Packing it all in... at Sea World

Monday morning, we got up, re-packed, and headed south a ways to San Diego.  Pa had some business in the area, and so did we...  in Sea World!   I'd been to Sea World a few times when I was younger, but it's been a while, and the girls have never been.  To be perfectly honest, I think that (before we arrived) the knowledge that we were going to Disneyland in a couple days overshadowed the fact that we were going to Sea World that day.  They didn't really know what to expect,  and they were excited... but not bubbling over with excitement.... at first. It was about 10 seconds after we walked through the entrance gate that the wide-eyed squealing began. 

We made a quick pit stop at the bathroom, got sun-screened up, loaded up on bottled water, set off, and immediately ran into one of my students... from Salt Lake... in Sea World.  (Mrs. Chamberlain is everywhere.)   

After a quick greeting and their recommendation, we started with the rides in the center of the park called Elmo-land... (or something like that.)  They were all geared toward younger children.  We only had one problem when we got to the front of one line and they said that, although the girls filled the minimum requirements, they were still too small to ride on their own, but only 2 riders fit per seat.  Well, there's only one momma in this equation, so that was a little disappointing... for about a minute until we found another ride we could all do together.

There was a huuuge line to meet Elmo, but we did catch a couple other characters wandering around.  Naiya was not very interested in getting pictures with the characters.  She wanted to do roller coasters.  Eva, on the other hand, was all over it.  It was a far cry from the child who was MORTIFIED when Chuck-E-Cheese tried to give her a high five a couple years ago.

After Elmo-land, we got a bite to each and headed over to explore more of the park. We (of course) saw loads of sea animals.  A lot of the pictures didn't turn out because I had my video camera as a camera and it doesn't have a flash.   The girls were thrilled to touch starfish, prehistoric sand crabs and more.  They saw polar bears, penguins, puffins, several sharks, whales, dolphins, sea turtles, seals.... the list goes on.  They loved them all.  When pressed to find a favorite, Naiya chose the seals.  Eva couldn't pick a favorite- even when pressed ;)  Here are a couple poor quality photos.   Sorry.

In the midst of our exploring, we stumbled upon the Atlantis roller coaster. It's one of those with the huge waterfall drop-off that has signs warning "You WILL get wet on this ride." It also had a 45 minute wait. Naiya & Eva started jumping up and down with excitement.  I thought there was no possible way they were big enough to ride.  To humor them, we went up to the attendant by the entrance to the loooong line.  She measured the girls and said we could go if they ride in the row right in front of me.  The girls were determined... even when I tried to explain how long a 45 minute wait would be.  There was no deterring them, so we put the video camera in a locker and set off for the back of the line.  They were patient and there was minimal whining.  (Turns out this would be good training for our trip to Disneyland in a couple of days.)  We made it to the front.  The attendant assigned us our row numbers.  We stepped closer to the platform. Naiya announced (loudly) that she was so excited and scared that she might throw up.  (Imagine the loving looks from other riders that I got at this point.)   After verifying that she didn't feel queasy and that if at any point she did feel like throwing up she lean forward and do so on her feet (eeew), we boarded the ride.  It was great.  In fact, I almost bough the ridiculously priced photo at the end.   In it, Eva was thrilled, I was terrified and Naiya was hiding her head by her feet (but not puking).    Worth the wait (even without the photographic proof). 

To wind the day down, we wandered a bit more. and caught some shows.  We saw the Elmo 4-D movie, a dolphin/acrobatic diver show, seal feeding, a pet show and, of course, the Shamu Rocks show complete with fireworks.  The girls favorite show was probably the pet show.  Which, oddly enough, didn't have any marine animals in it what so ever.   It did have cats, dogs, birds, pigs, emus and kangaroos. Why it was at Sea World, we may never know, but it was certainly entertaining. 

Right after the fireworks we did a promised pit stop at the gift shop.  Naiya picked up at least 20 animals and looked directly into their eyes before settling on a baby seal that she named Bubbles.  Eva went straight to the small animals that came in purses and got a cute little penguin.  As we were exiting the park, Naiya announced that it had been the best day of her life, and Eva agreed but added "just until Disneyland, though."  Pa picked us up out front at about 10:30 at night and by 10:31 the girls were buckled in and fast asleep.     They were both still clutching their toys and their happy memories as we moved them into their beds.