See It and Say It Flip Flop Spanish

Have you wanted to include spanish in your homeschool schedule but are intimidated by complex programs?? Then check out See It and Say It Flip Flop Spanish from Flip Flop Learning. We recently had the chance to review this product with all my kids and were quite pleased with the results.

The first thing we noticed when opening the package was how organized everything was laid out with clear, easy-to-follow instructions that said precisely how to use this curriculum. No paging through a book to figure it out! The lesson pages were already hole punched ready to put into a 3 ring binder. In fact, if your binder had the outside clear pockets, included was a cover page, a piece for the spine & a back page to put in!

After we got the pages in the binder, we put the CD in the computer to play and opened the book to the first lesson. The lesson pages & CD walk you through step by step of how to best use this program. There is no prep work at all!  It is set up to be a 2 year curriculum, doing 1 lesson per week (that you repeat 3 times during that week) though you can go at your own pace and move through it quicker if your children are grasping it well. It is recommended to use the CD lesson for the first 2 lessons each week then going on your own using the curriculum as a guide for the 3rd lesson.

Along with the actual instruction book are flashcards that have colorful pictures on one side and the spanish & english words on the other side. Also included is a white board paddle and dry erase marker to play spanish pictionary with (which was a huge hit with my kids!)

From the very 1st lesson, you start assembling simple sentences such as "Me gusta el helado" (I like ice cream). Not only do you have immersion with this curriculum listening to Senora Gose's easy-to-understand voice, you also have a picture for each word so it really helps reinforce the word both visually & audibly at the same time. The curriculum encourages you to flip the word over & flop it down as you say it but with teaching several kids at a time we didn't do this. I had the kids sit in a circle & point to the words instead.

Older kids are encouraged to write sentences using the words they have learned which is what my older ones have done. Each time they were presented with new words, they wrote them in their notebook then later in the week they wrote sentences using these words which really helped reinforce what they were learning.

They loved playing pictionary using the white board paddle. We would put the flashcards in a bowl and whose ever turn it was, picked a random card and had to draw it for the others to guess it in spanish. Whoever said the word correctly in spanish won the card.

Other activities that we did were playing charades and speed rounds where the word was said on the CD and they had to race to point to the word. There are also other suggested activities listed on the website.

This program is recommended for ages 3 and up. What impressed me was that due to the CD having you repeat words and use the flashcards at the same time, my 2 year old was attempting to say the words. Even more impressive was when shown flashcards and I would say the spanish word, she could point to the correct picture!!!

My kids beg almost every day to do this program (which takes at most 15 minutes a day). I love the simplicity of it yet how much they are learning daily.

The full program is $99.95 (with free shipping) and includes:

45 lessons ready to put into a 3 ring binder

4 audio CDs in a plastic sheet you can put in the binder

3 decks of flashcards that have colorful pictures & the english/spanish words

1 white board paddle

1 dry eraser marker

2 plastic sheets you can insert the flashcards in to keep sentences in place

Definitely a wonderful program that you can use with any age group all at one time!

Baby Parade! (give me your ideas)

Every fall, our local town has a fair where the streets are blocked off for a few days. Lots of overpriced  games & rides as well as the many food stands can be found here. There are also lots of categories where you can enter items such as baked or home-canned goods, produce you've grown, photos, sewing items, etc to be judged and win a monetary prize.

The part I look forward to the most is the baby parade. I had the kids involved for several years until they got too old for it (age 6). Last year I was thrilled to finally be able to participate again with Olivia. She got 2nd place in her category! (the chicken costume). We aren't required to dress up with our child but it does add a certain element to it so I have tried at times to dress up with them. Another thing that gives us more points is handmaking the childs costume. And in the pictures below, I have made them all myself (except my chicken costume, which I owned from working as one along with my kids several years ago).

In fact, the one year we were asked to participate in the Mummer's Day Parade in Philadelphia on New Year's Day!! We even placed winning $100 & a trophy!

And just for laughs, here's a pic of the kids & when we spent a week working as "chickens" (yes I made their costumes). We also worked as the above clowns as well.

All that to say, I wanted to see what suggestion you would have for Olivia & Ava this year! There are different categories such as decorating a wagon with them in it (which we have a wagon), best characterization, cutest sibling group and best dressed walking are some I would consider. Most of the time we did best dressed walking. So comment below or message me with your suggestions!!

