Monterey Bay Aquarium

Last weekend, we took a trip down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It's about a 90-minute drive for us, which to the kids means they get to watch videos on the way there and back. A win-win in their book - the aquarium and TV in the car! We've had a membership there for years now, so we never feel like we have to see or do anything in particular when we go. This time, that was a good thing since the place was packed. We hadn't seen it like that in a couple of years, mainly because we tend to time our trips for afternoons during the week. This was a Saturday during the summer, reminding us that Monterey is, actually, a tourist town.

The one exhibit we really wanted to see was the newest one to open - The Secret Lives of Seahorses. Our older daughter absolutely loves seahorses - they've fascinated her for as long as we can remember - so we knew that was the one thing we needed to see this trip. It was well worth dealing with the crowds to see. The sheer numbers of seahorses and variety of species they had on display were amazing, including leafy seadragons, which are a particular favorite of mine. There was a video - on a VERY large screen - showing a male seahorse giving birth to babies. Our kids then had to recreate that scene for us, which would have been extremely embarrassing in any other location! Luckily, the people around us just thought it was funny. If you're in the area and have a chance to see this, it's fascinating.

We hadn't planned on staying for the entire afternoon, but the kids were enjoying themselves and were being very good, so we just kept moving from place to place. We finally realized it was dinner time and the aquarium was staying open until 8:00 and offering dinner at the restaurant, so we managed to get a table and eat before leaving. The food was okay, but the kids were remarkably well-behaved for the whole meal, which lasted about an hour and a half. Even the server commented on how good they were the whole time. The kids thought it was very cool to be in the aquarium when it was closed and can't wait for the chance to go back and do it all again.