Seatle Fun

This month we headed up to Seattle again. We had some aquarium passes we got on Groupon so we had to use them up before they expired. I went to the aquarium there when I was single. It was fun to take my kids there. Savannah has a thing for "fisha's" so she was especially fun to watch.

This is Keaton being attacked by a giant Octopus. Funny guy.

I like this picture because Annie looks like a little girl. I had spent some time on her hair and had it so cute. After the 2 hour drive it was in really good shape still. About a mile from the aquarium so pulled it all out and "fluffed" her hair...sigh. SO....this is what I could salvage. All of the pictures she has funky hair.

This was Keaton's favorite exhibit. He loved the tidal pools, not because of the sea life like Savannah but because every so often a wave would crash in. He thought that was pretty cool. I think he would have watched that for hours.

This is in a huge glass dome under the ocean. Annie was pretty impressed with all the fisha's. She especially liked the "dotty" ones.

This is the kids riding on the back of an Orca....just kidding. They believed though. They played for quite awhile on this guy.

After the aquarium we headed over to Ballard Locks. We had a friend recommend it. To get to it you pass through a lovely botanical garden (of course I didn't take any pictures of that). The locks take boats from one level to the next of the river. It is like a water elevator. The boats go into the lock and they fill it up with water to take the boat up. It is really pretty cool. We saw one trip with a group of smaller boats and one trip with a big tour boat. I was particularly smitten with this boat. Lee and I decided we probably couldn't afford even the gas for it if someone gave it to us. I can't imagine having that amount of money...sigh.

This is the water shooting out of the other side of the lock. They also showed us how the salmon get up the climb. They have a "ladder" which is levels of pools for them to jump up. There is also an underwater viewing area where you can see the salmon. It is pretty cool. We want to go back when there are more salmon later in the year.

There is also a bridge nearby that lifts to let large boats through. My kiddos thought that was neat too!

They had a bunch of these metal sculptures near the path to the underwater viewing area. Keaton liked to swing on them. All in all I think we thought the "locks" were more interesting then the Aquarium....and it is all FREEEEE (including the gardens)! We will defiantly have to go back! Thanks Lisa for the tip!