Our April Date Nights

It would have been impossible to fit one more event into our April calendar.  Lesson learned as we proceed with caution with summer approaching!  We did have TONS of fun during our insanely busy month though!  We hosted my parents for a few days, hit up a slew of movies at the Tribeca Film Festival, and saw a thought-provoking show with friends who were visiting the city.  In the midst of all the fun, our date nights prevailed!  I set up a double date with friends of ours while Chris planned a surprise weekend getaway for us!

Back in April of 2010, Christopher and I had our first date at Brother Jimmy's on Lexington and 31st so it was only fitting that I booked our double date at that location.  We had fun rehashing the story of that night with Rachel and Lionel as well as chatting about a whole array of things from Survivor to FitBit Mania to sports/books.  It was a great night together with friends we have both spent the past few years getting to know individually.  We all met at a Bible Study group about three years ago.  As it turned out, Chris and Lionel worked in the same area and meet for lunch from time to time. And Rachel and I ended up in a book club together!  It's rare that we spend time with couples that we both know equally well so that made for an extra fun night.

Chris did an amazing job of putting together a fun weekend trip to Mystic, Connecticut.  Click HERE to see all the fun we had at the aquarium, Olde Mistick Village, and walking around the historic downtown area.  We had a fantastic weekend away, but Chris really blew me away with the ultimate adventure date during this trip.  He planned a penguin encounter for us at the Mystic Aquarium.  We were able to spend an hour learning all about the African penguins that are on exhibit there as well as pet and play with our own little penguin friend!  I wrote all about the experience HERE.  It was such a thoughtful and fun-filled date!

What is your ultimate date night?

Andrea :)

It's World Penguin Day!!

Happy World Penguin Day!! Perfect planning on Christopher's part since he surprised me with an awesome penguin encounter at the Mystic Aquarium this weekend.  We had a wonderful experience with our new penguin friend.

We learned A LOT about penguins during our hour long encounter.  We were also able to pet Mr. Penguin.  And help the aquarium with some training by playing pretend veterinarian!

The most interesting portion of the day involved learning about the naming system for the penguins at the aquarium.  They are named using beads attached to one of their flippers.  The first bead is either blue or pink and indicates gender.  Gender can't be known by looking at the external body of the penguin.  It requires a blood test that occurs within the first year of the penguin's life.  The Mystic Aquarium assigns each penguin a two color name based on when they arrived at the aquarium.  Our penguin's name was Green Red because he was the 30th penguin at the aquarium.

We later learned about the mating habits of the penguins.  And discovered that Green Red's mate is named Green Green.  She is the 33rd penguin at the aquarium.  They recently hatched some baby penguins that were just introduced to the exhibit this past week.  They are the proud parents of Purple Purple and Purple Silver.  We were able to catch both Green Green and Purple Purple when we visited the exhibit during the afternoon feeding session.  In the photo below, you can see that Purple Purple has yet to be identified as male or female based on the white bead proceeding the naming beads.  We also learned that it is during the first yearly molt that the baby African penguins develop the signature black stripe across their chest.  Notice that Purple Purple currently doesn't have the stripe that Green Green and Green Red possess.  I told you we learned a lot! :)

Mystic Aquarium also does a lot of work to assist in keeping the African penguin from becoming extinct.  Sadly, it is currently an endangered species in the wild.  We learned about the aquarium's various efforts on the coast of Africa.  And discovered several ways we could help locally - recycling and using reusable grocery bags!

Interacting with Green Red during our encounter was such a special experience.  I have always loved penguins (and had a similar encounter experience at Sea World with my parents when I was a teenager), but as an adult this experience was much more educational.  I will certainly be looking into ways to go above and beyond to protect these amazing and precious creatures!  I hope you'll do the same!

Aren't penguins just adorable?  What is your favorite animal?

Andrea :)