The Presidential Game

We are a game loving family. Ever since the kids were younger, we've slowly been building up our game closet so when The Presidential Game came up for review, we didn't hesitate to request it. 

I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect with a game that is solely based on acquiring electoral votes to win the presidency. I was afraid I'd be pulling my kids teeth to play this for the review. Boy was I blown away! Both the kids & my husband spent many hours over the last 6 weeks playing this because they wanted to!

The game comes with a sturdy, colorful game board, red & blue dice, red & blue chips, score sheet & political cards (as well as some blank ones for you to write your own). This game is for ages 11 & up but if you have younger children, they can pair up with the older ones to play. You have to have a minimum of 2 players but you can have as many people as you want to play as you split into 2 teams, the democrats & republicans. Just as an added side note, it doesn't matter which side of the fence you sit on for your real life political party, this game is neutral. 

To start, divide up into teams & decide who is going to be blue or red (I say that because some of them always wanted to be a certain political party) and then roll the dice to decide who will be going first. You also determine how long you are going to campaign for. The score sheet lists 30 weeks but we found that would take over 2 hours for a round so typically they played for 15 weeks.

Before you roll the dice for your turn, you decide if your team will campaign or fundraise. If your team decides to campaign, they will decide & announce which 3 states to campaign in then roll their 3 dice. Whatever 3 numbers come up determines how many chips you allocate to those 3 states. (each dice number goes to a separate state). The goal is to win control of a state. So if the state was neutral (no blue or red chips present) as soon as your political party has at least 1 of their chips in it, they currently have those electoral votes. The key is, both parties can keep fighting for a state which is what keeps this game exciting!

Let's say the democrats have 3 of their chips in Florida but the republicans really want that state and they choose to take 5 chips to put towards the state, 3 of their chips cancel out the democrats so the state of Florida now has 2 republican chips thus giving them control.

If the team chooses to fundraise for their turn, they announce that & choose which state to fundraise in as you can only do this in California, Florida, Texas & New York. To do this, you only roll 2 dice. You  have to put at least half that number in chips on the state you chose to fundraise in. The rest can be divided up amongst any of the rest of the states. Then you choose a card from the stack of political cards though you don't use this card during that turn but save it for a future time to take the opposing team by surprise (though a few of these cards state to play immediately). 2 examples of what these cards are "Your spouse supposedly makes some of the best mashed potatoes. The secret recipe is revealed at the Idaho Spud Day. Add 2 votes to Idaho." "A top DC lobbyist who your opponent befriended while in congress is indicted. Your opponent loses 2 votes from the state of your choice." There are also blank cards to write your own suggestions as well.

At the end of the campaign (however many weeks you chose to play) if there are any states that remain neutral or tied, a state is chosen and both teams roll a dice and whoever has the highest number claims that state. This continues on until all the states belong to one party or the other. The team that has the most electoral votes wins the presidency.

Another neat feature to this game is using the online interactive webmap where you could keep score there instead of using the score sheets. We felt this made it a lot easier to keep track of who had each state.

There was a bit of a learning curve to this game and it took a few times of playing to get it down. While it was an educational game helping the kids to understand the electoral college and the importance of strategization, it was just an overall fun game that they all have thoroughly enjoyed and perfect for all ages! This would also make a good game for a civics class at a co-op.

The Presidential Game can be purchased for $35.

Prairie Sushi (aka Tortilla Roll-Ups)

I teach a cooking class at our co-op. This semester I am basing it all on "fresh food", things I can get at the farm stands in the area. For our first day last week, I wanted something easy as I ease the class into cooking new things. I was inspired by the Pioneer Lady with this recipe and figured it would be a good one to start my class with.

When I told the students that we were making Prairie Sushi, I got the strangest looks. But when you see the picture, you can understand the name. Using a variety of fresh ingredients, wrapped up tightly in a tortilla shell does resemble traditional sushi.

The great thing about this recipe is you can use whatever your heart desires in it. You can make a lunch out of it or cut into pieces to serve as an appetizer.

We intentionally left the ends of the filling hanging out as we made them so when it was cut into pieces, it looked a bit dressy (and you weren't stuck eating plain pieces of tortilla). When spreading the cream cheese filling, make sure to spread it to the ends as this acts like a "glue" holding the wrap shut. You can use a variety of veggies or lunch meats. We made 2 varieties, one an all veggie using romaine lettuce (minus the spine), carrots, cucumbers and avocado. The other kind had carrots, cucumbers & chipped ham (use chipped lunchmeat, it just works better). You could even use some shredded cheese as well! And let me say, after julienning these things by hand, I SO want to buy this:

   

It would make some pretty cool zucchini noodles as well! It's on my list of things to get soon!

