Em and I try to have a date night every week. The first year of marriage, this worked really well and encouraged us to get out, go to new places, and not stop going on dates just because we were married. However, after the first year of marriage, we slowly stopped being as intentional about our date nights.
So in order to be more intentional about going on weekly dates, I told Em that we should try alphabet dating. Alphabet dating is where you do one date a week based on each letter of the alphabet. We decided that I would start with A, and then each week we’d take turns planning the date for the next letter.
For A, I had this idea that I was going to surprise Em by taking her to the Aquarium. I heard about this thing that the National Aquarium in Baltimore does where you get to have a sleepover with the sharks – you literally spend the night in the same room as the sharks! But just like every other time I’ve tried to surprise Em, she somehow found out. (I’m determined to surprise her one of these dates!)
So we showed up to the National Aquarium last Friday and, not surprisingly, were the only ones above the age of 12 who didn’t have any kids! But the night made for an even better date night than I had hoped!! Here’s a video we made of our aquarium date.
When we arrived, we were given dinner and then taken on a behind-the-scenes tour of the aquarium. Our tour guides (Victoria, Maria, and Ed) were all amazing! It was really cool because the aquarium was completely closed and we had the whole place to ourselves. We got to see the kitchen where they prep the food for the fish, go on an open catwalk above the shark tank, touch jelly fish, and have our own personal dolphin viewing. But probably my favorite part of the tour (other than the sharks, of course) was walking through the pitch-black rainforest exhibit. There are free roaming birds and even two-toed sloths roaming around the exhibit, so you never knew what animal was in the tree right next to you!
After the tour, we went and changed into our PJs, rolled out our air mats, and went to sleep right next to the sharks! Now I’m not really scared of sharks, but it was a little freaky knowing that while I was sleeping there were several like 8 ft sharks swimming two feet away. During the night, I would look up and see a shadow of a shark or see a glimpse of their eye as they swam slowly by. It was crazy!
Em and I had a lot of fun and would definitely recommend doing the sleepover with the sharks (even if you don’t have kids!). A big thanks to the National Aquarium for making our A date so fun! I’m excited for our next dates and hope that I can actually surprise Em one of these days!
Here’s a list of all our alphabet dates so far!
– Alphabet Dating – A: Aquarium Sleepover with the Sharks
– Alphabet Dating – B: Basketball Game (Wizards vs. Sixers)
– Alphabet Dating – C: Circus (Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey
– Alphabet Dating – D: Dave & Buster’s
– Alphabet Dating – E: Eastern Shore / Assateague Camping
– Alphabet Dating – F: Florida
– Alphabet Dating – G: Golf Course Camping
– Alphabet Dating – H: Horse Race (The Preakness Stakes)
