Aquarium on Wheels!

Our local library has a really good kid's program in general and, during the summer, they kick it up a notch with reading incentives and extra events. This past week they had people from the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific bring out the mobile "Aquarium on Wheels." So I put it on our playgroup calendar and we had a pretty good turn out. There were lots of other people there too, but we all showed up early so our kids didn't have much of a wait in line to get into the aquarium bus. They had touch tanks and the kids got fish stamps on their hands. There was also a face painting station, but it had a long line and we just redirected the kids before they caught sight of that one.

Emma and Sophia were fine with touching the sea anemones and urchins, but a little more hesitant when it came to the baby sharks. They also liked learning about the starfish from the aquarium workers. TJ and Todd came with us too and had a good time and TJ even (reluctantly) touched the shark after much prodding from his Daddy. Sophia's Mommy wasn't able to go because of work, but her Daddy brought her and took most of these awesome pictures of the girls. Thanks Chris!

After our trip through the mobile aquarium we had to play in the library for a while, of course. Emma (and all the other little ones) really like that library's children's room! They have tons of animals in terrariums (snakes, lizards, birds, an iguana, madagascar hissing cockroaches, and even a "Nemo" fish). Plus they have a giant tree growing in the room with little seats cut out of the side, making perfect reading nooks. I started off reading to Emma. Then TJ joined us. Then Sophia. Then even Palani and Zach and Ava stopped by for a minute or two before running off to play some more. I ended up hosting my own little story hour. Sophia and Emma especially just kept climbing up in my lap for more stories. They sure are happy little readers!

We love this library and will definitely be back for many more of their summer events!