun trip.

Alex and I had a terrific time alone.  Aimee mentioned she had a similar experience with Andrew and Olivia while Alex and I were gone which goes to show we should plan events like this more often.

Here are some additional pictures from our trip: