 1 We arranged a private tour of the Waikiki Aquarium after hours for an educational presentation followed by a tour of the tanks during feeding time. The kids really enjoyed it. What a great experience! We had 7 boys with us ages 3-7. |
 2 Look - it's the one-room schoolhouse for boys! |
 3 And one big boy :) Richard is always a good sport helping corral kids and makin sure no one gets lost or too rambunctious. Always so happy when Richard is along! Poor guy...but I think he enjoys it a tiny bit! Here he is smiling because the teacher was talking about something that eats 200 lbs of food (can't remember who or what it was) but nobody weighed 200lbs until Richard piped up and said "I DO!" |
 4 Ben sat and listened really well. |
 5 Great slide show for boys. Even got to talk about POOP! It's all part of the food chain, baby. The sea cucumbers actually eat fish poop off the ocean floor and help filter it out from the sand. All hail the sea cucumber! |
 6 Shark mouth! |
 7 Feeding the sea anemones and brittle stars. What great fine motor skill these boys had! |
 8 Even the littler ones did it really well once they got the hang of it! There's Camden (4) and Ben (almost 3). |
 9 Camden's Big Bro Josh and friend Michael. |
 10 This is a huge model of a sea anemone. |
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 13 Checking each other's bowls out. |
 14 Thanks to Giji for these wonderful shots! |
 15 And mom for this one. Ben is rather interested in shark mouths these days. He has a love/hate relationship with the notion of a shark mouth. This one had no real biter teeth, only grinding for plant eating. If I recall correctly. |
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 17 Ben liked it when the magnifying glass came out at a recent doctor's appointment, too! |
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 19 Rapt attention :) Talking about the Fish "Jello" that the guide is going to be feeding to the big fish next. |
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 26 You want to feel it? |
 27 Now we're in the aquarium watching all the reef fish eat the reddish colored stuff that helps keep them all colorful as well. I think it was super tiny copepods. |
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 29 One fish spits when he sees the food knife come in! |
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 33 And our big friend Octopus! |
 34 A couple movies of Octopus (I revere this creature - isn't it funny that I subconsciously give it a proper name with initial cap?). The octopus changes color dramatically as it moves around. |
 35 It opens the food jar in one of these movies! |
 36 Now for the big guys - jacks, groupers and sharks. |
 37 Gramma and Sam having a nice, quiet moment. |
 38 Cute moorish idols. |
 39 Now be careful - these guys will sting if you touch them. |
 40 Outside feeding more fish with tweezers! |
 41 Now...trying to get a picture of all these kids was something else! |
 42 Burning off ya-yas across the street under the gaze of Diamond Head. We had a picnic dinner. Such fun. |
 43 Trying to get the boys to come over and eat...tough work! |
 44 Thanks for taking these pictures, mom! I wanted to remember this part. It was so nice to get out and let the boys run a bit. |
