After a shockingly long and dusty wait on my list (my first entry for this goal was back when 2008 was fresh faced and Isak was three years old), yesterday we finally managed to go. We stayed for hours and it still wasn’t long enough.
There were many things I remember from the last time I went (decades ago now), but we saw wonderful new exhibits and habitats as well – I loved the butterflies and penguins, and as always the jellyfish, belugas, frogs, and other vibrant sea life, but it was beyond wonderful to see it all through the kids’ eyes… Isak was so excited and in awe about everything he was exploding with questions, and Iris would squeal and reach out to various fish and anemones. M. was particularly fond of the porpoises (I liked the snakes a lot more than he did) and the monkeys and otters cracked us up… there was too much to even mention, but it was all wonderful.
I’ll post a few more shots in the days to come – I filled my card to the brim with pictures and little videos. I really wish we could spend days there (or get tickets to one of the special sleepovers they have… maybe I’ll look into that further, I think it costs about $100 a pop though).
Wonderful dreamy memories for everyone… I’m sorry it took so terribly long, and I hope we can go back soon. 8 months ago
“We’ll definitely be checking this one off soon!” Or so I declared half a year ago (slaps forehead). Yesterday we tried, we really did. Going to the aquarium was the plan to make up for Isak’s supposedly rained out birthday “party” we had to put the kibosh on.
We checked the hours, made a plan, got up early, packed the pre-paid tickets, kid-gear, snacks, etc., drove through downtown and Stanley Park to the aquarium, and found there was already a giant line-up and no parking spaces to be found as far as the eye could see. Even if we had parked far, far away, hiked there and waited in line for god knows how long, it would have been unenjoyably packed and chaotic.
We went to Granville Island instead (and later the lantern festival). The kicker is that the gray skies cleared up and we had the most gorgeous day in recent memory – it would have been perfect for a playground/pool/piñata/pizza party. Hoping to do something belatedly fun with friends next weekend and hit the aquarium again next month when M. takes time off work.
It was the best effort so far though… 10 months ago
I’m rather ashamed that this has remained on my list for so many years. We almost made it out for my nephew’s birthday, but a number of last minute monkey wrenches thwarted the sea-life.
Then lo and behold, in a rather unassuming Christmas envelope, we received three tickets to the aquarium! Joy! I’m hoping we can make it this month, there’s a show called Luminescence; A celebration of aquatic light on now, which sounds wonderful.
We’ll definitely be checking this one off soon! 16 months ago