8 ounces cream cheese, Softened

1 Tablespoon chopped green onions or chives

1 Tablespoon minced fresh parsley

8 whole basil leaves, chopped 

 Salt And Pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

8 whole taco sized flour tortillas

1/2 pound chipped turkey or ham

3 whole carrots, peeled And julienned

1 whole cucumber, seeds scraped out and julienned

3 leaves green leaf lettuce, spine removed

2 whole avocados, sliced

Make the herbed cream cheese by combining the softened cream cheese with the chives, parsley, basil, salt and pepper, and lemon juice. Stir to combine.

Spread cream cheese in a thin layer over the tortillas. Lay ingredients down the middle of the tortilla: for the turkey or ham rollup, use turkey/ham, carrots, and cucumber. For a "salad" rollup, use lettuce, carrots, cucumber, and avocado. Let the veggies extend past the edges on either side.

Roll up the tortillas as tightly as they'll go, then wrap each rollup in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

To slice, cut each rollup exactly in half, then line up the two halves and cut them in half again. Stand the end pieces up so that the veggies stick out the top.

Cade's Cove- Tennessee

I shared a few weeks ago about some of the field trips we went on while camping in Tennessee with our friends (Titanic Museum & Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies). Another fun trip we took with our friends was a visit through Cade's Cove.

Cade's Cove is an isolated valley in the Great Smoky Mountain (and now a national park).  The first settlers were Europeans in the early 1800's and many of their original buildings are now preserved just as they were back then. Cade's Cove has an 11 mile, one way road that you can slowly drive on to not only tour different cabins, churches & mills but also see some awesome landscape and wildlife.

We headed out the morning of August 6 thinking we'll spend maybe 3 hours or so there. Ha, over 9 hours later, this is just a glimpse of our day there!

(click on photos to enlarge)

As we walked back a trail, we were amazed to see a young buck & doe together who didn't even startle by our presence. As we continued along, they meandered out on the trail about 8 feet in front of  us, so cool!!! (these are just a few of the many pics I took of them)

One of the many hikes we went on.

Such amazing history in these churches.  We sat through a 20 minute presentation by a park ranger that was chock full of amazing info!!!

He explained how this church was built using green pines which are impressionable by hand literally until they dry out. This picture is a photo of the ceiling where you can easily see imprints of hands of both grown men & boys he said since the wood was still soft & wet when they built it. (& this goes back to the 1800's wow!)

Oh how my mama's heart hurt as I walked through many graveyards on this trip. What really caught my eye were the many stillborn graves I saw as well as grave of little ones who lived just a few months. I was SO thankful to see that despite the times, these precious lives were acknowledged & remembered!! For example, check out the graves above. I hadn't noticed right away until I studied them. Here was a set of twin sisters Lura Louella & Lora Estella born together in 1911 but sadly Lora was stillborn. Get this, her sister Lura lived into her 90's and when she died, she was brought back and buried next to her infant sister in 2004!!!!! Both their headstones have a lamb on top.

I actually have many other pics I took of infant and toddler headstones. My heart ached when I saw a family that had buried 3 sons within 3 years. So unfair. How I would've loved to learn more of their story.

Yikes, murdered by the rebels!!!!

As we hiked back from seeing the above cabin, some of the kids were in front of us. All of a sudden, we heard them screaming as they came running towards us. A snake had gone across the trail in front of them and they almost stepped on it. We reminded them not yell or run like that when seeing wildlife. Not more than a few minutes after that, Susan and her friend were up ahead of the group on a small hill. We were almost at the end of the trail and back to our vehicles. All of a sudden they stopped dead in their tracks and turned around, eyes wide as they pointed & whispered "bear"!!! We were like WHAT?!?! (ok so we didn't yell it but felt a sense of panic for sure). We gathered everyone close while someone from the group went up the hill to take a look. It was a black bear cub which means where there is a baby, there is a mama. Double yikes!! Of course there was brush on either side of the trail so we knew mama could come out of anywhere. The cub scampered off before anyone could get a picture and we cautiously made our way out to the road. 2 people from our group hadn't gone on this hike so when we came out & told them how we just saw a cub, they said they noticed people were stopping on the road near us and were taking pictures of what we assume was the mama to the bear cub, eek!! Crazy how close we were! It sure made for a memorable experience. I am just thankful we were all kept safe!

