Aquarium of the Pacific

In Kira's words: "SHEESH PLACE!"

Ian's mom bought our family a pass to the Long Beach aquarium last Christmas. We have really loved having this pass. There are no blackout dates or anything. We bought a parking pass so we also save on parking fees. It only costs $4 to go now! I have been really good about going there at least once a month with the girls and either Ian or Rachel comes with me. It's so nice to have a buddy to do these things with. Rachel liked the idea so much that she bought herself a pass too! Now I have a buddy to go with! She has since gotten her niece Krystal and her son Ben to come too. The aquarium is such a fun, kid friendly place. We really enjoy going. The girls just LOVE the fish tanks. Kira especially loves seeing the sea horses, Dory (from Nemo) and also jellyfish!!! That's kind of her newest thing. I really like looking at the sharks and the beautiful big sea turtle that they have there. I even learned about shark babies! There's an exhibit where we can actually see the shark fetus' grow inside the eggs. Every time we visit, we check on how our shark babies are doing and see if any have hatched. It's amazing watching the shark babies grow and develop in the eggs at all different stages! WOW! There's lots of hands on stuff to do at the aquarium also. We can pet the urchins, starfish, slugs, sting rays, sharks and more. They even have this area with lorikeet birds where you can feed them and they fly right to you. We have seen sea otters, sea lions, seals, giant sea bass, puffins, sharks, a HUGE sting ray (that weighs more than the sharks they have!!!) and tons of other things. It's nice being able to go during the week when there's a lot of kids and stay at home moms that go. On the weekends, it's WAY to crowded.
Today, I visited the aquarium with my sisters Emily and Julie. I gave them the 2 free guest passes that we got with our annual pass. It was so fun taking them because neither of them remember ever going so I got to be their tour guide and tell them all the cool stuff I've learned and I knew my way around well and knew where everything was when they'd ask. Today was extra special for me because I saw the sea turtle for the first time and Kira also got to touch a shark for the first time! She was so cute! There was a volunteer there who helped her accomplish this. He actually lifted up the little shark for her to feel. She petted the "white speckled" shark, which we named the Pok-a-dot shark! After seeing mommy do it, she decided it was safe enough. I was so proud of her! I can tell that the girls are really getting used to the aquarium and are less afraid of the hands on stuff now. Today they were so excited and Zoey even reached in and was splashing. It was so cute. My kids are so cute!!! Julie and Emily took a funny picture that Julie wants to photoshop tails onto so they will look like mermaids. lol. She's so silly! And today was Julie's birthday so I'm so glad I got to spend the day with her and Emily even though they are such cool, young and single girls are their sister is old and boring! Zoey is really uncooperative at picture time so it's REALLY hard for me to get a good picture of my 2 girls. =( But here's what we got!