Santa Monica Pier Aquarium

September 12, 2016 by 3 Comments
The Santa Monica Pier Aquarium is a great place to exploring the pier, where you can spend a whole day.

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While your kids are still little and amazed by the world, while your underwater explorer still loves the mystery of the deep dark blue and its inhabitants, while your Earth-lover still wants to preserve our environment and learn about local plant and animal species, take them to the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium for a fun family day out. I visited recently as a guest of Mommy Poppins for their Best of LA awards event. (I didn’t win, but it was an honor just to be nominated. For real!)

santa monica pier aquarium snacks

Want some wolf eel with your coffee?

Yes, there is a bigger aquarium in greater Los Angeles, but this one is so close! And with the California Incline now open again, traffic isn’t as bad it has been the last year and a half. Take the 101 East to Las Virgenes, then turn right and head out to PCH. Take PCH to Ocean Ave, turn right and head down to Pico. Turn right there, and right on Appian Way. Park on the street or in the lot – either way you’ll pay about $12 for the whole day.

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From there you’ll walk along the boardwalk, past the lemonade stand, and to Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, which is under the pier. It’s a small space and won’t take you long to walk through and explore, but if you have pre-schoolers they will likely spend plenty of time watching the sharks in the waist-high tank. No touching them!

Luckily, right across the room is a touch tank where curious kids can handle anemones, starfish, and more. There are displays of sea life everywhere—there are 100 species of plants and animals right there in the facility!

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There’s a different focus or special event each day of the week. Children can help feed the sea stars Tuesdays and Fridays and 2:30PM, and watch staff feed the sharks on Sundays at 3:30. Older children can volunteer at the aquarium starting at age 15.

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While you’re at the pier, head up the stairs or ramp to check out Pacific Park with its games and amusement park rides. Stop to watch trapeze artists in training at trapeze school. Enjoy local musicians performing right there on the pier. Grab a meal or a snack at the food court or one of the restaurants at either end.

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And of course, remember to pack your beach stuff. A blanket, an umbrella, some sunscreen, and extra clothes for the kids who will run into the water no matter how many times they whine “But I hate the beach!” (Just my kids?)

santa monica pier aquarium pinterest

Santa Monica Pier Aquarium
1600 Ocean Front Walk (under the pier)
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Tue-Fri 2pm – 5pm
Sat-Sun 12:30 – 5pm
Admission is free for kids 12 and under
Adults and kids 13 and up $5

Filed Under: Excursions, Fun Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Flashback Friday: Moving Day

September 2, 2016 by 25 Comments
Moving day is something you never forget.

moving day unloading

June 2010

My friend Sam is in town, trying to decide if he wants to move to Los Angeles. He’s lived in a lot of places, one of them New York, which he loves. LA is really, really different, amirite ladies?

am i right? amirite

I moved to Los Angeles from Connecticut in 1995. That’s 21 years ago. That’s a newly minted legal drinker ago. It’s kind of hard to believe. When I got here, my friend Lisa rented us a 2BR2BA in Pasadena with a view of the San Gabriel Mountains.

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Pasadena – note the awesome 90’s hair, fashion choices, and distinctly post-college apartment decor

I moved to Santa Monica when I got into the entertainment industry, then I moved to the San Fernando Valley to get married and have kids, then of course, I moved here when it was time for school. As one does. And that day, my friends, was over 6 years ago already. I started this blog right around this time 6 years ago!

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Almost-Kindergartener in the tree at our old house

I started thinking about all this because Sam’s boxed arrived today. I’m such a good friend that I’m allowing him to store his stuff in my garage until he decides, should he stay or should he go? Just the sight of those boxes (delivered by the rock’n’roll FedEx guy) launched me down memory lane. How time flies.

IMG_0666Our last moving day (so far), 2010

Whenever I’ve moved I’ve always said “I’m never moving again! Grr!” But now I know to never say never. I really didn’t think we would move out of Northridge, but here we are. We love it here, but who knows what will happen? I’m okay with appreciating where we are for now.

Welcome to town, Sam.

 

Filed Under: Life, Photographs Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Yes on Proposition 56 Is a No to E-Cigs for Kids

August 31, 2016 by 3 Comments
Proposition 56 is on the ballot in November

proposition 56

There are going to be a lot of items on the ballot in November, and you might start hearing ads about Prop 56. I’ve only heard the ones against it, and they make me spit-take. Because when I listen closely, I hear “Paid for by [INSERT BIG TOBACCO COMPANY HERE].”

I learned about Proposition 56 from my colleague at BlogHer in Los Angeles. The proposition, if passed, will add a $2 tax to each pack of cigarettes, and also add taxes to e-cigarettes, which are marketed increasingly more to children. A gateway delivery of nicotine to make them future smokers, perhaps?

Far from being funded by the very-rich tobacco lobby, Proposition 56 is supported by communities who care about healthy kids. Here is their biggest ad so far:

Here are more facts about Proposition 56:
  • Prop 56 will increase CA’s tobacco tax by $2 per pack and place an equivalent increase on other tobacco products containing nicotine, including electronic cigarettes.
  • Raising the tax on tobacco products is an especially effective way to keep kids from smoking, according to the US Surgeon General. And California’s tobacco tax is among the lowest in the nation.
  • The revenue generated from this tax will go to Medi-Cal (health care for low income Californians including 1/3 of the state’s populations and HALF of all CA kids), smoking prevention programs, research into tobacco-related diseases, and law enforcement.
  • Tobacco is still a major problem in California: it kills 40,000 Californians each year and costs taxpayers $3.5 Billion JUST in Medi-Cal spending.
  • Tobacco is still targeting our kids: Each year, 16,800 California kids start smoking – 1/3rd of whom will eventually die from tobacco-related diseases.
  • Now kids are getting hooked on nicotine with electronic cigarettes. A recent CDC survey showed that 20% of California high school kids have used electronic cigarettes in the past 30 days and 40% have experimented with them.

Learn more at YesOn56.org

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,