Turtle Bay

Today my Mom, Hannah and I went to Redding to Turtle Bay. When we got there we had some time before we met my Grandpa and Aunt. After the car ride Hannah needed some exercise so we went to the park and played at the Forest Playground in Paul Bunyan's Forest Camp

and played...

and played!

My Grandpa Bill came into the park with us and our next stop was the tropical birds exhibit. This type of bird particularly liked him for some reason.

Then we visited the butterfly house. We got to see them releasing some of them into the enclosure. They actually receive the butterflies alive trapped inside what looks like a little waxed paper envelope. They also have chrysalises hanging in a box while they wait for the butterflies to emerge. They had specimens of butterflies to look at and touch that had "completed their life cycle" as they said. I think they were really the ones that the little kids caught and played with too hard!

We were headed out when I spotted this water at the Mill House. Hannah had been trying to climb into any water that we got near and this looked like a good chance to let her play a little bit. At first I was letting her play with her hands in it and then three other moms were letting their kids stand in it. I figured what the heck since it was 80 degrees out. It was cold at first but Hannah loved it.

Last we headed to the Museum and looked at the aquarium. Hannah squealed at the fish and had a great time. They had other neat things like a tee pee and an entire tree's root system covered in glass below the floor of the museum. There were things that weren't available to us I think because the summer rush hadn't hit but we still had fun!