btsoi blogs: Melbourne Day 7: Melbourne Aquarium, DFO

For our last full day in Melbourne, my parents took another bus tour out to the coast to see the 12 Apostles.

I didn't think the boys could handle another day on a tour bus so I made an executive decision and opted not to join them on the tour.

However, that meant I had to spend the day wandering around a foreign city with the two boys and no extra help. So my plan of attack? Take the boys to the aquarium. At least there they could wander around relatively freely but still be contained, and for a few hours, I wouldn't have to worry about getting lost.

So in the morning, I packed up the stroller, dressed the two boys up and we marched out the door. And I almost forgot the hotel key. Luckily I remembered to grab it from the slot by the door just before I closed the door.

Phew, crisis averted. We marched on.

We rode the elevator down and I was feeling pretty good about myself, but as the doors opened at the ground floor, I realize I forgot our black backpack upstairs. Our black backpack that contained an extra set of clothes for each of the boys, a day's supply of diapers and wipes for Caleb, and a multitude of snacks and drinks to keep the boys fed and happy for the day, was left upstairs. This backpack meant the difference between a good day and a dreadful, awful, full-out panic day.

We went right back upstairs to grab the bag, and then we were off.

With two "bad" things already under our belt, I hoped hard that the third wouldn't come.

We hopped on a tram and rode towards the aquarium. When it was time to get off, I had to tap both our myki cards and get the stroller off before the doors closed again.

So I tapped the myki cards, and then the doors closed.

An old woman who was watching this all happen gasped and cried no! NO!

I pressed the red button for the doors to open and after a moment, the doors opened again.

A younger woman, maybe around my age offered to help me with the stroller but I said I'd be fine. I lifted it up on my leg and stepped down in a bit of a messy maneuver and quickly got the three of us off the tram. As I left, the woman called out "you're amazing!" and the tone of awe in her voice made my day.

Even after the three close calls, I felt like everything was going to be alright.

Once we got to the aquarium, my plan was to let Caleb walk around freely, following behind him and Nathan. It was all very orderly in my head.

Then real life happened.

Nathan went off in one direction, Caleb in another. When I finally got them together and told Caleb we were going this way, he did this:

So back into the stroller he went.

I did let him walk around in some of the more open areas, like here, where two divers came up and waved to the boys before they went off to their presentation.

Soon Caleb fell asleep, and Nathan and I wandered the aquarium, oohing and ahhing along the way, discussing the different things we saw. I really appreciated this "alone" time with him.

After a while, we had lunch but Caleb kept sleeping so we wandered around again. We hit up every single exhibit in the aquarium and bought some postcards to send home as we waited for the next fish-feeding presentation.

We found a good spot in the fishbowl and waited. The boys were free to move around. They stayed pretty close this time which I was thankful for because by now I had breathed in so much circulated air my head was beginning to pound.