Sea What I Did There?

I don't know how to record our visit to Sea World. I don't feel clever about this one.

It started pretty rough- at the first show, the dolphin show, I was struck with how much I miss being an animal behaviorist. I mean, I love my students at school. But these guys don't lie about their homework and tell me their momma is going to sue me:

I miss it sometimes. And Sea World is the place where I miss it the most. So it was rough for me. My kids, however, loved it:

By the time that show ended, I decided to suck it up and enjoy my time with my family. You can't go back, only forward, right?

We saw all the shows:

Pets A'hoy has the tightest behavior chains in the park, hands down.

The awesome, lad-back atmosphere of sea lion and otter stadium

The main event... but I gotta say, they keep missing the mark on Shamu Stadium wetsuit designs.

The Christmas Clyde and Seymore complete with cheesy, Old Navy commercial-style sweaters.

We caught the drummers on stilts:

And Nathan rode his first roller coaster, The Shamu Express:

We got the commemorative photo, complete with snazzy Shamu frame.

The kids got some autographs in their books: 

Emi loved that guy.

She rode some rides.

When did she start posing for pictures like this?

They talked to a flamingo

We were there ALL DAY! From park opening to after dark! A new record in baby stamina!

One of the giant Christmas trees

OK, this was my favorite thing that happened at Sea World that day. You know how I can always find a good parking spot? OK. I found these great seats for the Shamu show: 

Fourth row, right in front! The only thing was... it was cold that day. Like, in the 40's. And those awesome fourth row seats were square in the Soak Zone.

Doss worried about us getting wet. But my mojo held. Not a single drop hit us. Even with this guy redirecting the water streams toward the audience:

Dry. I did my best to act like I knew we'd be fine the whole time. "I didn't beat cancer just to die of hypothermia!"

I miss it. But the bakery adventure starts soon. Gotta keep moving forward, right?