A Trip to Sea World

The great thing about living in a touristy town like San Antonio is that there is never a lack of things to do. And, if you wait until tourist season is over, places like the Riverwalk, Sea World, Fiesta Texas and the Alamo can be pretty fun when you don't have to dodge old men in sandals and black knee socks.

With that in mind, this weekend was our family trip to Sea World. We've been once before, when Devin was just about two years old. While the kid can remember seeing bee outside the doors of our church when he was 18 months old, he has zero recollection of petting a dolphin or coming face-to-face with a shark six months later. Go figure.

So we got to the park and headed straight to the dolphins exhibit. Unfortunately, they did not have the feeding booth open (where you can purchase four small fish for the bargin price of $5.00), so the dolphins were a little less likely to come right up to you and let you pet them (they're in a big, open-topped tank, obviously). But they did come up close and Devin was amazed.

Next we went to the coral reef exhibit and what we missed at the dolphin exhibit was made up here. We walked into the big, theatre-style room with a huge coral reef tank that must have measured 25 feet tall by 35 feet wide. Hundreds of people were crowded in there and Dev and I found a good viewing spot pretty quickly. My fabulous husband stood at the back with the girls.

We walked in just in time to see a diver jump into the tank and while the woman in the theatre was explaining what was going on, the diver started to talk! How cool! She had a microphone in her scuba equipment and could hear everything we were saying, despite the 11-inch-thick glass. Ahh, modern technology.

They did a little bit of background on the fish and then began feeding. You should have seen them all swarm! It was amazing!

We decided to leave before the 200 people in the room with us all headed for the door at the same time. We went into the next room, which was dimly lit and completely taken up by another huge tank filled with sharks of all shapes and sizes. We stood there for a long time and watched as they would come right up to the glass, teeth bared and looking mean. It freaked me out and I kept saying, "Please don't eat my children..."

We grabbed a bite to eat and right around that time, Devin spotted the ride, "Journey to Atlantis." It's one of those big water rides that takes you up a big hill, turns you around and drops you, getting you and everyone standing nearby soaking wet.

I was fully expecting Devin to say, "I'm never doing that!" which is his patented saying when he is adamant about not doing something.

But, instead, he said, "Can we ride that, Mom?"

I've never been so proud and I know my mom, the ultimate daredevil, was smiling down. I quickly grabbed the Doodlebug's hand and marched over to the "You have to be this tall to ride Journey to Atlantis" sign. I stuck his little head under there and, wouldn't you know it, he missed the height requirement by about a half-an-inch. Seriously. I tried to reason with the girl standing there, but she wouldn't allow it.

I see a trip to Sea World again in our future, just for the sake of riding that ride. Devin was so disappointed.

To cure his disappointment, we ran into a gift shop and grabbed a small, stuffed Shamu for Dev. He promptly named it "Fluffy." Whatever you say...

Then we went to see the newest Shamu show, "Believe."

I was really expecting some chee-zee show with some sort of stupid plot, but I was mercifully wrong.

This show was amazing. They first started with a salute to the military and invited all US military as well as military personnel of the United States' allies to stand while the rest of the audience gave an ovation.

After that, the music began (I may buy the soundtrack -- it was that good) and out of the water came Shamu. And Shamu II. And Shamu III. I've never seen a killer whale show that included three whales at once. It was fabulous and the whole thing just brought tears to my eyes -- it was simply incredible and beautiful.

The best part of the show, though, was Faith. I was holding her and Todd had Grace. Grace was her usual fiesty, squirming self. But Faith was mesmerized. Every time Shamu came out of the water, she would point and squeal. Then she would patiently wait for the big creature to emerge again. She even caught on that Devin's toy looked like the show she was watching and would point and squeal at it, too. It was fantastic to watch her enjoy that show so much.

We were pretty tired by this point, but we trudged on to see the penguins and the sea lions. We finally said, "We're outta here!" and took a very begruding Devin home.

All-in-all it was a fantastic day and we are so looking forward to returning.

Moving On...

All week long, now, Faith has been practicing her walking skills. Every day she walks a little more and a little more, getting more comfortable with going distances, letting go and even changing direction.

Well, Grace would hear nothing of it. Last night, as all five of us were playing upstairs and cheering Faitharoo on, Gracie just popped up and started walking. Before last night, she'd only taken one unaided step. Suddenly, though, she's matching Faith step-for-step, despite being a week behind in practice.

So now, I have two walkers whereas only two weeks ago, I had two crawlers. Holy cow it happened fast.

More news to come, as it happens or as I have time. :)

Ciao...