A Really Good Friday

I already had a Good Friday post, so I’m posting this one a week late.

Last Friday we had a really Good Friday.  Actually, it was a GREAT Friday, but the calendar specifically says, “Good Friday” so I guess I’m going to have to go with that.  Several years ago, when Matt was working for a company in Ft. Worth, he had a boss who gave his employees Good Friday as a paid holiday.  Though he only worked there for a couple of years, it became a tradition for our family to take that day as a family day and do something special together.  Most of the time, our kids have that day off from school.  This year, however, Good Friday was a bad weather make-up day.  And, with Crisana having a special Easter Egg Hunt that morning, we definitely did not want her to miss that.  So we sent our children to school.

And picked them up promptly at 10:01.

We dashed over to the DART rail station to meet our dear friends the Stueves for a day of fun and interesting smells at the Dallas World Aquarium.  If you’ve never been, let me assure you it’s worth the price of admission.  And I use the term “Aquarium” loosely.  For a city as land-locked as Dallas, it’s hard to compete with an aquarium of a coastal city.  The DWA is really more of a rainforest adventure with a few aquatic animals thrown in for good measure.  But it’s definitely worth going if you’re ever in town…or if you live here and have never gone.

I’ve taken the kids several times and we’ve had a number of unforgettable adventures relating to the DWA, but I have to say, the train ride down is always a highlight of our time there.  I guess in such a rapid-transit-challenged metro area as ours, any time we take public transportation it’s a treat.

4-10-09 Crisana & Brenna on the train(r)

Once we arrived, we were ready to take in the sights.

4-10-09 Taking it all in (r) There were all kinds of interesting creatures to see…

…like birds…4-10-09 Bird on the sign (r)

…and flamingoes…

4-10-09 Flamingoes (r)

…and moon jellyfish…4-10-09 Moon jellyfish (r)…and sea otters…

4-10-09 Otter (r)

…and turtles…

4-10-09 Turtles (r)

…and strange-looking sharks…

4-10-09 Sawnose shark (r)

…and cute little bunny rabbits.4-10-09 Rabbit (r) There were even some strange, camera-toting creatures in one of the tanks.

4-10-09 Angie through the tank (r)

And fascinating computer learning terminals throughout the trail.

4-10-09 Crisana & MJ (r)

Danger was all around us…

…from trees with giant thorns…

4-11-09 Thorny tree (r)

…to hungry jaguars, prowling about…

4-10-09 Trey and the jaguar (r)

…to great big sharks with sharp teeth.

4-10-09 Scary shark (r)

But there were also moments of quiet reflection, to just enjoy nature and the unique design of all God’s creatures.

4-10-09 Looking at the stingrays (r)

4-10-09 Trey looking in the tank

And there were opportunities for fun, to interact with the animals and one another.

4-10-09 Crisana feeding the toucan (r)

4-10-09 Kids having fun (r)

4-10-09 Crisana & Angie (r)

4-10-09 Me & My hunny(r)

So, yeah, all in all, I’d say it was a Great Friday.  No matter what the calendar says.