Long Beach Aquarium and the Penguins

As the planner of this 'adults only' party....I didn't know what to expect when we decided to go to the Aquarium. My uncle (dad's younger brother) Arlo is on the board and said he could help us get in. So I'm thinking, 'great discounted tickets', but didn't want to overuse the already helping uncle who got us tickets to the Dodgers game (2nd row, right field wall!!). He offered and we accepted the help. All I can say is 'Oh my gosh - it was AMAZING!!! The aquarium itself is very hands on and involved for all the kids and kids of every age, but we got to do something so incredibly amazing - you just gotta see the pictures!

 We started off in one of the school rooms where they start the school tours of the Aquarium. There's a hands on water exhibit with all sorts of sealife you can touch! The girl talking is our wonderful tour guide and has worked at the aquarium for 13 years (it's been open for 14). My uncle, dad, mom, Jonathan follow her in line over there.

 fascinating!

 Who's afraid of the little shark, little shark? Who's afraid of the little shark....oh that's right it's Jeff! The culprit is in the next picture and moved right as Jeff went to touch it. He jumped and yanked his hand out of the water spraying the rest of us!

 Moving on to the next room - incredibly unique creatures. Can't remember their name, but see the 'food' on the back glass?

Now see it?? Nope, there's a water mark where the fish 'spit' water and knocked the food down to eat it. They stay below the surface of the water and shoot, but the fish that spits doesn't usually get to eat the food. Keeps them out of danger from rising above the surface and gives them an advantage over fish who have to go to the surface to get food.

 Meet my new friend: the Emperor Penguin. Thank you Diego and Nickelodeon for educating me on Penguins.

 Now meet my other new friends: the Magellanic Penguins! They are rescue penguins from the coast of Brazil. They got lost following their food source and were malnourished, so some animal people (real scientific, yes) rescued them and they've been at the Long Beach Aquarium being nursed back to health for the past year. The exhibit opened on Tuesday - we were there on Saturday!! So it's a brand new exhibit and it turns out when your uncle is highly involved and well connected (not just 'on' the board), you get to be up close and personal with the little guys!!!

 so here we go - inside the exhibit to hang with the penguins. We had a great time together!
First group: Steven, Rustin, Rozann, mom, dad, Jeff and I.

 They loved my dad's pants and Rustin's shorts - looking for strings to take back to their beds. Eventually they moved on and tried to untie his shoes.

 The rest of our group out waiting for their turn: Ryan, Kristin, Kraig, Caryn, Jim, Jonathan, Stephanie, Arlo and our lovely tour guide.

 Back for more - my dad loved it!

 This is the animal specialist that works with the penguins.
And the next picture is why we were told to wear 'closed-toed' shoes.....ouch!

In case you couldn't tell - that's my foot! I let out an audible 'ouch!' and consciously told myself to not kick the bird for biting me.

 He was a bit dejected as he was shooed away by the animal specialist.

 Caryn, Ryan, Kristin and some random boy - there's a small place to walk under to get a better view of the penguins when you're outside the exhibit. Jeff did a great job taking all the pictures and wouldn't let me take one of him in there. Someone else will have one.

 Our little friends behind the glass now

 dad and one of the penguins waiting for another photo-op
The next group: I guess Kraig was the new favorite spot.....yikes. The penguin stayed there for quite a while

until he moved on to our tour guide - he hung around a little too long for her pulling on her dress.

 photo-op or is Caryn texting?!

 Good-bye friends!

Stay tuned for more adventures at the Long Beach Aquarium!