Living Planet Aquarium

I love that we live so close to the Living Planet Aquarium. There are so many cool things to see there. We hadn't been in quite a while and I was wanting to take Kels and check out the penguins again. That morning I pulled up their website to see what time they open. I clicked on a link happened to read about the Penguin Encounters. Instantly I was hooked and wanted to do it so bad. I called in and they had 2 spots left. It was meant to be.

So here's the real scoop with the penguin encounters. I didn't completely understand it just by reading on their website. They only do it once a day at 1pm Friday-Wednesday. Only 8 people are allowed to do it at a time. Its kind of expensive and if you don't have a membership you have to pay to get into the aquarium as well. So at 1pm everyone meets with an employee and they take you behind the scenes. First you get to watch a really cheesy safety video. Then you get all bundled up. If you didn't bring a coat they have a some that you can borrow. Trust me, you'll need it. Its freezing in there. You also need closed toe shoes (for obvious reasons as shown in the video below. Luckily Kels & I were both ok in the shoe department but we did need coats. Then they walk you by all the birds, parrots, macaws, etc that they take around to schools for educational purposes. You also get to see the HUGE tanks of water that they  mix and maintain daily for the penguins. Then you walk up some stairs and they open the door to a little mud room. There is an L shaped bench that everyone sits on. Then they open the door to the penguin exhibit. The penguins are not required to come in and visit. Its only if they want to. Some of them are more outgoing than others. Ghostwriter was by far the most friendly and curious. He stayed in our room almost the whole time. He's also the one chomping on my foot in the video below. You're not allowed to touch the penguins because they relate hands to feeding time and will bite you. You only stay in the room for about 30 minutes- which I thought was about perfect. Sure I could have stayed in there and watched them for hours but it is cold and you do have to hold pretty still the whole time. I think Kelsie really enjoyed it. Truthfully, I was watching another penguin in the room when Ghostwriter munched on her foot first. It doesn't hurt but it definitely startled her. She curled up on my lap and then did fine the rest of the time. She especially cracked up when he chomped on my foot instead.