Snow and Reindeer in San Francisco

Christmas may be over for another year (in fact, it's already new year!) but our advent calendar still had one more activity for the girls. Some time in the week before Christmas the advent calendar's activity for the day was "Visit the reindeer at California Academy of Science". Unfortunately we were a little busy with Christmas preparations so we had to put our visit off until the end of last week. On Friday we made the most of our annual membership and visited the Academy one last time for the year.

That place has got to be one of our favourite destinations for an afternoon of exploration - especially during the holiday season. Snow flurries in the Piazza and live reindeer in the East Garden are just a part of the 'Tis the Season for Science exhibit - our favourite parts no less!

The girls were enchanted by the snow flurries in the Piazza. Ava worked out pretty quickly that the "snow" was really just some sort of soap foam (shampoo according to her) but she still enjoyed it none the less - although she refused to try and catch it on her tongue like Lola and their friend Solly!

Here's a look at the kids enjoying the flurries...

Ava, Lola and Solly in a flurry of snow

Catching snow flakes

Lola trying to catch snow flakes on her tongue

Ruth and Solly catching snowflakes on their tongues

After fun with flurries - I just love that word - we headed out to the East Garden to see the reindeer. Ava, remembering much of what she learnt last year when we visited the reindeer decided that she was an expert. Lola was convinced that they were camels! Although the kids liked seeing the reindeer up close they were much more interested in playing on the sculptures in the garden. Reindeer are cool to look at and all but you just can't climb on them. Nothing beats climbing on a sculpture!

Ava, Solly and Lola having fun in the East Garden

There's one part of the Academy that is always a winner with the kids - even if it's not Christmas themed - and that is the aquarium. Every trip to the Academy winds up with us spending most of our time staring at fish. I'm not complaining, mind you. The girls are always enchanted by the fish and it's easy to see why. They could happily spend hours there watching the fish swim about in front of them, or even overhead as is the case in the Flooded Amazon exhibit. It's a magical world under the sea and it's such a privilege to take a glimpse inside.

Lola and Ava watching the fish

It's coming right for us!

Lola watching the fish

So much to see in the aquarium

If you'd like to see more of the California Academy of Sciences (and you know you do!) you can check out some photos from our first visit here.