Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Shamu...

Shamu is huge! Seriously, huge!

So, this year, we gave the boys the opportunity to choose where they wanted to go...Disney World or SeaWorld...well, they chose SeaWorld. Just fine with us. It's been forever since I've been to SeaWorld:)

Believe it or not, I actually took the "we'll get there when we get there" approach to getting to SeaWorld. I know! Not like me, but to be honest, it was nice to take our time getting ready. No character breakfast to attend, no long lines...just a quiet morning (after a long night of sleep -- we stayed with my best friend and her family...they didn't run the air conditioner, so pretty much all night all I heard from THREE different boys was "It's hot." We're the air conditioner kind of people:)

This was a great time of year to go. Seriously, no lines for ANYTHING! It was great. So after breaking the bank to buy tickets, we were at SeaWorld. Just a we walked in, we found ourselves staring at Shamu...

The boys ran to Shamu...

Apparently, Brent and I did too:) The sun was bright, so the boys didn't necessarily want to have their pictures taken, but we did the best we could.

This was the boys' first ride on a roller coaster...we started out on the kiddie coasters. By the end of the day, Palmer passed the height requirement, so we all went on the "wet" roller coaster ride (Palmer refused to go again, but Peyton would the big roller coaster twice)!

This was Palmer and I playing around while we were waiting for the Shamu show to start. Brent and Peyton decided to sit in the "Soak Zone." They got soaked with 50 degree water!!!!! At the end of the day, we all decided to sit in the "Soak Zone." We were three rows up from the whales and only managed to get sprinkled (the hair gods were looking out for me)!

Shamu was beautiful!

See the diver flying off Shamu's nose...it really is amazing. We later learned that it takes a ton of trust on behalf of both the whales and trainers. These whales can do some damage to people they don't know that try to swim with them -- just ask Peyton -- we've had to tell him a certain story a million times!


The entire reason we went to SeaWorld was because the boys have really been into sharks and fish lately! Just ask me any question about sharks...I've had to read a million and one books about sharks lately. Fortunately, the boys were able to feed the sharks (5 shrimp = $5...ridiculous, but worth watching the boys excitement feeding them) and were able to pet the Manta Rays (Peyton got completely splashed by one of the Rays).

This was about the time Palmer started to crash. It's not very often they get to miss naps, but today, they were going to miss nap time...this was nap time! We were waiting on our food and cokes...yes, I gave the boys coke, hoping it would give them an energy boost!


While we waiting on our food, I was trying to entertain a very tired, grumpy little boy. So what did I do...I gave him the camera and started making funny faces. He took pictures while I made faces. The above face is a fish...appropriate for SeaWorld don't you think?

It worked a little bit. He calmed down...THE COKE ARRIVAL TOOK FOREVER!

Then, before we knew it, the day was done. Shamu show x 2, Soak Zone, Roller Coasters x 2, BIG MANTA RAY roller coaster for Mommy, sharks and manta ray petting...we had a great day. One we won't forget!

TRULY BLESSED to have these memories...wouldn't trade them for anything in the world,
Chasity

PS...I am dead serious when I say that Palmer fell asleep on Brent's head while Brent carried him out of the park on his shoulders. Feel asleep on Brent's head. Poor little guy had a very busy day!

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