Aquarium

 

You are 100% correct Melissa, dear. This is a picture of my sweet children watching jellyfish when we visited the Aquarium on our recent beloved coastal vacation.  It's amazing to think about the fact that jellyfish are made up of up to 95% water!  And they do not have brains, they are completely run on electrical impulses or muscle contractions.  Hmmm, sounds similar to what being a mommy feels like on certain days... I can just imagine using the phrase,"Oh, I'm such a jelly today!"

Although it was a rainy day, we enjoyed walking outdoors, visiting the animals and Oooing and Ahhing.

This little guy was cozying up to the glass like he wanted to cuddle with the kids!  They loved it.  Even when they left this window and went to another, he followed them and started pressing his little face up to the glass once again with his eyes all squinted closed, a faint smile on his lips, if he had lips that is...  It almost  makes an animal lover want to jump right in with him... almost.

The 'touch' pool was fun, but honestly we had been to tide pools just as cool on the beach that were full of fun little creatures and they we're authentic wild little creatures! We touched the sea anemones, star fish, urchins, mussels, crabs, little fishies and many, many shells! We have jars full of shells as souvenirs.

Kids just love to touch. They'd touch everything all day long if permitted-and put it directly in their mouths, if you are my fifth blessing and 12 months old. Thus the reason we do not take our kids into china shops, down the wine isle or into antique stores... even with obedient children, it could become catastrophic.

The Aquarium has an amazing completely glass walled(and floored!) tunnel where we could walk through and feel as though we were under the ocean with the sharks, fish and rays. The kids were enamored!  Well, my little man was slightly worried about stepping onto a glass floor, so he made sure to gingerly walk around those.

Photo courtesy of OCA

We we're able to look at shells and things under a microscope at one point on our tour. It is always amazing to see the texture of something magnified. The intricacy and detail is incredible! We saw a lot of pictures magnified to 1000's of times their normal size. What a powerful God we serve!

We saw crabs that typically become as tall as men, penguins, eels, puffins and murres. We also saw snakes, frogs and fish that look like grass. GRASS.  In Hawaii, ages many years ago, my family and I snorkeled in the beautiful crystal clear ocean. It was a blast, but I could never get used to the beautifully colored fish constantly running into my legs, hands and even face!  They weren't afraid... what happened to the comforting "they are more afraid than you are" rule? Things rubbing up against my legs or sinking my feet into squishy muddy ground in the ocean or any body of water makes me nervous.  So now I'm freaked cautious. 

My little girl being her happy self, tucked into her carrier.

In front of a wetland of sorts, right off of the ocean.  We watched a little informational video on wetlands, what makes a wetland a wetland, and the variety and difference of them all.

The nice Aquarium lady had the kids come up to flap their arms like birds, a hummingbird to be exact!  Hummingbirds do not flap their wings typically like every other bird, up and down. They flap back and forth in a swinging motion! My kids even sat still for the entire 20 minutes of boring informational footage.

Speaking of educational videos, my kids, for some odd reason LOVE to watch this documentary video about Beavers that we have on our Netflix Instant Que- The Best Dam Movie Ever.  I know, I feel like a terrible mother. {snicker} But it's all in the name of education!!