And then there was the hike to Abram's Falls. It'll be fun we thought. HA!!! So we start off, ok, not bad. Then we get further down the trail, lots of rocks and then it gets narrow. Not a big deal, unless said trail is only 3 feet wide, rocky AND on the side of a mountain with a steep drop and no safety rails. Ugh, talk about feeling super anxious as we continued on. And this trail went on and on and on. We finally get there and we looked at the falls and said we went through all that for THIS?!?! The falls were only about 35 feet high and there really was not much else to see in the area. The kids waded around in the water for a bit (did I add it was HOT to the list?!) We didn't stay too long as we were all hot & tired and knew the hike we were facing to get back to our cars.

I had hiked with Ava in the moby wrap on me, thankfully she slept on the way there, woke up to nurse once we were there and fell back asleep on the hike back. On the way back, Olivia was tired and didn't want anyone to hold her besides me. Rather than listen to her whine for the 2 1/2 miles back, I carried her in addition to having Ava strapped to me! Yeah I got my exercise that day!! The kids had said they wished we had music to as we hiked out of there, so I pulled up on my phone, my playlist I use for running and blasted music. Ya know, we made the hike out 12 minutes faster than it took us to get in. And that was with me carrying two kids and all of us being tired so that music really helped!

All in all, it was a memorable day spent with great friends!!!

Titanic Museum

We started studying about the Titanic almost 2 years ago. It was a subject that just fascinated my kids. One of my daughters would often check out books from the library about the Titanic and even did a report on it (which I didn't require her to do!) Sometime last year, we learned that there was a museum dedicated to the Titanic, one in Tennessee and one in Missouri. When we were talking about going to Tennessee this summer, we said that the Titanic Museum was on our list of must do's for sure!

The Titanic museum was easy to get to as it is located on the main road in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. It's easily spotted due to the replica of the ship that makes up part of the museum.

(click to enlarge all photos)

When we walked up to the "boarding station" (White Swan Line), the staff, dressed in outfits like the staff would've worn on the Titanic, greeted us at our entrance. They were super friendly and engaged us in conversation. Before "boarding", you were handed a card that had the name of an actual passenger of the ship along with a short biography about them, their age and what class of the ship they were on. The adults were given a card of an adult (guys got guys, gals got gals), the kids were given a card of a child that was on board. 

At the end of the tour of the museum, you would find out whether you survived the sinking or not.

Oh I forgot to mention, before we left for our trip, I printed out a paper from the Titanic's website that is a scavenger hunt for the kids to do while they walked around the museum. I loved this idea as it kept the kids engaged and it makes a great piece to put in their homeschool portfolio!

By the way, they have a whole section on the website dedicated to education and ways you can incorporate the different subjects into learning about the Titanic.

Back to the tour. . . 

The museum also has the option of purchasing an audio tour while walking throughout the museum. There is so much information to take in just doing the museum alone but the audio tour adds another level to this. You can rent a handheld device to take part in this. 

Throughout the museum there are numbers that you enter to listen to the recording that goes along with the artifact you are looking at or the area of the museum you are in. You hold it up to your ear like a phone to listen to. There is also a children's audio tour and they have a separate number they enter to hear information more geared to their understanding. Our kids took turns between the childrens & adult audio tour. They enjoyed being able to listen on their own. Many times one of them would come up to me and tell me to listen to what they just listened to!

I do want to preface the fact that once we walked into the museum, there was no photography allowed so unfortunately I don't have pictures from the inside (though I was given some pictures from the museum themselves with permission to share here.) I know, it's a bummer not to take photos of the many amazing displays but I do understand why it's not allowed. The museum is made up of many small rooms you walk through and if everyone were taking photos, it would ruin the visit. This was one time we didn't worry about taking pictures but rather focused on soaking in the experience. Another thing I appreciated about the museum is they only allow so many people in at a time so it doesn't get crowded (which is why it's a good idea to order your tickets ahead of time.)

When you first walk in, you are in a room that gives an overview of the Titanic. Each room you went through throughout the museum took you down the chronological timeline from the building of the ship to the sinking of the ship. Not only are facts presented throughout the museum but personal stories of the many of the people involved in the Titanic as well.

