Monterey Bay Aquarium

Kc and I decided to surprise Noah on Saturday and head over to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for the day.  When we told Bubs about the special trip we were going to take in the morning, he ran all around the living room, climbed up on the sofa, and did a headstand.  Funny guy!

We woke up bright and early in the hopes that Bubs would sleep a bit in the car on the way over.  Ha!  Mr. Man was SO EXCITED that when I picked him up out of bed {ever so gently} he looked at me and said, "Hi.  We're going to the Aquarium today!". 

 

Being members of the Aquarium, we get to go inside an hour early.  Bubs just loves to say "Hi" to all the scuba divers who are cleaning out the tanks.  The divers are always so kind and patient and take the time to wave and show off a bit for my Little Man.

Noah was really into touching EVERYTHING he could get his hands on.  Almost every tank and exhibit has some sort of sculpture or decoration around it and Bubs couldn't wait to find them.  Who want's to touch a real starfish {all cold and wet} when you play with a brass one to your heart's content.

 

After visiting the sharks, octopus, starfish, and kelp forest, we headed up to the Splash Zone which is designed specifically for children.  Bubs loved the tank with Nemo {a clownfish}, Dory {a blue tang}, and Gill {an archer fish}. 

What he loved most of all, however, were the tidal pools.  There were plastic starfish and sea anemones to play with and Bubs was in pure heaven.

Notice Daddy-O in the background holding Squirt.

Noah would "collect" all the starfish and sea anemones he could find and line them up along the edge of the tidal pool.

Then he would knock them into the water one by one.  He thought it was wickedly funny!

 

He stopped just long enough for me to take a quick picture with his treasure.

 

 

Once we finished in the tidal pools, we headed around the corner to an area that the kiddos can climb around and go in and out of tunnels.  Bubs loved the larger than life clam and kept asking me where the pearl was. 

He loves reading The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big, Big Dark by Deborah Diesen.  In the story, Ms. Clam looses her pearl and Mr. Fish decides to help her find it.  It is a sweet story and Noah loves to point out every time my jewelry has pearls on it.  Mr. Man was quite perplexed as to why this clam did not have a pearl.

Our Little Man is growing up quite a bit...although...he's not quite as tall as a blue whale.

Of course we had to take the traditional picture in the tidal wave tunnel.

July 2012

 August 2011

December 2011

Bubs had such an amazing time at the Aquarium that he fell asleep about two minutes after we got into the car.  He slept the entire ride home.