1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red Fish, Blue WHALE

The aquarium was a nice warm-up but there are some things that even the best aquariums in the world can’t manage.  So off we head toward the open ocean.

First to greet us are the sea lions.

  Singing a duet, perhaps?

Out of the harbor.  Do you see anything yet?

 
Actually, we don’t have to get too far from shore.  There it is, the biggest animal on Earth.  Zoomed in, you can see that it’s actually a good shot of the blowholes.  According to National Geographic, each one of those blowholes is large enough for a toddler to crawl in and the spray from them (which we saw numerous times) will shoot up about 30 feet.

This friendly giant headed towards the boat!  What we’re looking at here is, I think, much further down its back with its dorsal fin showing up on the left side. There are also the remnants of the spray still visible, although you might have to squint.
 The kids snuggle for warmth while waiting for the whale to surface again.

I’m certainly not an expert, but based on the bit of research I’ve done, this looks to me like the back of the whale’s head with the blowhole showing up as a dark spot there between the head and the back, where you can make out the crest of the spine.  If I’m right, then the distance between what you see here and what you saw in the picture that showed the dorsal fin is roughly equal to the length of a (40ft) school bus.  (Again, according to National Geographic.  If you’re curious, you can check here: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/blue-whale-interactive/)
  While the whale made its way up the coast, it was time for us to head back to the harbor, passing through a small pod of ever-playful dolphins on the way.

        
The kids always seem to like the dolphins best.

Stay tuned!

Here We Go Again

You never thought you’d see this day, did you?  Well, here I am again.  I WILL catch up this time. (Provided I can do so in the next five-ish months before Pumpkin arrives.  Ha!)

     
Fittingly, we mark the end of Jake’s deployment by backtracking to the un-official start of Jake’s absence from family life.  Sure he didn’t technically deploy until October, but starting in July he was gone more than he was home.  Hence, we have paper chain #1, created to mark his time in Bridgeport, CA.

Meanwhile, Jonathan (Yep, we’re still looking at his visit.  His FIRST visit.  He’s come and gone again since then.  Just in case you needed yet another reminder of how behind I am.) picked up some light reading.  He borrowed the rest of the series when he left and, at this point, still hasn’t finished them :)

Not that we left him a lot of time to sit and read.  There are places to explore!  I’d heard the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach was the best in the area, so of course we had to check it out.


Okay, so it’s still not our beloved Chura-umi with its massive wall of whale sharks, but it wasn’t bad ;)

                         
And they get bonus points for multiple friendly staff interactions.  Logan is trying out a streamlined sea turtle shell.

                
This was cool; they cut a window in the shark’s egg case so you can actually look inside and see the un-hatched baby.

          
Touch tanks!  There was a pool with small sharks and (pretty good-sized) rays.  The dark shadow under Naomi is a cooperative ray.  Later, there was a tank where you could touch jellyfish similar to the ones you in the second picture.  I was too busy petting the jellies myself to get a picture of that tank, so you’ll have to use your imagination.

         
More bonus points for their water mammal variety.

Obviously not a real blue whale, but it wouldn’t be long before we saw one of those too . . . !

We Love Legos

 We don’t see as many of these here.

                    
Largest Lego model in the world: a life-size Star Wars X-wing fighter.

         
We’d actually been wanting to ride this one for a while but we were waiting, first, for Naomi to be tall enough and, second, for a day when the line was a bit shorter.  (We typically hit Legoland in the middle of the week, so any line with more than a five minute wait is usually skipped.)  Well, the line wasn’t really any shorter this day but we had Uncle Jonathan to entertain and distract while we waited.

       
Good ‘ole Uncle Jonathan really enjoyed the thrill-a-minute train ride too.

                   
Scenes from Vegas

and Hollywood.  I never found out what that domed building on top of the hill is supposed to be.  Anyone know?

             
It was a good, fairly calm day until we decided to go on a pirate-themed ride that we hadn’t ridden before.

We got wetter than we expected.  

                       
Not that the kids really minded.

And what did we do afterward?  What else?

      
A sample of the adult creations.

Dirty Camping

 
So we get back to the campsite, the kids are playing, Jake is making dinner,

Jonathan and I are taking pictures,

                             
when I suddenly realize that the kids (well, Naomi mostly) have somehow become covered in smudges.

                         
Here Logan, you hang out with Uncle Jonathan for a few minutes while I unearth Naomi.

Eh, never mind, I might as well get them both at once.
  The kids got cleaned up, but it looks like Mommy needs a bit more work.

                         
Of course, if these two would stop moving I just might be able to catch up.

                             
Okay, dinner’s been consumed; we’ve got time for one last exploration before bed.  Step one: stop to check out weird tree full of holes.  Turns out the woodpeckers drill the holes then hide nuts in them.

Step two: observe magnificent sunset.
 Step three: pause for group photo.  (Look Mom, TWO good pictures with Jonathan!)  Return to sunset.

      Makes up for the mess.