When we heard that today was "World Penguin Day" we
HAD to head over to the Living Planet Aquarium. It was a great excuse to get out of the house, and to go have some fun together. Once we arrived at the aquarium, our first stop was at the Penguin Encounter...of course!
We were able to catch one of the penguin demonstrations, so we learned a bunch of new things about penguins. We learned that there are 18 species of penguins in the world. They are the fastest swimming and deepest diving species of any bird. The black-and-white coloring on a penguin is called countershading and provides camouflage from above and below while in the water. Also, depending on the species, a penguin can range from 2 pounds all the way up to a whopping 90 pounds.
As part of the demonstration, we were able to watch the penguins being fed and even got to touch some real penguin feathers.
Next, we were off to explore the rest of the aquarium. Elizabeth still loves the frogs and was so excited to see them again. I love seeing all of the different kind of frogs. It is neat to see all the variety of colors!
Zachary could not get enough. He seemed to really enjoy the aquarium this time. He sat in his stroller turning his head from side-to-side and pointing at all of the different things that he saw! It was fun to experience the aquarium through his eyes.
He was intrigued by this huge lobster. It would scare me to death to find something this large crawling around in the ocean. I am seriously such a wimp!
Elizabeth was excited to see all the large fish tanks. Most of them are filled with a variety of colorful fishes. She loves trying to find "Nemo".
There is one area of the aquarium, where there are a bunch of little caves that little kids can climb around in. This area has lots of little tanks and allow children to get a little bit of a closer look at all of the creatures inside. Elizabeth and Zachary could have played in these little caves for hours. I was a little worried that I may have to try and climb inside to drag them out!
I am so grateful that I was able to sneak away today and spend the day with Zachary and Elizabeth at the aquarium. I seriously love these two little munchkins.
I am always amazed with the variety of creatures that live in the ocean. Some are small and colorful and some are large and quite scary. As I walk around the aquarium, I am always reminded about what an amazing world we live in. What a blessing it is to be able to see all of these different creatures in one place and to be able to share them with my kids. Elizabeth was loving every second of it!
Then there are the creepy, crawly things. Seriously...yuck! So grateful that they are behind glass and that I could walk through this area of the aquarium with one eye closed! Snakes...and Spiders...and bugs...oh my!
Seriously...could she be any cuter! Gotta admit that I love this girl!
Elizabeth was such a good big sister. She kept showing things to Zachary and told him names of many of the different fish and creatures as we walked around. She even lifted him up so that he could push some of the interactive buttons throughout the aquarium.
After a snack at the Calypso's Cafe, we headed to the Gift Shop to look around. Elizabeth scared the bageebies out of me when she came up to me wearing this shark mask.
Later I found Zachary walking around wearing one too!
I think the kids held at least one of everything in the gift shop before deciding on what they wanted to take home.
Elizabeth decided on a pair of killer whales.
Zachary decided on a darling little alligator stuffed animal.
What a fun day! I am the luckiest mom in the world to be able to spend my days with my two adorable little ones! I am feeling seriously blessed!
