California Academy of Sciences

Kyle was very excited that Daddy took the day off from work on Friday to make a special trip to the new Academy of Sciences building. The official opening day for the building isn't until September 27th, but as members, we were allowed in for one of their preview days. There are a lot of little things still left to be done, but we were still able to see a lot of it, and were very impressed. Kyle just didn't know where to look, and was running every which way saying "oh, oh, oh!" and pointing at something before he was off again in another direction. Hannah's favorite part was watching the large fish swim by in one of the aquarium tanks, much more impressive than the little ones we have at home! I don't think Kyle could decide which part was his favorite (he liked the moving image of elephants walking on the back wall of one of the African dioramas) but he definitely enjoyed playing on board the ship in the tot's room.The review of the Academy from a parent's view: we both thought it was well worth paying $7 to park in the garage underneath and have the elevator take us right up to the Academy's front door. Not everything is open yet (planetarium and cafe/restaurant) but from what we saw, we would recommend starting in the Rainforest and then the Aquarium, because that is where you exit from the Rainforest. We only had a quick trip into the Rainforest, but look forward to more time there next time, it was impressive in scale. The Aquarium has a lot to offer, but of course not as much as the one in Monterey, we still enjoyed it though, and it is a shorter drive! The African Hall was very well done with all of the dioramas, it's amazing to see the animals that close, and the penguin exhibit is fun (although the feeding was a little bit of a letdown, too much talk and not much action)

The rest of the weekend was rather low key, after attending a birthday party Saturday morning, as Kyle and I both came down with colds. We're hoping that it isn't passed on to the rest of the family, but not sure how likely that is! For the most part, Kyle doesn't seem very bothered by it, although he did wake up one morning saying "My nose hurts" and he tries to run away every time I try to wipe it for him! We had a little outside time this afternoon, with Daddy trying to keep up with the yard work and Kyle sometimes helping, sometimes playing. Kyle left his "Billy Beeper" car parked next to Hannah, and she made a big lunge for it, thinking that it was her turn for a ride too. She can sit on it very securely, but isn't quite ready to drive it around yet!