I couldn't even begin to tell you which of the rooms were my favorite, they were all wonderful! The kids & I had already known a lot about the Titanic but we walked away learning even more. In fact, there was a room dedicated to Father Frank Browne who took the only photographs that were saved from the Titanic. How did this happen? He was on the maiden voyage of the Titanic when it left from Southampton and stopped in Queensland, Ireland where he disembarked and didn't finish the journey across the atlantic. I never knew this! The room displayed many of the photos he took on board, including the only picture of the captain on the ship.

Scattered throughout the museum were actual artifacts recovered from the Titanic. Seeing these items just brought the Titanic to life for me as I tried to envision those whom these items belonged to.

A purse handle & bracelet

One of the deck chairs

Another neat feature of the museum is they have rooms set up to recreate what different areas of the ship had looked like.

Actual size of a 3rd class cabin

1st class stateroom

There were displays of the clothing they would've worn, what one of the ships hallways would've looked like, etc. Another interesting room was solely made up of artifacts and information from the filming of the movie Titanic. There were signed pieces from the actors, behind the scenes pictures as well as some of the actual props they used for the making of the movie. They even explained how they shot certain parts of the movie.

Before you go to the second floor of the museum, you are brought to a true-to-size replica of the infamous grand staircase that you actually walk up to get to the next floor. (there is an elevator for those who need it). 

Before advancing to the second floor, we were gathered in a group by a very engaging employee named Ron who shared facts about this beautiful staircase. In fact, before he started his presentation, he noticed my family & the friends with us and asked about our group. I mentioned we were homeschoolers so he said before I go to the next floor, to see him as he had some information to share. He gave me a website that contains wealth of knowledge about the Titanic (it seriously is an awesome resource!) I appreciated he took the time to talk to us.

As if all this wasn't enough, there were different interactive displays as well. There was a replica of a hall & stairwell and when you pushed the button, water began to rush into it like it would've on the ship. It started out slow but eventually began to pour in. I can't imagine what those people thought as they saw that. 

There was a tot Titanic area for the littlest ones to explore. 

The sloping decks were also neat to try out (I had Ava in the moby wrap on me so I didn't try them but everyone else with us did).

I think one of our favorite interactive places was when we walked "outside" of the ship onto what was a simulation of that fateful night. It was dark and 32 degrees in that room. To the side was an actual piece of iceburg we could feel then we moved to the front of the ship where we could put our hand into water that was the exact temp of the ocean water when the ship sank, a freezing 28 degrees.

Oh my goodness, the pain you felt in your hand when you put it into the water was insane!! Before we put our hand in, the employee that was there encouraged us to not just do a quick dip but move our hand around and keep it there as long as possible. Wow, I can't even imagine what those people felt as they were plunged fully into that water. He said within 2-4 minutes after being submerged, hypothermia set in and  they were unconscious then within 10-20 minutes they died.

At the end of the museum, we came to the memorial room where every passenger of the ship was listed. It was there we learned our fate, if we survived or not.

We discovered Kevin & I both died and all the kids lived.

At the end of the museum, there is a gift shop. There seriously is so much more to this museum I didn't mention. I know we could easily go back a second time and discover things we overlooked this past time. There was so much to learn & discover here, by far it was our most favorite museum we've been to. In fact, anytime someone has asked my kids what their favorite thing they did in Tennessee (next to visiting our friends) they said it was seeing this museum for sure!

You can order tickets ahead of time. They even have a reasonably priced family pass for 2 adults & 4 kids ($60.58 plus tax), group rates as well as special homeschool pricing. If you are in the area, I would definitely recommend making time to tour this amazing museum!!

My family was given tickets and audio tour in order to facilitate an honest review. All opinions expressed are those of myself & family. No other compensation was given. 

Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies

We decided while in Tennessee to do some field trips. One of the places we wanted to see was Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, so on Monday August 5th we headed to Gatlinburg where the aquarium was located. It was easy to get to the aquarium as it was just a skip from Pigeon Forge and on the main road as we got to Gatlinburg.

(you can click on all pictures to enlarge)

We followed the signs for parking which happened to be in a parking garage behind the aquarium which is a no go for us being in a 12 passenger van. So I hopped out and went to guest services to inquire about where else we could park (it's a busy little town so I would've had no clue where else we could've parked). The gal at guest services said we could park in the bus parking right behind the building, perfect!!

Let me tell ya, this place is bigger inside that you realize! When you first walk in, you can see you are on what looks like the second floor with an open atrium overlooking part of the floor below.

