Sea World Trip

Last weekend was our trip to Sea World! Since the kids aren't in "real" school yet, we don't have to go on vacations during Spring Break or other big holidays when the crowds are there...we can go whenever we want to, which has worked out perfectly for us. So far our 3 big vacations have been a few weeks before Spring Break, and we have loved it!

We left Dallas Thursday late afternoon after work and drove to Austin where we spent the night with Carrie and Chris. Nathan and Charlotte loved getting a visit in with Pearce that night and the next morning. On Friday, we took all of the kids to McDonald's for breakfast (Pearce loved his hot cakes!) and then headed to San Antonio around 10:30. We got there around noon and headed straight to the Alamo and riverwalk.

Our plan was to go inside the Alamo to look around, but it was closed to the public for a showing of and reading of the Travis Letter...not sure what that it is, but apparently it's a big deal. So we walked all around the outside of it and then headed over to the riverwalk which was pretty much across the street. I loved how close everything was!

On the way to the riverwalk, we came across a wax museum where Nathan saw this Transformer. He was excited and scared at the same time!

Walking along the river was really neat. Nathan and Charlotte loved having the freedom to run around in front of us. We took a tour of the river on one of the boats which was nice and then picked out a restaurant to eat dinner at. Of course, we had to go with Mexican food! We ate outside right next to the river. Nathan and Charlotte thought it was cool! They especially loved watching all of the birds, pigeons, and ducks swim next to and fly onto a table once the group left. Those birds wanted every last scrap they could get! Every time someone left a table, Nathan said, "Here come the birds!"

We left the riverwalk area around 4:00 and headed to our hotel which was only about 10 miles away. Actually, we went to Target first to stock up on a few groceries, snacks, and a little toy for each of our cutie pies. It was nice to get to the hotel somewhat early and just relax. We got unpacked and then took a tour of it. Nathan and Charlotte absolutely love hotels! They loved exploring, running around, and having mommy and daddy all to themselves! We got to bed somewhat early and got an early start the next morning. First, we had breakfast downstairs at the hotel. Breakfast was an especially exciting part of the day. Nathan and Charlotte were in charge of picking out our table (a job they took very seriously). They each wanted a bagel with cream cheese, cereal, and apple juice in a to-go coffee cup...they loved pretending that they were drinking coffee, HA!

When we got to Sea World, the parking lot was hardly full and the weather was perfect! We went straight to the Shamu show first. It started at 11:30, but we got there around 11 because we figured it would be crowded and wanted to get a good seat. We did get a great seat but realized that all of the

seats were in good spots, and since there wasn't a huge crowd, there were also plenty of empty seats. This realization helped our scheduling tons! We decided not to get to the shows 30 minutes early. Instead we would get there right on time so we ended up being able to have more time doing other things. 

Our first show was a huge hit with Nathan and Charlotte. They loved seeing Shamu jump, flip, and splash us!

After Shamu, we headed to the Sesame Street play area which was right in the middle of the park. Wayne saw that there was a character meet and greet there so we hurried over hoping that we were able to see the characters in time. When Charlotte saw Elmo, she was so excited. I asked her if she wanted to have her picture taken with him and the other guys and she said "Yes!" very excitedly. So we got in line. I asked her if she wanted to sit on Elmo's lap, but she said no, she just wanted me to sit next to Elmo and she would sit in my lap. Ok, good idea. When it was almost our turn, she said to me, "Mommy, I so cited (excited)!" Now it's our turn! We walk up to Elmo, and what does Charlotte do? She buries her head into me and has a death grip on my arm, and her legs are locked around me! She got scared and refused to look at Elmo or turn around! It was so funny because Wayne is trying to take our picture, but she wanted no part of it!

The Sesame Street play area was really neat and HUGE! Nathan and Charlotte loved it! There were nets to climb, slides, tunnels, kiddie rides, and a splash area. Since it was right in the middle of the Sea World, we came back to this section often. We weren't sure if the water area would be on since it was still February, and I thought it might be a little chilly, but I packed their swimsuits and an extra change of clothes in case they wanted to get wet. Well, the sun was out, and it was really warm! When they saw the water was on, they couldn't wait to get in it!

