Having written our Summer Bucket List over the weekend, we started as we mean to go on, and Monday saw us venture into Boston to visit the New England Aquarium.
We have an annual membership for the Aquarium which has been well used, in fact we are into our third year of membership! It’s a place that you can pop into for a quick visit, or where you can spend several hours touring each level and all the fascinating exhibits. It’s definitely a favourite with our children.
As the weather forecast was for a fairly overcast day it seemed an ideal time to visit, and meant that our walk from North Station to the Aquarium would be pleasant rather than horribly sweaty!
We all enjoyed the stroll; I love walking through Boston city centre and our route to the Aquarium took us past the old and the new and through the bustling atmosphere of Quincy Market, before walking through the park that now lines a section of the Surface Road, one of the main roads through Boston.
Thinking I might not get many decent photos inside the Aquarium, the areas around the tanks are of course quite dark, I asked the kids for a photo before we went in. This is what I got… Faces and messing around with a sculpture of a ray!
Once inside, first stop is always the penguins, and I actually think that the wee girl would be quite happy not to actually go and see anything else!
However, we managed to lure her away with the promise of a baby turtle. A red-bellied turtle to be precise.
The Aquarium are currently running several new ‘sea turtle rescue’ interactive displays, covering protection, treatment and rehabilitation of these wonderful animals.
Next stop is the seals, who come a close second to the penguins!
And, contrary to how it may appear from the above photo, the 6yo was enjoying himself, I just asked him to stop making his cheesy grin face :)
We headed back inside and visited a few more of the smaller tanks before going to the cafe for an early lunch (before it got too busy); pizza for three (mummy didn’t get a look in, sadly, as the food is good here!).
Suitably fortified with lunch, we hit the main Ocean Tank. This is the centre piece of the Aquarium and is four storeys high, with a spiral ramp circling it. It is amazing to walk up past rays and sharks and huge tuna fish (they are massive!) and, of course, Myrtle the Turtle.
Sadly it’s impossible to take photos with an iPhone…
The boys were keen to do the ray and shark touch tank on the ground floor, but the wee girl struggles to reach them. Then I remembered that there is a Tide Pool touch tank on the upper level, so we headed there instead.
There were plenty of starfish to touch, as well as hermit crabs, shells and seaweed. Lots of textures!
There were also several horseshoe crabs, which I hadn’t seen before!
We spent ages at the touch pool, and this is definitely a good one for younger children :)
After this it was time to call it a day, we’d had a good wander, and we know we’ll be back again to do our favourites, along with the bits we missed on this trip.
While we were inside enjoying the Aquarium, the sun had come out and being down on the waterfront we decided to take a walk along the harbour boardwalk, something we hadn’t done before. Sitting looking out over the water, watching the boats come back to dock and having a snack, was a lovely end to our day out.
It was very sunny though…
Can’t see mummy…!
Our walk back to the station was full of chat about what we’d seen, and the odd complaint of tired legs! A successful day out, one that we will repeat over the summer. And, our first major tick on our bucket list!
What a wonderful place and how incredible to have it close by to be able to nip in ,I love the touch pool my two would just love it x
It is brilliant, the kids love it and it’s such an easy way to spend a couple of hours :)
Looks like they had a great day!
We did, they love it there :)
Looks really fascinating, I love the idea of the touch pool, nothing like being able to get hands on. Now I see where those lovely waterfront photo came from too! A great day out and a lovely start to your summer holidays. #Whatsthestory
The touch pool was great, and the wee girl could reach this one. They have a bigger one with baby sharks and rays, but the water is deeper, so it’s tricky for the little kids to touch anything!
Looks like a great aquarium. I have given up trying to get pics of my 3 anymore with all their silly faces!
I’ve just embraced the silly faces :)
Lovely day out and how fantastic you get to touch too. We love penguins and seals too :)
Thanks for linking #LetKidsBeKids
The touch tanks are definitely a favourite!
Wow looks like so much fun, my two both love aquariums, such a great way to get close to nature and see a world you wouldn’t normally see. The harbour walk looks beautiful and it looks like a wonderful time was had, thank you for linking up to #magicmoments.
It was a lovely day, thank you x
What a great day!!! Your iPhone pictures are beautiful. I especially love the picture of the kids touching the horseshoe crab! Wow! such a cool experience :-)
It was very cool :)
What an amazing aquarium! looks awesome and no wonder the kids love it there. Looks lke a really lovely day out :) xx
It is a fantastic aquarium, we love it!
Yah … to more major tick offs, off your list! They obviously had a lot of fun and their pizzas looks yummy. My little one would probably have enjoyed the touch tanks most. What a treat for them! :-) #CommentLuv