Hangin' With Tasha: The Aquarium of the Pacific!

BFF's at the Aquarium!

Kyra was so excited to introduce Natasha to the Aquarium of the Pacific!

Seals & Sea Lions!

Look Tasha! There are seals & sea lions in here!

See! There's one right there!

"Hi!"

Cooling off at a touch pool

Getting a little wet, and loving it!

"Wa wa!"

Well, hello there Miss Cutie Patootie Natasha!

Keeping cool!

Checking out the sting rays

One of the gigantic crabs

"Looking Mommy, there's a fishy on my shirt!"

A girl on the go!

...Still going...

Kyra and a boat...or a "bo," as Kyra calls it

A last little bit of playing before heading home

Last Sunday, we had the pleasure of introducing the Larson family to the Aquarium of the Pacific. Amazingly for a summer morning, it wasn't crowded at all so Kyra and Natasha were able to get up close and see all the fishies and fun stuff. They had so much fun running around and playing together. They especially enjoyed a small touch pool area where they were tall enough to reach their hands in and cool off (it was a rather warm day). After a fun morning, we had a delicious lunch at the nearby Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant (it doesn't seem fair that we almost always eat seafood when we visit the Aquarium - maybe we should rethink that, but shrimp is just so good!). Thank you Larsons for a fantastic Aquarium trip, a yummy lunch, and some good Forrest Gump movie trivia!

Kyra has really been enjoying her new life in Orange County! This was just one of the many exciting days we've had recently. And we love knowing that there are many, many more great days to come!

Aquarium Fun With The Balice's!

Riding on Daddy

Checking out the fishies

Having fun with "Auntie Amanda"

Climbing around outside

Trying to get two toddlers to pose for photos...

...is not too easy.

"C'mon guys, just one photo!"

"But we MUST keep moving!"

"Let us go right NOW!!!!"

"FREEDOM!"

Not quite playing together, but interacting

"Done with that, now on to the next thing."

"Ah yes, my stroller buckles! What an amazing invention!"

Climbing on to the stroller to get a closer look

We finally got them sitting still for a minute!

We had such a fun playdate with the Balice family today! We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, and then out to dinner at Chili's. Although it was crowded at the Aquarium, the kids had a good time looking at all the fishies. Jake was very excitedly pointed at the fish and saying "fishies! fishies!" Kyra and Jake also enjoyed the Lorikeet bird area, and Kyra started signing "bird" and "fish" to us today! Trying to get two toddlers to sit still and pose for pictures is basically impossible, especially in a new environment where they want to explore and roam around. Someday we'll manage to get some pictures of these two kiddos happily playing together! But in the meantime, we at least have photographic evidence that they were together and having fun! "Auntie Amanda" loved holding Kyra (and Kyra enjoyed it too!), but Jake wasn't too thrilled about seeing his Mommy holding another child! Don't worry Jake - you're still Mommy's favorite!

Balice Family: thanks for a fun afternoon! We can't wait to get together again soon!