Day 6 - St Pete

 Another beautiful sunny morning.  Justin and Caleb went to the summer students' last Russian class. Catherine and I took the four kids on the subway.  We walked through their neighborhood.  The whole city is full of canals.   Lots of people were sunning, there were ducks and you can see the rows and rows of apartments that are all over the city.  We went down the long escalator (the subway goes under the river) to the station.  It is super easy to pay and get on, and the trains come very quickly, we never had to wait.  People are very helpful to those with children.  A random guy picked up Abby's stroller and carried it down for us.  Another girl offered her seat to a family.  The subway is quiet though and our kids most sat and looked around too.

 We walked to a big mall that had a McDonalds!!  The kids got Happy Meals and I got a Greek Mak because they don't have them in the states :)  Everyone enjoyed their meal.  When I was in the bathroom, Gloria fell and busted her chin, we had a bandaid and it wasn't too bad!  The guys met us here and then we went to the Oceanarium.

 The children and adults both loved the tanks of fish and other animals.  Though it was called an Oceanarium, there were also freshwater fish, like these pirañas.  There were English translations (all good, nothing funny to take pictures of) and Caleb enjoyed teaching as well.  Catherine thought it was funny that Lydia knew more about the animals than she did.  Once she pointed to a coral and said, cool that looks like a brain and Lydia yes that is why it is named a brain coral :)

 This place had a wave come over every minutes and the first time really surprised the children.   A ray splashed me and the eels were cool.

 In the tunnel there was a moving walkway.  The place was fun of Russian tourist with their children too.

 The last part was a seal tank with three swimming seals.  We sat and rested awhile watching them.

 After exiting through the gift shop, we went to a cafe in the same mall and got yummy ice cream.

Back home for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, spaghetti dinner and apartment park time.  Their apartment was on the 6th floor and was about 800 square feet.  Gabriel had a bunk bed, so Lydia slept on the bottom.  Gloria slept on an air mattress in Abigail's room, and Caleb and I had the bed couch in the living room.  We were definitely together but it never felt like we were on top of each other.  Also one bathroom but we made it work, especially since the weather was so lovely we were out most of the time.  After we put the kids to bed the grown ups played Ticket to Ride, a train game, I smashed them :)

Catherine's FB Status:  Feel like we are super moms taking four energetic kids on the metro at rush hour by ourselves and keeping them all together, safe, quiet and calm 
Fun day at the Oceanarium. A must do and so much more interesting when your brother is a marine biologist like mine. My nieces knew more about species of fish and coral than me!