Monterey Bay Aquarium

On Friday while my dad & Justin went to the golf tournament & Trek & my older girls went to school. . . we took the little ones to the aquarium here in Monterey. It was about time I went. We've been here close to 6 months & still hadn't been. We had SO MUCH FUN! There is all sorts of fun exhibits there. My kids really love penguins so we spend a lot of time with penguins, but Taya has a new love for seahorses so that was a fun exhibit to visit with her. Bladen basically just likes to point & say "FISH!" over & over & over again. Korbyn liked the Nemo tank. It was a fun morning.

My little nephew Korbyn is such a cute kid. He's super tall for his age & is destined to play football someday. I love his fiery red hair & spunky attitude. It was SO fun to be Auntie & play with him. He especially loved the Nemo tank. Nemo is one of his favorite movies.

Taya is in a really odd phase right now where whenever you pull out a camera she opens her eyes really big for the picture. SO FUNNY!!! She is such a pretty little girl, but her pictures right now make me laugh hysterically. I LOVE THEM!!! What a ham!

All three kiddos found a big shell to play in. I love that my kids get along with their little cousin so well. It was SO nice having him here with us for the weekend. I always loved playing with my cousins when I was little. Korbyn is so cute with my kids too.

The play areas in the aquarium are a blast for kids. They are scattered throughout the entire museum so it makes it nice for the kids to have little breaks between looking at fish. One area had fish costumes for the kids to wear. Bladen wanted to be a fish so he put one on & walked around with it on for a while. He's so funny.

Bladen is just a happy kid. He very rarely cries over anything (other than the want of MORE food). I just love the happy faces he makes when he's having fun. He loved a little rocking fish he found. Just a happy little guy.

Taya saw Bladen "dressing up" like a fish so she decided she wanted to be a sea horse. So I put the seahorse costume on her. She wanted it off in less than 30 seconds the little stinker. But I was able to snap a quick picture before it came off.

In the baby play area, they had this little water bed like thingy for babies to jump around on. I couldn't get Bladen off of it! He played for almost a full 30 minutes jumping, rolling, sitting, etc. He had SO MUCH FUN!! Maybe this kid needs a water bed. ha ha ha.

Taya & Korbyn had fun playing in the water area. There were little rubber fish that they could fill up with water & squirt each other. Taya LOVES playing in water so this was a perfect activity for her. Korbyn & Taya liked to splash each other as well. I love water. . . it doesn't stain & it's fun enough to play in. Perfect for little kids.

After we wore ourselves out at the free play areas, it was time to go. We were exhausted. The kids were ready for more, but we had two preggos, one momma with Fibro Mialgia, & a grandma with RA. We were a sad bunch of women let me tell you. But we had fun.

We ended up eating lunch there by the aquarium at a little deli shop & then walked down to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for some goodies. By the time we got home we were all ready for naps. But it was a SUPER fun day with the little ones.