Charming’s office in Long Beach is near the Aquarium of the Pacific, so this week I took our lives in my hands and braved the *insane* bridge that connects the PV Peninsula to Long Beach.

(The roads here are very narrow and poorly maintained. There are rarely signs for construction road closures, so your lane just disappears on you and people don’t usually like to let you in. Combine that with a massive set of freeways, tons of semi-trucks and *chronic* speeding everywhere and my stress levels shoot through the roof.)

Once I got our huge van parked, I took a moment to breathe and get my heart rate down to 200. Then it was time to meet up with Charming and enjoy the gorgeous Aquarium of the Pacific!

Our favorites:

— The super cool wave fountain out front. The kids could have chased that wave around all day long!

— Getting a cute family picture! I love it when places offer to take our picture!!

— Petting a gazillion creatures!!! Rays, sharks, jellyfish and I don’t know what else!

— Feeding the beautiful lorikeets!!

— How Shoo-Shee Muffins jerked her entire body back in mid-air when I bent her down to pet one of the creatures.

— Watching the kids get cute and shy around the costumed penguin. :):) (I can’t wait to see them with characters at Disneyland!)

— How much we *all* love aquariums.

— Deciding that we really need to get a home aquarium. Because fish are beautiful and silent. Which makes them the perfect pets ever.