Our Great Big Monday Adventure!

I took five million pictures today...and not one of the actual sign to the Birch Aquarium (where we went). This is the fountain out front! The girls were AMAZED and said "wow" a lot and Marina blew lots of kisses. Carly was a little worried that the whales might fall over - see the video - but overall, the fountain was a huge hit.

Carly and Marina through the stingray tank. I said "look at me, girls!" and Marina turned around to look for me while Carly immediately tried to run away...this is the face she makes, actually, when she's about to bolt.

This is the coolest exhibit, but the girls are still a little to young to figure out how to place the yellow and blue rectangles to change the flow of water. They loved watching, though!

The giant wall of fish! There were a million school groups - when I could have sworn the website said there weren't school groups on Mondays - so we had to wait about twenty minutes

...to get this shot.
Hey, it's yellowtail tuna! Mmmm...sushi.
Outside, they have tidepool exhibits and Marina touched a sea star!
Carly was not as excited about it.
Silly girls. They were looking through the cracks between the glass and the pole.
And then they became fascinated with the grate. Of all the expensive and educational exhibits on display...they liked the grate.
I am grouchy.
Just kidding!
Carly got her very first boo-boo of her whole life walking back to the car. She is helpfully showing me where it "hutts." Poor baby!
Then we went to lunch in the La Jolla village at the Come On In bakery and the girls had THE best grilled cheese sandwiches in the whole world. They were amazing.
And since we were down there anyway, we decided to see the La Jolla Cove, which is one of the top 10 Fischer Family Favorites in SoCal. Still no sign of the seals - I swear it's a hoax, they don't really exist - but the girls had a great time anyway.
We LOVE running in the grass!!!
This seagull let Carly get about two feet away before it swooped off and scared her.
Looking down at the waves. When a big one would crash, Carly would gasp and turn around and say "oh, no!"
We walked down to Shell Beach - it is so beautiful! I took a million photos of Marina because Carly didn't want to take her shoes off and the sand is not shoe-friendly - it's really course and squishy - so I got a bicep workout and Marina had a great time chasing the waves.

And we discovered a cave! Carly was fascinated by the graffiti on the roof of the cave.
And Marina found some pretty shells to take home!
Our shoes. On a rock.
This might make you dizzy. It's Marina running in circles and Carly trying to keep up with her. It's a really happy video, though!

Then Carly tried to help Marina put her sandals back on. Which wasn't totally a success, but it was sweet of her to try.