THE PAGNOZZI FAMILY: MOODY GARDENS

Thanks to Dad for winning tickets to Moody Gardens. Whoo Hoo!!
We decided to go on a weekday so the park would not be over crowded. We had a blast. We visited the rain forest. Which I must say was one of my favorites. There were animals just roaming free, including 3 monkeys! There was even a sloth in the tree. It was a neat experience.
I think Lil Ricky's favorite was the aquarium. He loves fish and is into sharks right now. I predict he will grow up to do something involving marine life. We saw many different species of fish. Yes, even Nemo, Dory and Bubbles. We even saw Jack, big Ricky's favorite.
I think the best way to see marine life is to go snorkeling in the Caribbean, but this is as close as we're going to get.
We went on a cruise on the Colonel. That was okay. I think once was definitely enough on the Colonel.
One of my other favorite things was the 4D Dora movie. It was just neat having the 3D effect combined with all the 4D effect. The blowing of the wind, bubbles coming at you and getting sprayed by water.
We also saw a 3D movie about ocean life. It was okay. Very discovery channel like.
I think every one really enjoyed Palm Beach. It's a small water park. This year they added a lazy river which was great. The kids played in the wave pool. I finally convinced Ricky to go down a slide with me. After much negotiating he finally over came his fear and went down the tube slide. He loved it!! That's what he did for the rest of the time there. We over came such a huge hurdle with that one slide. He wouldn't even do the YMCA slides, but now he just wants to go swimming at the YMCA so he can ride the slides. I've created a monster. Let's just hope when we go to Schlitterbahn he's still excited about all these slides.
On a side note, I am very proud of Ricky. To do the slides at the Y you have to pass a swim test. You have to swim the whole length of the pool. It's pretty long! Well i think so, especially for a 6 year old. I think I was more nervous for him than he was. Guess what?! He passed it pretty easily. So proud of him for having the courage to just go for it. I can't believe he can swim so good. He's had 1 swimming lesson when he was young. I get teased about going to the pool all the time in the summer, but at least I know my kids will be great swimmers. Hana for her age is an amazing swimmer. I think we're doing swim team next year. They love swimming so this will be perfect for them.