fish tales

i was able to sign mikey up for a two-day class (wednesday and friday) at the cabrillo marine aquarium this week.  the class was called “tales between the tides” and it was just for 3-5 year olds.  and as an added bonus, our good friend esther was teaching the class!

 

phil had the morning off and was able to stay home with allie, so it was just mikey and me for the first class.  i seized the opportunity to take pictures to my heart’s content.  which means, lots of pictures in this entry.

 

we started off in the aquarium’s classroom where the kids could go around and explore the different tanks, touch a few sea stars and urchins, and examine some little critters under the microscope.  this turned out to be one of mikey’s favorite things there!

 

then we visited a different room where the kids could crawl under this circular aquarium and pop their heads up in the middle.  very cool.  except mikey was too short to be able to do that.  heh.

 

after that, the kids got to try on little costumes and pretend to be different sea animals.  here’s mikey the turtle!

 

then we were off to the touch pool!  mikey remembered esther showing him how to pet the sea stars the last time we visited and so wasn’t at all afraid to try it again.

 

after everyone washed hands, we returned to the classroom for snack and story time.  another of mikey’s favorites!

 

once snacks were finished, everyone sat at the table to color in a little book with a cute little finger puppet attached.  mikey promptly fell in LOVE with his finger puppet and kept playing with it.  once we got home, he continued playing with it and even named it “esther fish”!

 

here’s everyone trying out their finger puppet books.

 

then esther brought over a squid to show the kids.  she cut it open (it was already dead) so everyone could see the inside of it.

 

while everyone else was fascinated by the squid, there was my boy in the back, still playing with his finger puppet book. 

 

needless to say, the class was extremely well done with lots to do and mikey had a blast.  esther and the other teachers did a fabulous job and i’m just sad the class was only two days long!  today was the second day of the class, which mikey enjoyed even more because they did a scavenger hunt with cloth sea star pouches and had to find three foam fishies to put in them.  after which, the kids got to take them home!  he was SO HAPPY about this pouch and foam fish.  so happy that he asked, “take a picture, mommy?” but i didn’t bring the camera with me today because allie joined us this time and i figured i’d have my hands full.  but i told him i’d take a picture of them when we got home.  so here it is:

 

ok, so like i said, i took lots o’ pictures on wednesday.  after the class, mikey and i headed over to a nearby playground on the cliffs overlooking the ocean.  it’s so beautiful there and i’ve been meaning to post some pictures of it to entice our friends near and far to come visit us!

mikey got a little time to play:

 

and i got a little time to get a few pictures.  this is the view we get to enjoy while at the playground.  one side:

 

the other side:

 

the pretty water:

 

happy little flowers:

 

we got home just in time to have lunch with daddy and allie.  afterward, phil suggested i make marshmallow necklaces for the kids to eat.  yes, sorta random.  it took me such an unexpectedly loooong time to make just one necklace, that mean mommy ended up making just the one and telling the kids they had to share it.

    

 

thankfully, they didn’t do too badly with the sharing of it!  whew.  (yes, that is allie’s sweaty head.  it’s been quite hot here lately. )