San Antonio - Prt 2 (Seaworld!!!!)

I got on to Brad, because every time we come to Seaworld (we've been quite a few), I tell him I want him to stop and take a picture of the sign going in. He always tells me 'no' b/c of the traffic. This time he finally did stop to take a picture and go figure....now the plants are all grown up over the words. That's how long we've been coming. Well, either that or they haven't been keeping their plants freshly groomed this year.

First time we got to REALLY use the wagon! It was pretty nice to have. Both kids stayed out of the sun for the most part, had a seat to ride and we could also lay the seats flat and have a diaper changing area and/or bed for Brenna. Very convenient. Only drawback...I wish we had the little cooler attachment. Not so much for a cooler but just to be able to have extra place to carry a bag. But it worked nicely.We saw this cute little car in the parking lot and I had to take a picture! A Shamu car!And here's me and the girls just in front of the entranceOur first stop was to go feed the dolphins...always one of MY personal favorites. Brenna loved it and was trying to jump in the water (typical Brenna behavior).While Brooke was a tad grossed out at the thought of holding a dead fish.Then on to Shamu (the first show). Both girls really loved the Shamu show. It is always a big hit of course. We sat in the splash zone. Brooke thought that was too funny. Brenna....not so much.We went over from there to watch the ever-popular dolphin/beluga whale show, Viva! We actually called Seaworld to make sure this was going on. We had heard that a baby beluga whale had been born recently and they had cancelled all Viva shows giving mom and baby time to bond. So before we went, I had to make sure the show was back on. It was awesome! And the cool part was every time the mama whale came out, the baby followed. Of course, the baby wasn't performing, but just following her mama around. It was so cute.

When Brooke was about 2, we had her chalk portrait done at Seaworld. So I thought it would be cool to get one with both girls. Well, needless to say, Brenna's looks absolutely JUST like her and is so right-on accurate. Brooke's, was...well, as Brad called it - "appropriate". She was not a very willing participant and it showed through the portrait, but all in all, it's still a cool portrait I think. Its a bit strange to me to realize how someone else sees your child. I mean, I've always called Brenna and Brooke blonde. But the first color she pulled out to do Brenna's hair was white. And I got to looking/thinking and yea, it is pretty white!We also went and saw the 4D Pirate show. It was a spoof and supposed to be kinda funny. But Brooke didn't think so. It was 4D, as in they blow air or squirt water on you during appropriate times. The first thing was they pointed a canon at you (in 3D keep in mind) and shot air at you. Well, that was all it took for Brooke. She took her glasses off and was semi scared the whole rest of the time. Brenna, on the other hand, kept her glasses on the whole time and was enthralled. The only thing that scared her was when everyone else in the crowd screamed. And I finally got Brooke to perk up by making fun of the fact that a bird pooped on her (the bird 'poops' in the movie, while they drop a couple drops of water on your shoulder or head).

From there, we went eat lunch. I packed a small cooler. Only a super SMALL cooler is allowed by Seaworld and even then, they are very strict on what you can bring in. Only snack items, water, and special foods that are dietary necessary (diabetes or baby food, etc). So I did ham and cheese torn up in snack (*wink wink*) containers and milk in sippy cups (can't have straws or lidded cups) and when they checked my bags, I explained it was "milk and food for the baby". So we only had to buy lunch for Brad and I...the kids ate ham, cheese, goldfish, and milk that I had packed. Then to be able to travel lighter thru Seaworld, we tossed the old lunchbox I had packed it in. I was proud of myself for my thriftiness!

Then, Brooke was dying to go swimming, so we went to the Lost Lagoon waterpark and cooled off in the pool. Brenna actually even napped for a little bit in the wagon on the way there.

But loved going swimming and perfecting her walking skills through the water.

We also went to Shamu's Happy Harbor for a bit (a smaller kid's size water area) and had a snack break. Here's Brooke eating cotton candy (maybe for the first time?)...

A full day! And it doesn't end. By this time, it was getting close to the end of the day, so we stopped and saw the sea lion/walrus/otter Summer Nights show, which was sooo funny as always. It was a spoof of all the other Seaworld shows. So great!And also, Brenna learned a new sign all by herself while at Seaworld. This would be "where'd they go?" As in, when the animals go under water and she can't see them anymore...."Where'd they go?"The day was getting long and we were getting tired. Can't you tell???But we figured we had paid the money, we would stay till they close and watch the last Shamu show - that Summer Nights show. It was great and a great ending to the day. Even as tired as she was, Brenna was STILL loving the shows! Here she is trying to really get down to the animals! As if!

Here's a short video I took of the ending of our day. We were all tired and hot (I actually suffered a bit of heat stroke at the end), but it was a fun day! We all love Seaworld!