Seymour Marine Center

    Yesterday I went on a field trip with Hannah and I LOVED it.  I don't think I have enough time to explain every detail that I loved, but if this is how field trips are, then sign me up! 

  First of all, it was in Santa Cruz at the beach.

   Next, I got to hang with Hannah's classmates and they are super cool!  One of the things I LOVE about their school is how they teach interacting with other children and adults on a daily basis...eye contact, using names, having a conversation.  It is intentionally incorporated into their every day.  So, many of the kids were not afraid to have conversations with me (the new parent) or the tour guides or any adult.

   Lastly, we were at a marine center and lab, learning about and interacting with marine life.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love whales?  Not to mention marine life in general.  Here Hannah is about to touch a swell shark!

  So, this particular species of shark is able to sleep because it has something in their eye that pulls in water to it's gills.  So they don't have to constantly swim to get water flowing over their gills for their oxygen intake.  And they are nocturnal, so the kids get to touch them while they are asleep.  They look kinda creepy, but it was so cool for the kids!  We learned all other kinds of fascinating things about these sharks from the wonderful and knowledgeable ladies who I think volunteer their time at this center.

  They also have a lab next door that is a research lab for the UC Santa Cruz and they let us in to see some of the research they are doing.  No pictures were allowed, sadly, because they had a Atlantic Bottlenose dolphin back there with it's trainers and the dolphin was jumping and playing and it was so fun to watch!  This particular dolphin used to be part of the Navy Seals and now it is helping with research.  They are studying breathing patterns and the dolphin's heart rate and heart beat.  They have found that when the dolphin dives deep, the heart will beat once per minute!  Isn't that crazy?  I was having serious regrets about not coming to Santa Cruz to study marine biology in college.  At the same time I was having dreams of being one of the volunteer ladies teaching others about marine life when I am retired.  You think I am joking!

It was a wonderful day!