Sea World

(this is old since it took me so long to re-size the photos, but still wanted to share!)
We just got back from our Sea World trip, yay! It was a blast! Here's the story...
Friday night:
After I got off work, Jennifer and I went shopping for all of our trip necessities, such as water and Crystal Light. Then we packed our bags and went over last minute check lists before we went to bed.
Saturday Morning:

We, wait no...I woke up at 6:45 AM to be the first in the shower and be ready to go. I woke Jennifer up at 7:20 to take her shower and get ready. Kristopher was the last one up at 7:45 to take his shower and get ready to go. We were out of the house shortly after 8:00 AM and on our way! We stopped at IHOP for breakfast and then Hertz for our rental car. We got a Mazda 3, which was actually a really fun little car! Then we were on our way!!


We didn't stop until we got to Yuma, which is where I always get my laffy taffy from. Then we didn't stop again until we were at the hotel! We got to our hotel, Days Inn (not bad for the price), about 3:40-ish. We went to our room, freshened up and then headed right back out to get to the park.
Sea World Saturday:
Once we printed out our passes, which Jennifer almost destroyed because she thought it was a sticker, we got in really fast.

First thing we went to was the Budweiser Clydesdale horses. That was fun :) Then we went to the Penguin Encounter.

You can see the photo board we had our picture taken with, I'll tell you, some children and their moms have NO manners when it comes to taking turns! Do they not see that there is a LINE to get your photo taken w/the board??? At least 3 different people just shoved their kids in to get their photos and completely ignored the rest of us waiting. It's a shame I'm not as rude, otherwise I may have said a few things to them. Oh well :) We got a funny picture anyways :)


Next we went to the Dolphin Discovery show. It was alright, but we could tell the dolphins weren't cooperating w/the trainers because they sort of cut the show short and there weren't very many tricks.


However, they are still doing the same "skit" with the "clumsy mom" who "falls in the tank" and the little kid still says the dolphin "feels like a hot dog!" ugh! I don't know how they are able to keep that a secret, because everyone knows it's fake. So that was a little disappointing, but still fun to see.

After that we high tailed it over to the Pets Rule! show.


Kristopher really loves that show, especially the kitties :)

Next we went on to the Shark Encounter to see the savage man eaters up close and personal.


Jennifer wasn't too sure how she felt about being so close to them, but she liked the tunnel once she got comfortable with it.


After that we went to the Sea Lions Tonight! show. That was SO funny! We hadn't seen it before but it was great! Feel free to watch the video of the "pre-show" that had us all cracking up :)

Later on we wandered over to the California Tide Pool and picked up starfish.


We got a little annoyed because other people were making comments like "Umm...you're not supposed to take them out of the water!" or "Taking them out of the water will kill them!" when the tour lady flat out said that everyone can take them out of the water as long as they're not stuck on. Oh well, their loss! Although, I don't think we're supposed to EAT the starfish...JENNIFER!!

We just pretty much wandered around the park after that until the Shamu Rocks! show at 8:30pm.

That show was SO much better then the "Believe" show! The "Believe" show was so lame, we didn't even bother seeing it because there is no interaction between the trainers and the whales. They don't get in the water with them at all and it's all touchy feely...follow your dreams...bla bla bla. The Shamu Rocks! show was so much better! It was dark out, so already it was better since we weren't being scorched by the sun. They had lots of great music and light shows on the tank water. Once the whales actually came out there was a lot of trainer interaction and they swam with them and the whales threw them up in the air and pushed them around the pool, you know, all the fun stuff you want to see!

Then there was a great fire work show afterwords! We weren't ready to go so we raced over to the Shipwreck Rapids and ran up the stairs to the ride so we could get in a ride before we left. That was awesome! The ride is that big inner tube with the seats in it that goes down a raging river of fun!

We got soaked!! Then we had to leave because the park was closed, but we had a GREAT first day!!!
Sea World Sunday:
We accidental slept in and weren't up in time to meet the schedule I had worked so hard to plan...oh well :) We still got there at a decent time.

The first thing we did was feed the dolphins! That is always SO enjoyable!


Jennifer really loved that! Since our hands were still all fishy, we just went over to the Forbidden Reef to feed the sting rays.

That was awesome also, I just love the feeling of them sucking the fish out of my hands :)

They're so fun!

Then we found this awesome little hidden area that hardly anyone else knew about that let you look into Shamu's tank and see the whale!

It wasn't Shamu...but still it was so awesome! I've never gotten such a wonderful up close look at a killer whale!

As we were walking over to the next show, we stopped at the Sea Lion habitat and we were able to feed them too!

Jennifer was dangling a fish over the side and this big white crane came in and swooped down and tried to take it from her! It was so funny!! It didn't get the fish, but Jennifer dropped it on the ground so we had to go get a new fish. Sea Lions are SO funny!!

We were cracking up at how cute they are and what personalities they each have. We headed over to the Wild Arctic next. We all loved the helicopter ride. It's one of those big platforms that actually moves along with the big screen to make you feel like you're actually flying and then crashing :) It was a good laugh! Then we saw the beluga whales,


walruses,


and the polar bears.



The very last event of the day was Jennifer and I went on the Journey To Atlantis ride. That was scary! It's been a while since I've been on any kind of roller coaster, but this was not an easy re-entry into the thrill! The very first part of the ride after you get on is the dreaded straight up hill that the car clicks up. I hate those, I'm always so afraid the car is going to fall off! Then after you get to the top they drop you down the BIG hill that splashes at the end. Then you just float around the track for a little bit until you stop in this tunnel. All of a sudden, you hear things grinding and clicking and then you are skyrocketed UP! The entire car was in an elevator type thing and there was nothing behind it or in front to make sure your car doesn't fall off!!!! Not only that, as you're going up, the car is rocking back and forth from side to side!! Jennifer didn't like that at all, she was screaming bloody murder and I think her nails left marks in my shoulder, lol!

It was fun though, a very exciting way to end the day at Sea World :)
Before we headed home for the end of our vacation, we just had to stop at the beach and play in the sane a little bit.

*SIGH* I miss the beach SO much!!

It was so nice! Jennifer and I got a little sad about leaving the beach, we miss the ocean like crazy.

But we had such a wonderful time! We got home about 2 am Monday morning and just crashed :) This was a wonderful vacation and we had SO much fun taking Jennifer with us for her first Sea World experience.