Last weekend we met friends Eric and Gail at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We weren't sure what the boys would think. From the looks of it, Jack wasn't sure either:
Let's go, Mom!
Hi, Gail!
Okay, those pictures were taken while we were leaving, but they seemed like a good intro.
Henry connects with a puffin:
The boys both thought the puffins were pretty fascinating (the feeling seemed to be mutual, as the puffins hung out by the glass for quite awhile looking at the boys):
There's a pretty great play area for small children inside the aquarium. There were lots of cool things to do.
Giant block drop, complete with mini aquariums:
Henry was a big fan:
For kids too young to know to keep their hands out of their mouths after handling animals in the touch tanks, there's a faux touch pool with plastic animals. It actually had a "current" pumped in so that the plastic fish appeared to swim.
Jack seems unsure at first:
Henry embraces the fountains:
Jack decides the fountains are pretty cool after all:
Jack shows an out-of-frame Gail his plastic fish catch:
Jack discovers a plastic anemone:
What do I do with it?
Gail will take care of it, Jack concludes:
Henry dips the anemone in the water...
... then is distressed to find that tipping the anemone results in a shower.
There's also an "underwater" tunnel to run through with tanks of fish on either side. The boys thought this was great fun.
Jack:
Henry:
The Pacific Jack, emerging from his lair:
The boys were quite enthusiastic about everything, especially enjoying the puffins, sharks and large fish in the kelp forest tank and, of course, the penguins. The otters were sleeping when we passed by, otherwise I'm sure they'd have been quite excited about those little guys too. I wish we lived a bit closer so we could go more often; the aquarium is about an hour from our house, which would be a lot to ask of little dudes on a regular basis.
Henry and his daddy, heading home after a busy morning of ocean adventures:
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