(this pic taken by one of my kids)

The way this aquarium was laid out was in a natural flow pattern, you didn't have to wonder what to go see first, you just kept walking and were guided to see all the displays and exhibits. In my opinion, this kept crowding limited as everyone flowed through the aquarium in the exact same pattern. Everything is stroller & wheelchair family as there aren't any steps between exhibits, just ramps which I was thankful for as we had 1 of our little ones in a stroller. Also when we arrived, we were handed a schedule of activities that were taking place throughout the day that listed times & locations of different diving and feeding shows. We were so busy seeing the displays that it never timed out for us to hit a show.

I can't begin to list all the cool aquatic displays we saw, so many neat fish from small to huge! We appreciated that by each of the tanks was a plaque that told you what you were looking at and some facts about each animal. The homeschooling mom in me loves when we can throw in some education along with the fun side of things!

There was a neat section of the aquarium that as you walked through, you had the feeling of being under water just by the way the lighting was. (this picture doesn't do it justice).

Eventually another area we arrived at was a huge tank where you could look down and see sharks & stingrays (there might've been other animals but that's what we saw while standing there.)

Even my recently turned 2 year old loved seeing all the fish! She would make fish faces and get excited each time she saw new ones!

Not only are there display tanks but several interactive areas. There was one section where we saw & learned how the aquarium filters their water, an area where you could touch & pick up horseshoe crabs, a large fish that had buttons on the different organs that lit up and told you about them,  tanks where the kids could go in the center & put their head up the middle simulating the feeling of being in the tank surrounded by fish.

The tank full of sting rays were fun to watch as they swam around. There were all different sizes and even different colored ones. A few of them would swim right up against the glass almost as if they were showing off.

There was also 1 room dedicated to a dinosaur display. From what I gathered, this was something new and might only be there for a limited time (though I am not for sure on that part of it). We weren't in there too long as my 2 year old wasn't quite sure what to make of the huge moving dinosaurs and roaring sounds. But from the little I saw, there was factual displays along with the animatronics and some video clips. (funny, as I'm sitting here writing this & she sees the dino picture, she is roaring so she obviously remembers what she saw!!)

When we got about two-thirds of the way through the aquarium, we came across a cafe area. While we weren't hungry and didn't stop, I did take a glance at the menu and they had several meal deals listed for both adults & children as well as a place to sit down to eat.

Towards the end of the aquarium there was a penguin playhouse. You saw a bunch of them inside, where there was even a place to stick your head up in the middle of their habitat! You then could walk outside on a porch that overlooked downtown Gatlinburg but it also had a display of the penguins swimming in water where you were eye level with the water. The red bands on their arms showed the name of each penguin. There was also a small nursery that houses baby penguins. There was one there while we were there but due to the glass, I couldn't get a good picture as the penguin was towards the back of the room.

(yes, that's my 2 yr old using my phone to take pictures of the penguin swimming right in front of her!)

I saved our most favorite part of the aquarium to mention last. I knew going into it that there was an underwater tunnel you can walk through to see sharks and other fish. It sounded neat but I didn't expect a whole lot. Well let me tell ya, it blew us away! First of all, the tunnel contains a conveyor belt you can stand on (and the stroller fit as well) so you can concentrate on just looking up and all around and not worry about walking (and potentially tripping or running into someone!) though there is also a place to walk if you don't want to stand on the conveyor belt. And the second part was how long this tunnel went. It weaved all around this tank and lasted for quite awhile, which was a pleasant surprise! There was no lack of sharks, we saw plenty swim right against not only the glass next to us but right above our heads as well. We saw plenty of other fish as well.

(I love how Olivia is looking up at the sharks here)

A huge jellyfish, Ava & I in front of the tank overlooking the sharks, a stingray in stingray bay that you could lean over the side and touch, and 2 huge Japanese fighting crabs (seriously, from leg to leg they were like 3 feet wide!)

At the end of the aquarium there is a large gift shop before you exit the building.

We really enjoyed our time at Ripley's Aquarium and loved seeing all the different aquatic life, it was definitely worth the time we spent there! (They even have a facebook page you can check out.) If you are vacationing anywhere near Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge TN, check out this aquarium for a fun family day! (They also have an aquarium in Myrtle Beach and one opening next month in Canada). 

Stop back soon for more posts on the rest of our Tennessee trip!

My family was given tickets to this aquarium in order to facilitate this review of my honest opinions. No other compensation was given. All opinions and pictures are those of mine & my family. This post & photos are protected under the copyright law.