The Monterey Bay Aquarium ran a special last week with free entrance for all residents. Finding something to do with the kids that is both fun and free (or relatively inexpensive) can be a challenge but it wasn’t this time!

If you live near Monterey, California or ever find yourself visiting I highly recommend the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They have great rotating exhibits and some wonderful static ones like the Sea Otters Tank. It’s right on the ocean and they make great use of the ocean water as well as sustainable practices to maintain and run the operations.

What’s great about the Aquarium from a parents point of view are the play areas they have for the kids. They give a lot of attention to keeping the little ones happy and it shows. They have wonderful little areas for the kids to see, touch, and learn about the sea life right outside the window. However, they also have play areas for them to blow off some steam too!

O and Jake had a great time! O at 2 ½ spent most of her time running around, trying to interact with the birds, fish, and other animals there. Jake at 15 months wasn’t quite as active in that way (which is expected) but did plenty of pointing and “oooh ooooh” sounds! I think what really helps for both of them are the amazing colors on display. The kiddies love colorful things, which gave way to lots of head turning around every corner.

What I loved best about visiting the Aquarium this past weekend was watching the look on O and Jake’s faces. You know that look? The one where their eyes get all big and you begin to see the corner of the mouths go up? Just seeing their minds spinning and their excitement over seeing something new and exciting. The things we don’t notice or just take for granted and to them? It’s gold! Being able to relive those firsts with them is such a gift!

After all, the firsts only happen once and now’s the time to make sure I don’t miss any of them!