Our daughter loves the aquarium. We have gone to the Camden Aquarium multiple times. We wanted to take her on a special trip of her choice after her diagnosis and she chose the aquarium….which didn’t shock me at all.
This was going to be the first time going there with her having diabetes, but also with an infant as well.
Long Drive = High BG
One thing we know happens 100% of the time is that as soon as we get in the car and start to go on a drive anywhere, her blood glucose levels will begin to creep up.
Driving to the Camden Adventure Aquarium is about an hour to an hour and a half drive, so we knew the sugar levels were going to go up and we had to be prepared for it.
And just like we thought it would, they did. It’s just something about sitting still in the car that her levels just creep up, no matter what she had to eat before hand.
Pack Your Own Lunch
Going somewhere that allows you to bring your own food is the greatest. Being able to pack your own lunch, count carbs at home and be prepared for bolusing a correct amount is crucial to anyone living with type 1 diabetes.
Being able to pack your own lunch, count carbs at home and be prepared for to bolus the correct amount is crucial to anyone living with type 1 diabetes. Click To Tweet
This aquarium does have a few different food court options like pizza, hot dogs, burgers, chicken tenders, pretzels, etc. I have eaten from the food court previously, but we typically bring some Wawa or Sheetz hoagies and then pack PB&J or something similar for our daughter.
Along with packing our own lunches, we bring in snacks. We have a few juices, candy, peanut butter crackers and that’s usually about it.
If we see downward trends, then we will just give a little snack here and there instead of waiting until she’s low and needing to correct. We sometimes don’t see the trends though because we are paying more attention to the animals then we are her blood sugar levels.
Excitement and a lot of Walking
There is obviously a lot of walking around at an aquarium, especially at this one as it is a pretty decent size.
There is also a lot of excitement. How can you not get excited seeing a ton of fish and other water animals. Petting the stingrays is one of our favorites, and also where I think she went low.
This is the worst time because then you have to rush to wash hands really well in order to do a manual finger check, but the excitement definitely drives her down.
We always have fun at the aquarium. I mean, who doesn’t?
Every time we make a trip to any place similar to this, we always learn something new about managing the trip and we make it better the next time around.
How do you manage adventures and trips to the aquarium, zoo, or other fun and exciting places? I would love to hear your strategies.
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