Sea World Pics!

Get your scroll wheel ready - tons and tons of Sea World pics here! :D



We'd opted to take a behind-the-scenes tour, so we got to the park early for check-in. Keeley scraped her knees up before we even got through the gate. *sigh*

First up was a continental breakfast. Just some cereal (Froot Loops, yum!) and pastries and fruit and juice and milk. Then we got started on the good stuff! We had a tour guide, Cassie, who took us all around the park and into unmapped territories!

The kids in their ride for the day!


First stop - feeding the dolphins. This is something any park-goer can do, but we had the whole place to ourselves, as the park hadn't opened for the masses yet, so we had the dolpins' attention without competition!












(Notice Keeley's fishy-themed outfit, complete with fish hair clips?? :D)




Next up was an area with Sea Lions and Seals:
I thought the kids were so cute here!










I loved Keeley's reflection here! :D


And I thought this was so sweet!


This big guy has been relocated from Washington State, where he was eating too many endangered salmon. I can't blame him, haha! ;) Apparently they will just sit and wait at the fish ladders for the salmon to spawn, and just enjoy the buffet!


Next stop was the penguin exhibit. We learned that penguins only live in the southern hemisphere.




Back out into the sun - Keeley tries her sunglasses on for about 1/2 second.


Shamu was next! We got to go down to the bottom of the stadium and peek in at the killer whales up close! It was so neat - they are amazing creatures!








I believe this little girl is the only killer whale to be wholly raised by humans. They had to make special formula for her and feed her with it for the first 6 months of her life. I think she was born in captivity, but her mama abandoned her. :( Now she is something like 1,100 pounds!!!!


Then we got to go off the map, and see a couple of surprise animals!
Gorgeous girl, waiting for the first surprise:


A lemur! Say it with me... "I like to move it, move it!" ;) (Madascar, for those who don't know, hee hee!)
Keeley was happy to let it crawl on her. She thought it was a "puppy" though! ;)






Luken wasn't into it, though.




Then we got to touch an alligator!


Next, on to touch some stingrays! They feel rubbery and slimy!




Shark touch - wheee!


It was just a little tiny baby guy, though...


Saying "hi" to one of the dolphins hanging out behind the scenes. They are just the cutest animals!


The last stop was the 'Believe' show with Shamu. SO neat! I can't believe how they perform. It looks like so much fun. Weird to think these guys are at the top of the food chain in the sea, but they're so gentle and playful with humans!








Kids in awe...




Splash!!!! (Yes, we sat up high. We didn't want to get wet, and you KNOW I wouldn't let my camera get anywhere NEAR the water, haha!)


After the show, we grabbed some lunch, and then headed to the aquarium section.




A scorpion fish. We know about them from the Octopus Show we watch all the time! Kinda ugly, huh?


Then, we spotted what we were lookin for. Bet you can't guess - haha! If you can't guess, then you're just not a regular reader of the blog.
Giant. Pacific. OCTOPUS!!


He was hiding in the corner for a bit.
Here is Luken, trying to get a good look.
Please excuse the horrible picture quality. Slow lens, slow shutter speed, high ISO. Handheld.


He was mesmerized, of course, so we stayed at the tank for a long while. I had to prop him up on my knee (which really helps with picture-taking... not!) Eventually the octopus came out to do a little investigating, so I snapped a few shots!
















How cool was THAT???!!

On our way out, we saw Mommy's favorite - the jellyfish. I would love to have a meditation room with a cylindrical jellyfish tank like this!


It was starting to get HOT after that, so we stopped for some refreshment. Frozen lemonade for Mom, cherry lemonade for Dad, and apparently only giant lollipops would do for the kids!










They were messy. The kids licked on them for all of about 5 minutes before they were tired of them. I still have them in some plastic bags I convieniently had in my backpack!

Next we decided to check out the kiddie ride area. First we all squeezed into something resembling Disney's Teacups ride, though these were paint buckets. It was such a tight fit I couldn't even get a decent pic! After that, I volunteered Todd to take both kiddos on the Pinwheel ride, which was preceeded by a slow-moving line. It was nearing 100º by then. And apparently Keeley didn't really want to be on this ride, afterall!






So, we called it a day after that, around 3:00pm. We'd been there for almost 7 hours, so I think we got our money's worth! Hit McDonalds on our way back to the hotel for some cold drinks (and comparitively, a real bargain at $5 for 4 drinks, haha!)

Back at the hotel, we relaxed for a bit, then went swimming for about half an hour. I didn't take any pics there.

Baths for the kids once we got back in the rooms, and then a call to room service for dinner. Quick showers for Mom and Dad, and then we had a lovely pajama party for the rest of the evening. The kids watched The Little Mermaid on the DVD player, and we enjoyed our dinner for four!







Sunday morning we had a quick breakfast upstairs in the room for people with special priveleges (something about Gold Starwood Preferred, or something like that) YAY! They had some lovely strawberries and a rather nice continental breakfast offering! Then we packed up and headed home. It was a long drive - we opted for a different route, and not only did it not save us any time, it actually took LONGER than the drive down. Go figure! Oh, well... it was a lovely drive. I'll give it that. And the kids hung in there pretty well, again with help from our animated and puppet friends.

It was a great trip! I hope you enjoyed seeing the pictures!