Monterey Bay Aquarium

Charlotte had the whole week of Thanksgiving off of school this year. We began talking a while ago about taking a family trip during that time, and had entertained the idea of going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. When a groupon deal surfaced for a stay in nearby Pacific Grove, complete with aquarium tickets, our plans were set. We stayed two nights and spent two days in the aquarium. We had such a great time!

Daddy pointing out the otters

Levi was a little busy during the otter presentation. The first night in a hotel is hard. Kids don't sleep well. Not sleeping well makes grumpy kids, who make poor choices. Fortunately one time out did the trick and the rest of the day was fine.

Jellyfish - everyone's favorite

The new seahorse exhibit is great!

A leafy sea dragon

The deep sea exhibit is so amazing. I could sit and watch it all day. My favorite animal at the aquarium is the sunfish. It is perhaps the strangest looking animal I have ever seen, and every time I see it I think, "What was God thinking?" It looks like a swimming fish head, like someone cut the back end off and it just kept going. Crazy. We got the privilege of seeing a brand new sunfish introduced to the exhibit. This picture is of her first swim around the tank.

This is the big one, which was taken out to make room for the new one. We saw it on day 1.


You feel like you are really under water!


Little pearls



Checking out the tide pools

After reading Mr. Popper's Penguins this year, the penguin exhibit was especially fun.


On our trip I was on my own little scavenger hunt. I was taking pictures of letters in different fonts for a project I've got going. It is now very well documented.