Anyway, when we went outside to see the bigger touch pools she was so excited. She still wasn't able to touch any of the animals because she wouldn't put her hand deep enough in the water, (too cold still), to be able to reach the animals. But it didn't matter, she loved being able to get up close and just watch them and of course being able to play in the water wasn't a bad thing either. LOL!! We had to keep telling her to stop because splashing in the water would frighten the animals, etc. There were several times throughout the day that she even said she wanted to go "swimming with the animals." So freaking funny!!
We spent about 3 1/2 hours there and Lillian had so much fun, we had a hard time leaving. We must have spent 30 minutes in the gift shop alone. She was so excited!! She would go to each animal and picked up, hold it for a moment and then put it back. Trying to get her to decide on 1 animal was crazy! But eventually we narrowed it down to Squirt, the turtle, from Finding Nemo. I think the most time she spent in there was looking at all the books. Yes my little monkey loves books. I think she might have looked at almost every one, that she could reach. Thank goodness her birthday is coming up, because Grandma and I were able to get some great gifts for her that she has no idea she's getting.
One of the first tanks we came to. She must have sat here for 10-15 minutes totally mesmerized by the fish. She would say "Look mommy at the fish, are they swimming." I would respond yes, which would make her want to go swimming. Even though she isn't smiling here, she is having a great time. She gets annoyed with mommy trying to take her picture. (Good grief you'd think I was trying to hurt her the way she can carry on sometimes.)
Lillian's typical stance at each of the exhibits. She was just "glued" to some of them. She was so fascinated by the fish swimming around.
For some reason, she really got excited when we found the Jelly Fish tanks. Maybe it's from the movie, Finding Nemo. Where ever it comes from, it's so cute. If you look close enough you can see her reflection in the picture on the right hand side. Her expression says it all.
This was the small touch tank I had mentioned earlier. She wanted to touch those Ray's so bad, but was too chicken to put her hand too far into the cold water. I think it was more of the concept of being allowed to touch an animal than anything else, that she really enjoyed about the touch tanks.
Another typical stance.
More Jellies!!
Sea Lion. When we got to the Sea Lions, Lillian was just mesmerized. This is how she sat just watching them swim around their tank.
There was this one Sea Lion that would literally swim right by Lillian and the other kids. He/She would come right by the window and just lay there on the edge. I know it's kind of hard to tell, but if you look closely you will find the Sea Lion. The Lillian loved being able to be so close to these guys, (or gals)!!
I know I still don't have his head, but you know its very hard to get a good picture when the animal isn't staying in one place. LOL!!! Besides you know what they look like anyway!!
"Look mommy, what's that!" "A Sea Lion?!?!" This actually is a great shot of the ledge that I had mentioned earlier where the Sea Lion would lay. I know this Sea Lion was just as curious about us, and wanted a closer look!! There was this one kid that kept getting his attention by placing something on the window. The Sea Lion would swim right by this kid and it almost looked like he/she was trying to get this rolled up paper. It really seemed to be such a playful animal.
Another headless shot of the Sea Lion. LOL!!
Outside they have this exhibit that shows you a perspective of the beach. So there were these really cool looking birds that caught Lillian's attention. She spent about 15 minutes in front of this exhibit.
They made the water react like waves on the beach, (not the big white ones they are small), and in the water they have these small fish that just kind of go with the flow. Really cool!! Above is a picture of one of the birds, though it's kind of hard to see.
Another favorite pastime, walking along the ledge back and forth. She would stop to look at the birds and fish then continue on her merry little way!!
There was this tank that literally had several of these huge crabs. Lillian wasn't too interested in them, but I took a picture of them anyway.
Can't remember what this was, but it is actually all white. I think we were in the coral section, so this is probably some time of white coral. I just thought it was so cool because it was all white.
Finding Nemo!! Literally!! We got to this tank and oh my gosh!! We were here forever it felt like. Lillian couldn't believe how many Nemo's and Dory's there were.
Even though it's a little blurry, you can still see how mesmerized she was!
Top left hand corner is Dory, (according to Lillian). So she insisted I take a picture of her.
Trying to get a close picture of Nemo!! These fish are really hard to get a good picture of. I can't tell you how many times I tried and they turned out blurry.
Victory!! Finally I got a picture of Nemo!
Nemo's cousins!! (The black and white ones that is).
Poisonous frogs. There were four glass tanks that Lillian vacillated between. All of them had these different kinds of poisonous frogs. She was so excited about them and insisted upon me getting a picture of them. She would ask me each time I took a picture, "did you get him mommy." So stinkin cute!!
This one was hard to find, if you look directly under that blueish light you will see a green frog. He was the biggest of the 4 we saw.
Blue frog!!
This one I actually had the hardest time trying to find. Lillian insisted we keep looking. He is quite fast and not very outgoing!! But eventually I found him and he started hopping towards us, so I was all ready and snapped the picture at the right time. Which is why this was one of the best shots we have of the frogs, he was literally right up next to the glass. After I took the picture Lillian asked me if I got him and wanted to look at the pictures to make sure I got all 4 of the frogs.
We thought this fish was pretty cool!! I believe it was in shades of red and white!!
When we walked up to this tank, it was just so beautiful. I had to take a picture. There were tons of beautiful coral and the fish were very pretty too. This picture really doesn't do it justice.
Preston actually slept through the whole thing until we got to the big sharks that swam over your head. So here he is watching all the big fish and sharks swim past him. He was quite fascinated.
"Oh hi mommy, come get me out of this thing and feed me." He saw me and literally right after this picture started to get a little fussy. But Grandma got him distracted and he was fine.
Sea Horse! I know you think there is noting in here beside plants but there is actually a sea horse. He is in the bottom left corner and he does look like brown kelp.
Even though this picture didn't turn out very well, it's too blurry. I kept it to show what the Sea Horses look like, now you can go back one picture and find the other one!!!
Posing outside with mommy!! I decided that I needed just one picture of myself. Unfortunately, Lillian wasn't too cooperative. This was the best picture of the 2 of us. Oh well I guess she's kind of smiling. :)
1 comment:
It looks like you all had fun! That is totally adorable that Lillian chose "Squirt" as her new stuffed animal!
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