Sea World!

The very first day of our vacation we visited Sea World. We got discount tickets through my mom and thought that we'd spend the day away from the house since Lucas and Jill still had school to attend. But guess what? They skipped that day of school and came with us! What fun. We ran straight for the Shamu* show, stopping only long enough to catch a glimpse of this beautiful beast in the viewing tank. Once upon a time when marine biology classes took up a lot of my schedule in community college (chemistry--no thanks, biology--no thanks, anatomy--no thanks, study fish, whales, salt water and waves?--yes, please!) I used to think it would be amazingly fun to swim with whales and dolphins. When I visited Hawaii with my best friend and we took a snorkel tour we waited on the edge of our pontoon seats to jump in with a traveling pod--they avoided us all day. 11 years, 3 kids and a few Sea World trainer deaths later and my heart speeds up just looking at the whale on the other side of the three foot thick Plexiglas.

The Shamu show was fun. We took a chance and sat in the upper portion of the "soak zone". We were all a little nervous, but we managed to stay dry. Some of the folks in the rows in front of us were not so lucky.
The trainers no longer get in the water with Shamu during the show. I was very disappointed that my kids didn't get the thrill of seeing a whale come shooting out of the water with a human being riding high on his snout (mouth?). But I was quite happy that my children did not have to witness a human being being eaten and/or drowned by a whale. Therapy would have been ongoing, I'm sure.

Here we are settling in for the dolphin show. I would love to show you some pictures. But that little cutie in the bold striped vest fell asleep in my arms, making photo shooting a near impossibility. Plus, and more importantly, I was too busy soaking up those gorgeous rays of sunshine and reminding myself it really was only 4 days before Christmas.
The dolphin show now involves a really cool high dive/trapeze/ bird/ pseudo Disney Princess show. It was pretty cool. We also looked at the sharks, turtles, a super fun "pet show" and a few of the kiddie rides. But the attraction that took up the biggest chunk of time was the playground. The kind of playground that requires parental assistance. Thankfully one parent had to stay behind to guard the stroller, cameras, wallets, etc. And eat the snacks. And rest her feet. And giggle at the parents who are in the playground. I'm sure you can guess which parent was the wallet guarding snack eater : )



I can't figure out what order blogger is going to put my photos in for the life of me. It's a little unpredictable at the moment. Ezra and Lucas were watching whales jumping, not Aunt Megan and Mia climb through the ropes course.
Napping with one hand in the snack bag. Look at those adorable blue toes. Oh I miss her!
Tadd volunteered to risk his life and take any willing children on the Water Roller Coaster of Death, er, the Lost City of Atlantis or something. Lucas was the only taker.
The rest of us kept our feet wisely planted where they and the rest of our bodies would stay dry.
So fun to watch this little friendship, let me tell you!
Everything is more fun with a cousin along!
*Thanks to my Mother and Brothers for pointing out that Shamu is not spelled Shamoo : )