Fun at SeaWorld

Thanks to Aunt Kim and Spaniole, we took the kids to SeaWorld and spent the night in San Antonio this weekend. It was hot, and incredibly crowded, but we had a great time! First of all, the folks at SeaWorld rock. They came and got us, along with some other military “guests” out of the very long ticket line and moved us up to the front gate. Then, they moved us again, to a window where the kids could wait in the shade. Then, when we got up to the window, they offered to refund the cost of my ticket and let us all in free on the military pass! I was totally impressed. But did I mention that it was hot, and incredibly crowded?

Needless to say, three kiddos were starved as soon as we walked in the gate. Fortunately, we had water and chips stashed in our bag, so they snacked out.

The kids were great the whole day. They walked from one end of SeaWorld to the other, and we saw just about everything we could squeeze in during our 8 hour visit, from Shamu to the penguins to the water skiers to the Beluga whales and dolphins to the water park. Their favorites were:

Pook – Shamu, the Chinese dancers, and the beluga whale/dolphin/acrobat show;
Bean – Shamu and the Shamu necklace, the penguins, the flamingoes, and watching the roller coaster;
Bitty – the sharks and the Chinese acrobat on the unicycle who juggled pots and spun rings at the water ski show.

Mine and Tracy’s favorite was the 3-D movie. It was a pirate adventure and it was inside an air conditioned theater! About 6 minutes in, the pirates discovered a bee hive, and the bees flew right at us (wow! 3D has gotten cool!) Bitty freaked out! He started screaming, “I wanna go home right now! I wanna go home right now!” and literally climbed over to me and then tried to go over my shoulder! It was hilarious, to us at least.

We all enjoyed the dolphin enclosure, where you lay on your belly and dangle your hand in the water hoping one will swim close enough to touch. They must be bored though, swimming in circles all day.

We finally made it to our hotel, the St. Anthony, around 9:30. After changing clothes and slathering aloe on our sunburns, we set off in search of dinner. A pleasant mile-long stroll (“I’m so, so hungry!” “My blisters hurt!” “I just can’t walk anymore!”) got us to a Denny’s, about the only thing open that didn’t feature drink specials or two-for-one pool. After we ate, and each child took the opportunity to poop in the Denny’s bathroom, we stumbled back to the hotel and collapsed, thankful and exhausted.

Sunday turned out to be even hotter. We braved the heat to take the kids to the Alamo so that they could see the diorama. They were suitably impressed, but wilted like morning glories in the sun after about ten minutes, so we packed up the vancar and headed home.

After a quick stop to say hello to the dogs, we ended our fun-filled weekend with a BBQ at Spaniole's house. The food was great and the company was even better, with Aunt Kim and APD's best officers in attendance.