Galveston Island - Moody Garden's in Galveston, TX

One of our favorite local get-a-ways to enjoy good seafood, walking on the beach, and a nice relocation of activity for the kids is Galveston Island, Texas. It's a quick five hour drive. For this trip we took time to visit Moody Garden's. If you haven't heard of it Moody Garden's is an educational tourist destination, with a golf course and hotel in Galveston, Texas which opened in 1986. The non-profit destination, established by The Moody Foundation, uses nature to educate and excite visitors about conservation and wildlife. 

During spring break they host special camps and spring adventure tours. Spring Adventures are an exciting way to start your day at Moody Gardens! During the week of spring break in Texas, they start the preceding Sunday and go through Friday, alternating between their Rainforest Pyramid of Amazon Animals and their Aquarium Pyramid of Aquatic Sea Life.  You receive early entrance in the corresponding attraction prior to other guests with a private tour. The adventure includes a focused educational program and Ambassador Animal presentation. For both adventures there were less than 25 people which allowed us ask as many questions are we walked along the tour. 

Our favorite story from this trip includes an encounter with a King Penguin named Athena...

At the end of our Aquatic Sea Life Adventure a King Penguin named Athena visited our group. She walked in proudly and presented herself with a trumpet. We learned that Athena was actually the nestling of two penguins that decided they didn't want children. After a week of hoping they would love their new chick, keepers watched as they ignored and refused to care for her. Ironically, within the same waddle (yes, I had to look up what you call a group of penguins) another penguin couple desperately wanted a chick. In fact, they wanted one so badly they would steal the eggs of other couples. The keepers noticed this behavior and gave them a "fake egg" to incubate. After monitoring Athena's lack of care by her birth parents they decided to slip her in place of the fake egg. The new penguin couple took to her right away and became her foster parents! They were overjoyed to have a baby chick and adopted Athena as their own! 

What an incredible moment for our foster and adopted children to see and hear! This will be a memorable trip for all of us and definitely a story to remember!!