California Day 1 - Aquarium of the Pacific

We spent our first morning in California at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. The guide book calls it the "amusement park of aquariums". That's about right - it was NICE. They had lots of tanks that went all the way to the floor, so the kids could see them without having to be lifted up - love that!


Outside was a shark tank with lots of different species hanging out, plus some touch tanks where Daddy and Courtney got to touch REAL sharks!!


Carter couldn't quite bring himself to touching the sharks, but he did enjoy finding out that stingrays are super soft!


Outside was also a Lorikeet Forest - if you buy the nectar, the birds will land right on you to take a drink.


Inside the aquarium, we were on the hunt to find Nemo! Finally we did!!! A bunch of Nemos, with a bunch of Dorys!! Carter found them first, and he was so excited that he ran back and told Daddy and Courtney to hurry and come look!


And Courtney squealed and clapped! :-)


Another fun thing was the tide pool touch tank. Carter and Courtney touched anemones and starfish!


Here's Daddy with his monkeys, who wouldn't cooperate for a photo.


It was a very fun, and very tiring, day at the aquarium!