Sea World

On Friday morning after our delicious breakfast buffet at the hotel {which we had been enjoying all week :)}, we headed to sunny San Diego for a fun day at Sea World.

Sea World has always been one of my favorite places to visit ever since I was little and visited a few times on family vacations. Justin and I went there on our honeymoon almost 9 years ago... three and a half kids later... and we were very excited to go back and show them Sea World!

The first thing we did when we got there was watch the Blue Horizons Dolphin and Bird show. I'm not quite sure how dolphins and exotic birds have anything to do with each other but it was still a great show. :) Especially the dolphin part, look how cute they are waving good-bye to the audience. . .

Next, we went to the Shamu show. The huge killer whales never disappoint at their show. I seriously can't believe they can train some of these animals to do what they do. It's simply mind boggling to me. What amazing animals they have at Sea World. A few of my nieces and nephews sat down in the soak zone and yeah, they got SOAKED! It was so funny to watch. I love when the whales splash, especially when they go upside down and use their tail fin. This first picture is of Shamu spitting water at the audience. Too cute!

It was a little bit chilly the day we went to Sea World and partly cloudy most of the day, it only got up to about 64 degrees. I know that sounds silly but when the few days before at Disneyland it was a sunny 72 and 74 degrees, 64 and cloudy really feels chilly. My crazy family all wanted to do the Shipwreck Rapids ride so of course my little dare devil children wanted to do it too. Justin caved and took them on the ride. They had a blast!!

These two little hoodlums were completely SOAKED!!! ...and they loved every second of it too!

Me, Hayzen, Mom, Julie, Carrie and Leisa were the only sane ones in the group that didn't go on it and freeze to death the rest of the day. :) Luckily I had Avery and Quinn take their jackets off before the ride so they would have something dry and warm to wear after. It took them a few minutes to want to take their wet shirts off to dry on the stroller and just wear their jackets with nothing under them. They thought that would be too weird. Once they started to shiver though, they both gave in and took their shirts off and put their jackets on. Obviously that was after we explored the Tide Pool. . . :)

Hayzen and Quinn were fascinated with the huge ginormous aquariums and all the things there were to see inside. Especially Quinney. I think he could have spent hours just watching the sea life swim around. He was so cute and wanted me to take a picture of every little fish there was, he loved it!

The Sea Lions & Otter show has to be one of my all time favorites. The sea lions, Clyde and Seamore are so cute and funny! The show was hilarious!

There's that dang little Otter, stealing the Pepsi can from the Sea Lions. It was too cute. Must remember how he ran out front and center and stood on his hind legs with his little arm straight up in the air and waved to everyone. It seriously was the cutest thing EVER! I wish I would have gotten a picture of it but I didn't have my camera ready--darn it.

Visiting the Penguin Encounter. . .

And the Wild Arctic which had polar bears, beluga whales and a huge monsterous walrus. . .

I was a little sad the polar bears were napping, last time we were there on our honeymoon they were diving in and out of the water chasing each other. It was really cute and I wanted my kids to see them swimming. Oh well, maybe next time. :)

We also watched the Christmas Tails pet show. It was cute. We didn't have very good seats and were facing the sun though so I didn't get any decent pics. Except for this cutie when the show was over. . .

Exploring more aquariums. See the cute "Dory" fish and turtle Quinney insisted I take a picture of. . . :)

Check out the teeth on one of the sharks at the Shark Encounter. SO creepy!

How cute is this chubby sea lion lounging on the rock? He didn't even care about that bird sitting right next to him. He sat in that position with his eyes closed the whole time we were visiting Pacific Point. . .

This little sea lion at Pacific Point however, was not sitting quietly. Not at all! He was begging the people above him for some fish. He was making the funniest sound. Avery was trying to mimick the sound and after a few minutes she said to me, "Mom, I can finally speak seal!" ha ha ha
She was so excited for herself! :)

Before we left Sea World I wanted to get a picture of our family in the exact same spot that Justin and I had one taken almost 9 years ago on our honeymoon. That picture on our honeymoon has always been one of my favorites of us and it was fun to take one again in the same spot. My-oh-my how things have changed in just a short 9 years. It's not just the two of us anymore, that's for sure! :) But, I really couldn't be happier with where we are at 9 years and three and a half kids later!! I love my sweet little family!

We had a blast at Sea World and I was sad to see the day come to an end. I love Sea World! If we didn't live so far away I'm pretty sure I'd have a season pass or something. I love it!

The next day, after enjoying our last breakfast buffet, we checked out of our hotel and headed for home. I was a little worried about how the kids would do on the drive there and back but ya know, I spent all that time worrying for no reason at all.
The kids turned out to be ROCKSTAR travelers!! Wahoo!
I was so proud of them! We had a few hairy moments here and there but for the most part it went pretty darn smooth. How lucky are we?

What a great trip!!!