Day Tripping : Sealife Bray

* Our entry into  Sealife’s LEGO adventure, Ocean Explorers event was complimentary. The opinions expressed are honest and come from my own brain and not cause someone told me to say it!

My youngest is four and it’s only now that I’m getting my head around the idea of taking them off for the day on my own. I was always just a little bit worried that the day would be a disaster without the support of another adult. This will be my third trip solo and I’m getting the swing of it now. There’ll be no stopping me. I have a little soft spot in my heart for Bray so when the opportunity popped up for me to visit Sealife with the kids I was thrilled.

The prep for any trip starts the night before with finding matching socks and packing snacks. The main thing when you are about to spend a full day with three children without the benefit of the electronic babysitter is to get a full night’s sleep. I didn’t sleep a bloody wink! Not to worry, up and out at 10 am which is two hours later than I had intended. Did I mention it’s three children I have?

Traffic was mild and we arrived at our destination with ease and the kids were hopping with excitement. Parking in Bray is fantastic in the sense that it’s cheap! We got a spot outside the aquarium and we dove straight in. (see what I did there? expect plenty more where that came from!) As soon as the kids saw that there was a LEGO event on they were thrilled. The premise being that a diver has lost his equipment in various tanks throughout the aquarium and you have to find them. Write down what you find and then at the end if you have completed your task you become a certified Sealife Junior Diver.

Once you go through the double doors you are submerged in an aquatic wonderland. It’s dark and atmospheric and the kids were really engaged in the experience. There’s only one path through the facility so it’s great for the children to be able to move forward on their own and you don’t have to worry about loosing them. We met a fantastic employee by the name of Lucy who sat and talked to the kids for ages and even told us the names of some of the fish. Our favorites being Daisy and Derek the stingrays. We saw the octopus being fed and apparently he’s a bit fussy and spat it straight back out.

As we made our way through the exhibits we found all the divers missing equipment and documented it. There’s a pencil at every station which I managed to miss until I got to the third one! Not to worry I soon caught up.

At the end the two youngest were happy to play in the LEGO pit and my middle and I made a turtle. There were step by step instruction on how to make different sea creatures but we went rogue and I was very impressed with his creation. I just helped with the integrity to make sure it didn’t fall apart before we got a chance to put in on the shelf.

I didn’t tell the children that there prize for being a certified Sealife Junior Diver was a LEGO mini figure. Well, there was squealing! We were finished and there wasn’t one complaint which is saying something. I really enjoy the aquarium. It’s a short experience so if you were travelling a great distance I would tie it in with another activity. We went on down to the arcades and used to contents of the kids money boxes to win prizes that we could have bought at half the price. Your ticket allows you to leave and return to the aquarium so we had dinner and then went back in to say goodbye to all our sea friends that we had met that day. Especially Daisy and Derek.

The LEGO Ocean Explorers event is there until September 2nd and you can find all the details on the website which you can click on here>> Sealife

Being there with the kids on my own I was just so happy with how it went. The seaside at Bray is just one straight line and I was able to keep an eye on all three at all times. The same with the aquarium there was no where for them to go and I felt safe at all times. It just makes everything that little bit more enjoyable when you don’t lose one. Even if it is only temporarily. We’ll be back Bray. Lucky you!

 

 

 

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