I better get us caught up! You see, after Thanksgiving we took you to Monterey, mainly to go to the excellent aquarium there. We have been wanting to do that for a long time, but held out until you could walk and see more stuff. Well, you can walk! We first went down to a hotel in Salinas (thanks to work for all those Marriott points!) that had an indoor pool so we could take you swimming. It didn't take much to talk you into hitting the pool!
We cheesed around in the room for a while, and (did we mention how much you like hats?) as usual, when a hat was nowhere to be found, you had to improvise.
Yes sweetie, that is a nice hat!
Mom read you stories, and we watched cartoons, and ate pizza. Overall, a very high-class night out on vacation!
In the morning we went down to the bay to take in the sights and head to the aquarium. We stopped by the big Christmas Tree to let you check it out and, of course, get some pictures. Then, finally time for the aquarium!!!
First we went into the jellyfish room. You didn't know WHAT to make of that! Those things are kind of creepy, huh?
Then we went into what ended up being your (and Daddy's) favorite room, the 'Outer Bay'. This is where they keep the BIG fish, like different tunas and sturgeons and sea turtles and barracudas and sharks. They even have a very rare Great White shark in there! He has been in the tank since the end of August - I have never seen one in real life, it was quite impressive even if he is a 'little guy' at about 6 feet long.
None of my pictures of the Great White turned out, so here is one from the Aquarium's website.
This tank holds 1.2 million gallons of water, and houses some BIG fish. You had a blast there, watching the hammerhead sharks and the tuna swim right past you. Every time we tried to leave, well, we spent a lot of time in that room!
This old guy is a Pacific Sunfish - they get very big, and it looks like a freaking dinosaur. You usually did the sign for 'dog' whenever he went by. And you wanted to pet him! They get to be as big as 11 feet long and 5,000 pounds, I don't think one of those would make a very good pet.
This is just you being cute, in front of the Kelp Forest.
Then we learned a lot about penguins, but didn't make it long enough to watch them eat. It was time for Maya to eat. So we had to go find a place to sit down. Before that, though, we got to watch the penguins play and dance and swim and show off for you.
They have this thing near the door that pushes a wave of water over the windows every few seconds. You were a little nervous about it, but let Mom take you in there so we could get a couple cool pictures.
We went into another section, where they had baby leopard sharks in a tank with sting rays and other stuff. You liked the little sharks, they were real cute like Louis.
This is you and Mommy checking out some of the birds by this display. They had fish in these tanks too, but you are hard to impress after you've been hanging out with a Great White Shark.
Then we went out on the deck to look at the bay, see some airplanes, and let you run around a little bit. You pushed your stroller around in circles for a while, and the ladies working at the little restaurant came to the windows to watch you, because you are so cute. I will try to post a video of it.
After that, time to hit the road and come back home! It looks like we finally found a way to tire you out! Fun vacation. Not very long, but we sure saw a lot and had a great time with you! Ok, I'm glad I got these pictures up. Can't wait to take you back there!
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