Prom 2009

Hubby and I helped chaperon the prom on Friday, as we tend to do.

This is our fifth prom.

(At this school, we went to three proms at his previous school. I find all this prom attending vaguely ironic, considering what a miserable time I had at my own senior prom. At least now I have a date.)

Mercifully, it was in a new location this year.
The four previous years it was at the Inn at Longshore, which is a very nice space at a country club.

But it was always the same place, with the same food, and honestly I was getting a bit tired of it.

This year it was at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk.

OMG, it was sooo cool!

We had not been to the aquarium before, which is odd because we like aquariums. Since the chaperons have to get there early, we were able to do a quick wander through the displays before all the kids arrived.

For some reason, we decided it was bigger than we expected, but we didn't get a real sense of the size of it from the outside.

The tables and dancing were set up in the big open room with the floating staircase that leads up to the frog display. (Which will mean nothing to you if you haven't been there.)

This is also the room with the seal tank! Quite a bit of time was spent watching the seals swim around.

They reminded us of Baru, because seals have puppy faces and Baru has a little head and a big body. (Yes, we are mean, you only just noticed?)

I also noticed that two guys appeared and hung out next to the tank while the kids were around. Guess they were the seals' bodyguards.

The idea was the kids would be shuttled off into the displays, then make their grand entrance down the staircase, at the bottom of which was the buffet line.

Hubby and I were stationed at the top of the stairs to prevent them from coming down too soon.

Of course, the best laid plans and all that, containment was lost and most of the kids when straight to the tables/buffet line from the main entrance.

How Romantic
We realized we hadn't staked out a chaperon table as we were watching them fill up with kids. Then we found out 25 kids had signed up at the last minute. There was enough seating...for them.

Hubby remembered there were tables and chairs up by the shark tank, so the two of us ate up there. It was nice. Low lighting, music piped in, and deadly critters slowly scrolling by.

The students had a good giggle at our choice and one commented about Hubby getting points for a romantic meal without having to spend money.

(um, that's a glowing jellyfish and the picture looked really cool until I put it on the blog. I should have gone with the shark.)

Another display is a column tank filled with jellyfish. As that is a fairly dark room, we strolled through it regularly to prevent any hanky-panky. We also amused the students by chasing each other around the tank, a stunt we could get away with because Hubby is known as a bit of a goofball (heck, he MCs the homecoming pep rally every year!).

Yummy
The food was rather tasty, and no it wasn't seafood.
There was salad and rolls, chicken, baked ziti, mashed potatoes and steamed green beans. Dessert was a variety of mini eclairs, brownies, little cookies, etc.
Sadly, no coffee or tea, but I suppose prom age people wouldn't be looking for those drinks.

Homeward
(That is a stingray in the touch tank. I snuck into that display before the kids arrived. I also snuck through the frog display.)

Let's see, the kids stayed until around 10:30. Oh, the favor this year was a school beach towel and a bag of candy. It looked like they were all claimed.

But the best part was the chaperons didn't have to break down the decorations! Once the last student was gone we were out the door. In previous years, we had to strip the centerpieces and such, but apparently the aquarium took care of all that.

And then I passed out on the half-hour car ride home.

Hubby says I'm a lightweight, but I swear I only had two Shirley Temples!