A Place I Love

One of the days we were in Florida we went to Sea World.  I LOVE Sea World.  I went for the first time several years ago with my aunt and uncle and I've been back quite a few times since then.  I just love it there.  I was giddy to be able to take my boys and share this awesome place with them.  The first thing we did when we got there was go to the Shamu show.  My boys were in awe...as I knew they would be.  As I was the first time I saw it.

We also saw the dolphin show and the seal and otter show.  The last one was a huge hit with Calvin especially.  It was a ridiculously funny show that was perfect for a 2nd grader.  At one point one of the pirates started to climb out of the water and his pants came down revealing heart underwear.  I don't know if I've ever seen Calvin laugh that hard.  He was absolutely dying.  This of course made me crack up.

This is Nathan before the show started.  They were playing music when he said, "Look Mom, my fingers are dancing!"  Hmmm.  Indeed they were.

This was the day for another one of my favorite moments of the trip.  Sadly, I don't have any pictures of it.  My FAVORITE part of Sea World is the pool where you can touch the dolphins.  Or attempt to touch the dolphins.  I told Marc when we were on our honeymoon (at Sea World) that I wish I could spend a whole day just standing at that dolphin pool.  There is something about it that makes you feel so calm and so excited at the same time.  I've touched the dolphins a few times and I REALLY wanted Calvin to have the experience.  (I would have loved for Nathan to also, but I knew he wouldn't do it....it's hard to touch dolphins with your hands over your ears)  SO, when we had some time, I took Calvin down to the dolphin pool and we squeezed into a spot.  Calvin was a little timid at first, but as the dolphins continued to swim by and he saw others touching them he got a little bit more brave.  I was holding him by the waist of his pants so he could reach out as far as he could.  We waited and watched for quite awhile, and the whole time I was praying, "Please God...just let him touch a dolphin....I want him to experience this so badly!"  Finally the time was right and a dolphin swam right up to him.  He touched it's side, and then the dolphin literally stuck his head out of the water right at Calvin.  I heard myself yelling, "Rub his face Calvin!  Rub it!"  The poor kid is lucky I didn't throw him in the pool to get at that dolphin myself.  But the excitement on his face was so worth it!  As we moved away from the pool he was literally jumping up and down.  It was just the best.  We found Marc and Nathan and spent some time petting the stingrays.  BOTH boys eventually did this, and I had so much fun teaching them about the stingrays and watching them get their nerve up to pet them.  The stingrays were very playful and would spash at us every time we splashed them.  Hanging out at these pools was my favorite time of the whole day and I can't wait to do it again some day.  Next time it's Jillian's turn!