The Monterey Bay Aquarium

Friday was a rainy day, so we headed down to Monterey to the aquarium. Mina had never been there and Brad and I are members there, so I thought it might be fun to show Mina the aquarium and cannery row. The aquarium was as amazing, as always. They are opening a new exhibit this spring....pink flamingos!!

we saw jellyfish
and sea horses
leafy sea horses
and wow! sharks!
Ava has been watching little bits of The Little Mermaid everyday. She is constantly singing Ariel's song in her crib while she waits for me in the morning, or in the car. She has the figurines and plays out the movie in the bathtub. It's so cute to see her love this movie so much. Her favorite part is when Ariel and flounder get chased by a shark. At first we worried if that was too scary for her to watch, but when we saw her laughing at it we thought it must be ok.

In this video when she sees the shark she says "wa-ouch founder!" (watch out flounder!) and her newest expression she picked up from Ariel "oh, gosh".

Mina explored the hands-on area with Ava

Ava picked a star fish out of the water. I don't think you're supposed to take them out of the water, but she was excited to show me :)
I love that little head. so perfect.
Ava loved the corner of the museum where a wave flushes over you into the water outside.
Auntie Mina held her up on the ledge so she could see up close.

Ava's looking at the mini sea creatures after the wave...
Ava sitting in the life size giant clam! Isn't she cute in there?!
We stepped outside to get some fresh air and take in the view. We even got to see some seals swimming out there!
Ava is being silly with mama

And last, but not least, the Penguins! They are so cute and energetic. Ava had her nose up to the glass trying to interact with them and sure enough a cute little penguin wanted to play with her too! Check it out in the video below:

Ava's penguin friend :)

and I forgot, before we made it to the aquarium we stopped for a yummy lunch/snack at a crepe cafe. Here is a little video of Ava eating her whipped cream, which was all she ate of her strawberry nutella crepe! Mina and I didn't mind so much... we gobbled it up in minutes :)

She LOVED the whipped cream though! And she gave a little preview of her Ariel song singing :) Other than that she was fascinated by the enormous fork hanging on the wall as a decoration.

Fun day!