We filled our backpack with tons of snacks (granola bars, chips, crackers), sandwiches, and drinks. So we were able to stop whenever we wanted to eat lunch and take a break.

On to the dolphin show!

And back to Sesame Street for Nathan and Charlotte to try out the rides. Nathan went on a real roller coaster called the Shamu Express. He's not a dare devil like his mommy and took a little coaxing to try it, but once he did, he loved it! It was a small coaster, but to Nathan, it was like the Texas Giant!

Next, we went to a show that changes every week. We missed Jack Hannah by a few weeks, but enjoyed this one about birds of prey. They showed us falcons and eagles and put on quite a show by having them swoop over the audience. The great thing about the shows is that they only last 20-30 minutes, just enough time to keep us all interested and not bored. Plus there are only 4 main shows, so it was easy for us to get them all in.

Last, but not least, was the sea lion and walrus show. It was so funny! We pretty much raced to it right after the bird show and got there right when it started but were still able to get seats down front. Nathan and Charlotte really liked this one. The walrus in it was HUGE!

Back to Sesame Street for more rides. Charlotte loved this little Ferris wheel. She called it the "Teacup" ride. Nathan wanted to do the Shamu roller coaster over and over, and Charlotte wanted to do this one over and over.

To end our first day, Nathan and Charlotte each got to pick out a souvenir. Charlotte found this seal and fell in love. We thought Nathan would want a shark or something scary like that, but he chose a dolphin and named him "Dolphie." That's my sweet little boy. We went out to eat for dinner and then back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. We were all wiped out!!!

Sunday was our last day. We felt like we got almost everything in the day before, so we used Sunday to do the few things we didn't get to do, and go back to anything else the kids wanted to do again. It was a huge relief that we had gotten all of the shows in so we could just take our time today. We had our breakfast and got to the park right when it opened. The main thing we wanted to make sure we did was feed the dolphins. They have specific feeding times spread out during the day. We wanted to get there for the first feeding at 10 am. Saturday was the busiest day of the weekend, but still not all that crowded since it wasn't Spring Break yet. So on Sunday, it was REALLY nice. It was a bit cooler so I was so happy we did the water part the day before. We got to the dolphin area right on time, bought 4 trays of fish, and had so much fun with the dolphins!

We had instructions from the workers to hold the fish out over the water for just a second, get a quick touch of the dolphin, and then drop the fish in its mouth. They didn't want you to dangle the fish too long or hold it closer to you in order to get the dolphins closer to you. Well, you'll see in a few of the pictures that we, I mean WAYNE, did not follow the rules exactly! Half the time, he had the dolphins practically over the wall! Which was great for Nathan and Charlotte because they got to really see and pet them. Those poor dolphins were begging for their food!

Feeding the dolphins was a huge highlight for us! Next, we went to the aquarium and then to see the penguins, seals, and alligators.

Along the way, there were two BIG roller coasters that I wanted to do. They were so much fun!!! And the best part was that there were no lines! While Wayne, Charlotte, and Nathan had a snack, I was able to go on the rides and be back to them before they were finished. It was perfect!

The last big ride for Nathan was the river rapids ride. He still remembers the one from Disneyworld that was a little more wild. He DID NOT like that one so he was really hesitant to try this one. But with a little encouragement (I might have told him I'd buy him a new Angry Bird from the toy store) he and Daddy did it. And of course, Nathan loved it. Nathan is the little blue blob all covered up sitting next to Wayne.

To end the day, Charlotte and I did the teacup ride one more time while Nathan and Wayne rode the Shamu roller coaster.

They each got a necklace from the gift store; a pink dolphin for Charlotte and a shark tooth for Nathan. This vacation was so great and went perfectly. We all had so much fun being together. Nathan and Charlotte are already wanting to go back!!!