The Aquarium

WARNING: Picture overload times a million.  You've been warned.

Before we went to the aquarium Becca and I were talking about how freaky horseshoe crabs are and how we don't like touching them.  So we get to the aquarium and it takes me a bajillion attempts to pick up a crab because I'm freaking out, and then Becca's all like, "Hey watch this."  And she just picks one right up.  Thanks, Becca.  Ha!

Apparently I'm the only one who freaks out about this.

They decorated the aquarium for Christmas with 50 trees -- one for each state.  This is us with our Idaho tree.  Yay Idaho!

My favorite part of the aquarium was watching Ella.  She fell in love with the fish.  It was so sweet to see.

See?  I told you she loves the fish!

Can you see all the seahorses?

Sleeping octopus.

Finding Nemo.

Why horseshoe crabs are freaky.  To me they look less like a crab and more like a scorpion with hardcore body armor.  They even do that weird thing with their tails.  Ugh.

How Lily walked through the tubey walkway.  Papa was patient enough to hold her through the slow moving ride while Skyler used this as an opportunity to run back and forth under Lily.

The top reason why I don't want to be eaten alive by a shark.  And this shark was probably only 10 feet long.

Blurry but good.

My dad wrote this in the sand for my mom before she woke up.  This picture was taken from our hotel room balcony.

The best part of the trip to the beach for me was playing at the hotel pool.  There was a lazy river, a pool, hot tubs, and -- best of all -- 3 story tall water slides.  But nothing can compare to the fact that (FINALLY!!!!) Lily and Skyler decided not to be afraid of pools.  They "swam" with us and even went down the water slides a few times.  I think it may or may not have been due to the fact that Becca and Preston were there.  I can't even begin to express how proud I am of them.  I guess it's a good thing we had "mermaid lessons" in the tub for a month before the trip!