Surprise by guest Blogger: Sydney Mullen (age 11)

DALLAS - Friday, March 21, 2008 was “Fun Day” for the Mullen girls and their favorite dad. Our mom was birthday shopping for middle child, Hayley Mullen, who turned 7 that following Sunday. Our dad had planned several fun activities for that day. We would go to his work, Toys ‘R’ Us, Target, and a mysterious surprise place. So, first, we hopped into The Captain Jack, our dad’s new Nissan Titan he bought two weekends before. So after that we went through the car wash. After the car wash we headed for Dallas.

Once we got to Dallas, we made a quick stop at the gas station. We had gotten into a small fight, so our dad threatened us with taking Toys ‘R’ Us off the list of fun things to do. So we were quiet for a few minutes. We finally arrived at our first “fun” stop… our dad’s work! We had to stop there to get his iPod and laptop computer. Then, we finally headed toward our surprise place. So we thought. Actually, we were going to the train station, our first stop on the long journey to the mystery place.

We started at the Forest Lane train station, and we ended up at the West End. It was about a 30 min train ride. We, then, started guessing where we were going while we walked around the West End. We sat down for awhile and eventually got bored. Dying of boredom, I looked at the piece of paper my dad had been carrying around all day. It was a map to….The Dallas World Aquarium! We finally started walking again and quickly found our destination. Hayley whined after seeing the line. But, that day was fun day and we all had the time we needed so we got in line.

A few moments later we were on the third floor getting something to eat. I ordered chicken nachos (nachos covered in cheese and chicken), our dad ordered a taco salad, and the two little ones had chicken strips. Unfortunately, after we had finished eating, our field guides had stuck to the table, so we went down to level 2 and got new ones. Then we went back to the 3^rd level and got in line to view the rainforest. It was beautiful!

We had seen one side of the rainforest from the restaurant. That side that we were seeing from the line looked like a river going around a small island. I saw an orange bird, 2 swans, and a couple of monkeys. As we went down (what we stood on was slanted so you could see the exhibit from 3 levels) we could see each animal more clearly.

On the second level, we saw a small bird sitting on the rope railing. We wanted a picture with it (not me!), but it pecked Emyley on the head so only Hayley was in the picture. We finally got down to the aquatics level where we saw turtles, sting-rays, frogs, snakes and fish. After we saw those animals, we found ourselves in the underwater view room where we saw giant fish and manatees. After that, we found the penguins that I had been dying to see! They were so cute! After that we bought Emyley her very first penguin that she has to share (she had complained about my six, Hayley’s one, and her having none). Then we saw the flamingos and the jaguar.

Finally, (after more complaints from Emyley) we walked underneath the sharks. We got really good pictures of the sharks. After that we saw the rabbits as our final aquarium attraction. We left after a short restroom break. We got back to the train station and had another 30 min ride. After that we got in The Captain Jack and went to Toys ‘R’ Us where we got SingStar Rocks and candy. Then we went to Target to get dog food. Then, we got food and drinks from Starbucks. Finally we got our mom dinner and went home. That was the end of our “fun day”!

The End