It's Me aga(i)n: Aquarium of the Pacific and Medieval Times

The day after we got back from Salmon Arm, we headed down to Long Beach to check out the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was fun; the highlight getting to pet sting rays. I remember going here when I was 13 and doing the same thing. After the aquarium, we went to Medieval Times, a dinner theater show with knights, horses, and a princess. I also remember going here when I was 13. I think the show was exactly the same!

Olivia was so brave and boldly reached out to pet the sting rays as they swam past. Ryder watched timidly while clutching his blown up rubber glove that the flight attendant gave him on the airplane. He brought with him every we went until it finally deflated.

The rays were so cute! They would swim by and poke up their heads, it really seemed like they wanted to be pet.

This is some other kind of ray.

Olivia got chosen from the crowd to help in a little reenactment of a story about a shark. She got to be a mermaid puppet.

Here, this really friendly seal was playing with the kids. It would chase the pamphlets that the kids were holding up to the window, and would try to bite it through the glass. The seal played this game for a long time. Olivia and Ryder were thrilled to interact with it, and would slide the pamphlets around the window for the seal to chase.

After the aquarium, we had some time to kill before the show at Medieval Times started so we went to a park where the kids could run, or roll, around.

They were so sweet, and had a lot fun playing together.

We stopped at a sandy beach area for a short bit on the way back to the car.

Medieval Times! Olivia was in heaven! Ryder, not so much. He was napping when we arrived and we had to wake him up. He was in a funk for a bit, like during this picture for example, and a new wooden sword couldn't even brighten him up. But he soon came out of it once the action started.

The kids mauled the meals. There were no utensils, so the kids tucked in with their hands.
They love it. Sipping this, biting that, chomping away while watching the show and waving their flags and swords.