Seaworld

Once we were all settled in at the Opatrnys we started to talk about all of the things we wanted to do while in town.  We might have gone a wee bit wild and decided to do all the things, but it was a blast.  We started out by heading to San Antonio for a day at Seaworld followed by a Day at Six Flags!!!

Sea World was amazing and we started our day off with the Steel Eel roller coaster and visiting some adorable sea lions.  The safety precautions at all of these parks were interesting and added another component to our experience, but we made the best of it and had a BLAST!  Lily even rode a couple roller coasters.  I was so proud!

Its true that aside from the rides, the shows at Sea World are so worth the visit.  Our first show of the day was the Dolphin and Beluga show.  I won't lie, I LOVE Belugas.  They really are cool creatures and honestly I just can't stop thinking about the Bailey Beluga from Finding Dory. They truly are amazing creatures and so much fun to watch.

The show was spectacular and the acrobatics of the Dolphins was mesmerizing.  The girls were completely enamored and amazed.

We rode as many ride we could find and of course rode the Carousel.  Lily just loves carousels and we had a great time on this one.

Evie is FEARLESS.  We know this, but this trip confirmed it.  This kid rode every single roller coaster she could find and some she rode twice!  She and Cousin Mikey had a blast on the Texas Stingray.  They sat front row center with their hands up the whole time.  

And this coaster was just the start of the rides.  I am gonna have to keep flexing my roller coaster riding muscles to hang with this kid.  Again.....NO FEAR.

The highlight of our afternoon was the ORCA show.  You know, there is some controversy around captivity, safety, and everything that goes with it.  I daresay its not all magic, and our human presence involved in the animal world for profit is not all sunshine and rainbows, BUT I also deeply respect that this organization is using their influence to bring awareness to how our choices impact the water world around us.  The Orca whales were INCREDIBLE and my girls were equally mesmerized.  Evie even told us that she might want to be a marine biologist because "Mom, I want to take care of those whales." 

It was a spectacular show one of those things you don't walk away from unchanged.  All of us fell in love with these creatures.......Oh and.....

This picture below DOES NOT do this story justice, but the story is so funny all of us were laughing so hard we couldn't even stop to take a picture in the moment.  So Uncle Mike....is drenched.  Head to toe, side to side, squeaking down the path soaking wet AND he DID NOT want to get wet......here's the story.

So we are at the Orca show where there are designated "splash zone" signs.  Mike and Kathy choose a very specific spot with Mike telling us over and over again that he is NOT getting wet.  No way, now how.  SO  towards the end of the show the Orca's go to 4 corners of the pool and with a timed swish of their tails DRENCH anyone sitting in a lines eye of them. It's really something to see.  So there we are  in our seats when we see our drenching ORCA coming our way.  All of us just hunker down in the hopes that we are just far enough off the line to stay sort of dry.  Meanwhile Kathy leans over to Mike preparing him and without a hesitation he literally jumps out of his seat, leaps over the back of the bench and runs towards the steps leading out of the seats.  Out of the corner of my eye I see him leaving as I am preparing for potential rainfall only to watch as the Orca cups his tail and flings a deluge of water which lands DIRECTLY on the stairway up and out of the theatre.  Yes, at the exact moment Mike makes his mad dash to the stairs he turns up the stairs only to be hit with a torrent of water.  Best part?  In his haste he lost a sandal, and as he turns to get it gets hit with not 1, not 2, but 3 splashes from that dear ORCA thoroughly drenching him while all of us, having not moved an inch, watch in hysterics while staying completely dry.  It was priceless.  And one of those things that made everyone around our family laugh out loud.  Poor Mike was completely soaked. 

 Sea World was amazing and we went home to our hotel, slept fast and got ready for our trip to Six Flags the next day!