First Trip (of Many) to the Seattle Aquarium

Mike's company gave us a one-year family membership to the Seattle Aquarium. Fun! We even get to take a guest for free each time we go. Yesterday was our first trip to the aquarium. Lucky us: It was Octopus Week!

Crossing over to the waterfront. The aquarium is the
large, dark-blue, wooden building behind Dawn.

At the touch tank, we "sampled" tons of starfish, sea cucumbers, sea urchins,
hermit crabs, and all sorts of anemones. All these animals are typical of what
you might find in Puget Sound tidal pools.

Ollie the Octopus has 10 arms!

Merrit took some pictures of the black-lit tropical fish tanks.

Just like Dory from Finding Nemo.

At one interactive station, the boys put on "tentacle" socks
and had to try to open peanut butter jars. An octopus can
do this in about two minutes. The boys got stickers for opening
the peanut butter jars, but the aquarium's octopi might find
shrimp, squid, or mollusks inside their jars. This is entertainment
as well as exercise for the aquarium's octopi. 

Merrit the Scuba Diver and Ollie the Moray Eel.

We had a nice sunny day yesterday. What a treat!

A walk along the waterfront boardwalk takes us to the aquarium's second
building, where the marine mammals live.

This sunken observation room feels very much like
a Star Wars set.

Merrit tries on an octopus costume.

Ollie riding on the back of an Orca whale.

The fin is life-sized. Amazing. (Merrit's hands.)

A playful sea lion showing off his tricks.

The boys loved watching the sea lion dart back and forth by
the windows.

I don't think I've ever seen a river otter exhibit with
lazier otters! These guys were positively drinking decaf.

What a gorgeous day we had! 

Sunny girls on a sunny afternoon. :) 

Coloring in an octopus, Ollie kills some time while we
wait for the 4pm octopus feeding.

This is "Rocky," an older male Giant Pacific Octopus
that will actually be released back into the Puget Sound
this Saturday.

The octopus feeding was somewhat anti-climactic.
Rocky was not interested in eating; he just sort of
man-handled the squid he was offered and let it sink
to the bottom of the tank. 

When the octopus went into the cylindrical tube
attached to his main tank (think hamster tube), you
could view him from all sides, even underneath.
Very cool. 

One last trip to the touch tank on our way out the door.
Here, Merrit investigates the sea anemones.

Ollie flips through the laminated identification booklet.
Right after I took this picture, he threw the book into the
water. Thankfully, Dawn plunged her hand into the icy
water to retrieve the book. No anemones were harmed
in the taking of this photo.