Sea World

We stayed the night in San Diego at a hotel fairly close to Sea World. That morning we woke up, headed out for some breakfast and then hit up a grocery store to stock up on snacks and drinks to help us make it through the day. We were a little nervous we were going to get busted trying to sneak in so much food, but we made it through the gates with no problem. Then it was off to the first show of the day, the sea lions...

Bails was quite impressed. Her face may look emotionless, but those clever otters and sea lions kept her attention for most of the twenty minute show.

Next it was off to the dolphin show. This one didn't hold her attention as well. It was pretty hot and we waited forever for the show to start so I can't really blame her. We did manage to distract her enough that we didn't actually have to leave our seats which is more than we can say for church. Chalk that up to a win.

Apparently all you need are a few Pringles!

After the two shows we met up with our friends the Walkers. Here we have Bails and Shayleigh having the time of their lives...
We headed over to snap a few pictures with shamu...
Well, the pretend Shamu anyway.

After pictures we proceeded over to the real Shamu show.
Bails was pretty excited for the show to start. Especially because we sat towards the back of the splash zone. Can I just say I was so nervous I was going to get soaked. I had gone over like three different plans of what I would do to avoid getting wet...hide behind Sam, just take off running, etc...
fortunately for all of us involved (the whole group that would have had to listen to me complain the rest of the day) our zone did not get splashed. Our section must not have been good about singing the splash song "shamu shamu" although Sam tried to prove me wrong about his expertise by chanting the song the remainder of the day...week...and possibly month. He is lucky to still be alive.

We snapped a few pictures with some turtles...
pretty much the lazy things did not move an inch the whole time we were by them so we had to get creative.
They could have been dead for all we knew, which may have not been a total tragedy considering Sam kept holding the baby way past the fenced off area. Good thing she thought it was funny too. Such a good sport.

At one point during the trip we were told the gondala lift was now free so we headed on over. Sometimes I forget that I get scared of heights until it is too late. I didn't really think about what we were doing until we were about to get into our little buggy. I read a sign telling us exactly how to sit to shift the weight so the car didn't take a devastating crash into the ocean. At this point I became alarmed and somewhat scared. I looked up to see just how we were attached to the cable and can we just say it was a little hook. We could have easily fell to our deaths so for the entire 5 minute ride Sam got to hear me freak out as I looked down and imagined our family's tragic end.
Bails obviously didn't have a care in the world. Wind in her hair, shaking the car whilst jumping for joy...I am glad she enjoyed the ride!

Can I just say that I am pretty sure these things are a scam...
I was positive we would get at least one ringer with our bucket of a million rings, but we still couldn't manage to do it. Sea World cheats. I am sure of it.

After lunch we decided to take some cool family photos with the little shark tank...
Here I am ruining the Walkers photo. Go me. In case you were wondering that is the face I make whilst trying to make a two year old smile. It obviously doesn't work well.

Here is my daughter, up close and personal with a live dolphin and what does she do?
Stare at me with her tongue out. In her defense she actually tried to touch the dolphin a little earlier when Sam took her up close enough to splash in the water. I guess this distance was just too far away to peak her interest.

Who doesn't love penguins?
The inside of the exhibit smelled like death by poop, and even this outside pond did a little, but Bails was happy to see them jump around, swim, and waddle about.

At this point we did have one mini meltdown that involved a piece of turkey from her lunchable landing on her forehead and some crying...
but it was nothing that a walk through the shark tank couldn't solve.

We may have not realized it at the time, but we definitely saved the best for last. We walked into the shark exhibit like every other one of the day. I wasn't even positive Bailey knew what a shark was until she made this face after looking at one...
I have no idea where it came from or where she learned to do it, but I guess this proves that it is just innate, sharks are scary.
The rest of our time in the exhibit consisted of us trying to get her to make the face again, or laughing because she did it.
I guess that goes for life in general too. We still constantly try to get her to make that face.
Hanging with the fish.
And her friend Shayleigh.
It was a long day, we got a little sunburned and we were definitely exhausted by the end, but it was a great family outing and we had so much fun with our friends.