Official Aquarium Members...

Ryan and Tawny gave our kids a year's membership to the Vancouver Aquarium. On one of the last days of my spring break, we started that year with a visit to Stanley Park.

It was great. We took a leisurely drive downtown after rush hour had settled down and parked in the park. We sauntered over to the aquarium, running into Jessica Sampson along the way.

Jessica works at the aquarium and ended up giving us a behind-the-scenes tour of the place. We got to see jellyfish, a couple octopi and some really creepy-looking crabs. It was also really cool seeing the machinery that kept the tanks clean and filtered.

Connor was in his glory at one point when we visited the kids' area in the bowels of the aquarium. There was a little workshop designed to give kids the experience of being a vetrinarian. There was a stuffed seal doll left in an incubator and instructions for how to care for it.

Connor dutifully put on his vet's apron and brought his seal pup to the doctor's table. He weighed the pup, checked its eyes, ears and heart. He administered medicine and generally cared for the little guy. At the end of it, he carefully placed it back in the incubator for the next would-be vet.

We all enjoyed the shows. First, we visited the Beluga Whale show. We were especially happy to find a dry seat - and even happier to find that it would stay dry during the show. We chowed down on CaraLee's feast and I was more and more excited with each bite, knowing that my backpack would be lighter.

We surveyed the different exhibits, encountering sharks, seahorses and even an iguana that we couldn't quite determine whether or not he was supposed to be as free as he was.

We finished with the dolphin show - the runaway favourite for the kids. It's truly amazing to see them jump into the air about 30 feet clear of the water's surface.

Satisfied, we returned home, already talking excitedly about the next time we'd be able to visit.