Thursday was Nicholas's special wish visit to the Oregon Coast Aquarium! We had a wonderful visit and it was everything we hoped it would be for Nicholas, and more!
We looked at some fish while we waited for our tour guide, Michelle.
The first behind-the-scenes thing we got to do was see the week-old baby seahorses. They were so tiny-about a millimeter. Michelle told us that if they don't get them out of the tank fast enough when they are born, they get mistaken for food and eaten by other fish because they are so small.
Then Michelle took us to the brand new Sea & Me interactive children's exhibit that just opened in May.
The exhibits in Sea & Me seemed more bright and colorful than most other fish exhibits.
They had these "cleaning shrimp" that would brush up against your fingers. Ella and Gramme tried it while the rest of us watched.
There were some sea rays to touch but they were feeling shy that day and wouldn't come to the edge.
There was a cute beaver den which my mom crawled into to coax Ella to climb in.
They also had this adorable fish market where you go on a boat, catch your fish, and sell it to the market.
Jeff helped Ella catch one for her and Nicholas.
Ella really loved the Sea & me part. She showed her gratitude by kissing a fish.
Then we watched the otters at feeding time
After that, we walked over to the sea lion exhibit. Nicholas loved how fast they swam.
Then Michelle took us behind-the-scenes again to meet Lea the Sea Lion.
Lea was well trained and super cute. She could "talk", wave her flippers, and she walked really well on land.
Her trainer told us all about her and showed us all her tricks.
Nicholas thought she was pretty awesome!
Then Lea gave Nicholas a kiss...on his forehead,
his shoulder...
and his knee (well, Jeff's knee).
Nicholas also got to feel her smooth skin.
Ella got a kiss too, but you can see she wasn't as cooperative as Nicholas was.
On our walk back into the main part of the Aquarium, I snapped this shot of low tide.
Then Michelle took us to another behind-the-scenes room where we got to view the shark tank.
We all thought it was spectacular!
There were dozens of different kinds of fish, plus leopard sharks, sting rays, dog sharks, and seven-gilled sharks.
Then Michelle got permission to take us up above the shark tank!
This tank was the one that used to house Keiko (aka Free Willy)
It was amazing and SCARY! I whispered to Jeff to hold Nicholas very tight!
Jeff had to carefully hold Nicholas while navigating up and down four flights of stairs.
Then Michelle took our photo in the gift shop and left us to explore the rest of the aquarium on our own.
We decided to walk through the tunnels next.
Nicholas thought it was cool to see the fish all around him.
Then we decided to walked all over and explore anywhere that we hadn't already been. We spotted another sea lion...
Starfish...
Jellyfish...
An prehistoric-looking eel...
More amazing jellyfish...
Crustaceans...
HUGE Japanese Spider Crabs...
Apparently these Japanese Spider Crabs can grow up to thirteen feet in the open ocean. Can you imagine running into one of those things?! Eek!
We also saw bright and colorful sea urchins that Jeff and I touched.
Ella didn't really want to touch anything. Nicholas wasn't interested either.
We also saw lots and lots of cool fish...
A vulture...
A sunken ship...
Kelp forests...
Nicholas absolutely loved every minute of it and had a grin permanently fixed on his face the entire time!
He was excited to "Find Nemo"
Before we left, the kids got to pick out some toys from the gift shop. Ella choose this mermaid and a noise maker.
Nicholas chose this magnetic fishing set and a book about a shark.
We all had an amazing visit to the Oregon Coast Aquarium and are so grateful to Make-A-Wish and our aquarium tour guide, Michelle, for making the visit so special for Nicholas!!
This was a day we will always remember and we all have memories that we will treasure for the rest of our lives.
After our fun day at the aquarium, we rested up for awhile, then walked to the beach. Jeff found a Spiderman kite in the garage and put it together to fly for Nicholas. It wasn't windy at all on Thursday, so Jeff had to run all over the beach to make the kite fly.
