Boston Zoo

December 22nd

Since we recently acquired a new nephew in November (you're a month old Carsten!), Dan and I met up with my family in Boston for Christmas.

Today's adventure took us to the Boston Zoo Christmas Lights.

It was very cold.  I envy Carsten's cozy spot.

Christmas lights!

An animal family Christmas?

Flamingos!  In lights!

Real flamingos!  In a huddle.

Linne's two toed sloths, Nero and Lunesta.  

A wall of lights.

A lovely Hyacinth macaw.   Lovely plumage the Norwegian Blue....

This one is not an ex-parrot.

Who doesn't want a crocodile in a Santa hat?  Also a skeptical yellow bird.

Zephan and Tamzin make adorable penguins.  

Mom and Dan also make cute penguins.  Zephan was amused by their antics.

Peacock!

An a beaver chewing down a pine tree.

There was also a little decorative village thing.

With what is supposed to be Santa, but makes me think it's Cthulhu Santa.

More Cthulhu Santa!

So many lights!

Uh...that Santa looks terrifying.

Yes.  Definitely terrifying.

More of the village.  Creepy Santa is on top of the "castle."

Also a Christmas....Yeti? 

They had a few carnival style rides that Zephan and Tamzin went on for a few turns.  

It was very cold though, so it didn't last too long.

This concludes our adventures for today.

Aquarium Revisited

December 19th

We made it back to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on a less busy day.

 A big fish in the Kelp Forest.

 A Leopard shark making its rounds.

 Giant Pacific Octopus.  At least it's not mushed up in a corner.

 This one was actually pretty active.

This one, however, was mushed up against the glass.  Octopus-loaf.

 So many suction cups!

 It was very kind of this crab to be sitting right next to its replica.  

I think it's for visually impaired visitors.

 This guy looks so done with everything.

 The sharks in this exhibit were on the move.  

 Flat fish are weird.  The one in the corner would hide better if it put its head down.

 A sturgeon.

 Possibly a Boradnose sevengill shark.

 Some sort of anemone. 

Ducks don't use their wings to swim. Just awkward foot flapping.

 Purple-striped jellies.  These guys are around the size of your head.

 Comb jelly - about the size of your hand.

 Tiny cross jellies - about the size of a half dollar. 

I don't remember what this one is called, but it has weird hair-like tentacles.  

I'm not even sure they're tentacles.

But it's a disco rave on top.

A hammerhead lurking in the dark of the Open Ocean exhibit.

Recycled plastic art by Sayaka Ganz

Bigfin reef squid.

Another Bigfin reef squid.

A mimic octopus or Wunderpus.  These guys are amazing.  Google a video of one.  

Also, they're like only 9 inches long.

I'm not sure if the is the Common or Day octopus. 

It was very pale.  We have that in common.

Nautili are weird.  They don't seem like they should work.  

But they do, and have, for like 200 million years. 

Stumpy cuttlefish!  These two are...mating maybe? Or just hugging it out.

Flamboyant cuttlefish can also be subdued.

This one is my favorite.  Common Cuttlefish.  He's like the size of a football.

All hail Hypno-cuttlefish! I could watch this all day.

This concludes our adventures for today.

Graduation

December 16th

Today our Bulgarian friends had their graduation from their program.

Dan and I are very proud of Angel and Orlin.   

Tomorrow we take them to the airport and send them home.  

We will miss them.  We had a great time.