Monterey Bay Aquarium

On April 7th we had an opportunity to take the family to the Monterey Bay Aquarium! We received free tickets and were so excited to go! We decided to spend the night near Monterey the night before so that we wouldn't have to spend the day at the aquarium after a long drive. I'm so glad we did! It was an exhausting day for all of us! The boys were so excited to see everything. The aquarium had an amazing area for toddlers. The boys were so overwhelmed and excited about everything they got to climb on, touch, and experiment with. I was so thankful that Owen was able to participate in the water play. They had these awesome aprons that kept his broviac nice and dry. Here are a few pictures of our trip.

Here we are standing in front of the aquarium. At this point, I think we were more excited than the boys were. 

We weren't sure where to head first. When we got there the penguins were being fed. We decided to head in that direction. However, we quickly realized that we would not be able to be a part of the feeding times. There was a big crowd, the boys couldn't see, and the feeding was slow. There was no way the boys were going to sit through all the talking LOL. So, we turned around and saw the water table - empty and ready for our kids to play! They had soo much fun playing with all the different toys in the water! Thankfully, the aquarium supplied us with apron type things that helped keep the boys dry - but most importantly - Owen's broviac! I was so happy I could watch him play freely in the water without worrying (too much) that we would have a dressing change in the near future.

Shape sorting!

the wave :)

 



The next few pictures are of all of us outside near the ocean water. They turned out really great!

The kids really had a blast with all of these hands on activities!

My inpatient husband waiting for the elevator lol :) but seriously, they were a little bit slow

the jellyfish exibit was my second favorite of the day! The boys loved drawing and putting their drawing on the big, interactive screen!

These poor boys were so tired! meltdown!

 



Special Visit

For Mother's Day, Owen's Miracle got to deliver special bracelets to two NICUs. We were so excited to do this for the moms again this year. We decided to make the trip into a special visit day. I text one of owen's NICU primary nurses, who is basically a part of our family now, and asked if she would like to spend the day with us. She said yes! And even invited the other primaries to join us! Some couldn't make it but we were so excited to get to spend some time catching up with Vera and Janie! I can't begin to explain how blessed we are to know these wonderful nurses. But, they are more than nurses to us. They are family. Aunts, second mothers. . . Whatever you want to call them, they are special. Janie was the nurse to take care of Owen the morning after his emergent NEC removal surgery. These nurses have stuck by us, through everything and will always be family.