CA Academy of Sciences. Check.

Since our Saturdays in CA have become very few, we went on a little trip into the city (SF for those non-locals). We decided to spend our afternoon at the CA Academy of Sciences. One of the main reasons we added the museum to our "Must do before we move" list was because it houses a 3 story indoor rainforest. As pictured below (image taken from here).

Waiting in line to go into the dome. Each level was filled with insects and creatures from a different rainforest. But I must admit, it was getting steamy in there by the end and I was pretty glad to leave.

Ava peeking at the birds and butterflies. There was no screen between you and the trees so they could fly anywhere they wanted. Mostly the birds stayed in the trees but the butterflies were everywhere. They even have a mirror by the elevator to make sure you don't take any butterflies with you when you leave.

At first Reid didn't know what to think about the museum.

But that didn't last for long! For the rest of our visit, anything that caught his eye he would take his finger and point at it. It's so much fun watching his start to discover the things around him.

After leaving the rainforest we went down to the aquarium. This walkway was awesome.

The fish in this part were HUGE. Reid could of spent all day pointing away at the sea creatures.

Of course we had to make sure to find Nemo and Dory. Thankfully the fish tank did not disappoint.

One of the exhibits at the museum right now is called Extreme Animals. Below is the largest land mammal to ever be discovered. It's an Indricotherium, or Indy for short :)

I took the above image off of the museum's website because my shot just didn't show how massive the animals truly was. Doesn't Ava look so darling standing on her tippy toes.

Of course, we could not leave before seeing the penguins. Why does everyone love penguins so much? Seems like any museum with animals always has them.

Ava loved watching them whiz by her in the water.

By the end of the trip Reid was getting pretty restless. If you can believe it, Josh offered to miss seeing the penguins and instead walk around with Reid. Now that Reid is walking running, it's hard to keep that little boy still for too long.

On our drive home I asked Ava what her favorite part of the whole museum was. Randomly it was the T Rex at the entrance of the museum. Having no idea that was going to be her favorite part, I didn't take a picture. But this guy did :) Looks like we might just have to invest in getting a membership at Thanksgiving point when we get out to Utah.