Sea World and Home again!

Yesterday, we did Sea World:

First we had breakfast at the hotel: Now, no blaming here, but Pamela did manage to drop the camera onto the pavement upon our re-arrival in San Diego - and this was the third time it had been dropped... this time, the body busted open. We were talking about it at breakfast, brainstorming solutions, and the manager, Anna, walked by and heard us mention Duct Tape... and minutes later, she was AT the table with Duct Tape and scissors. Anna was a sweet woman, and this did keep the camera working for the day (we're up to over 500 pictures, by the way!)

It was a slightly cool but very clear day, which made for pretty small crowds all day at Sea World! We managed to see everything! We started with the Shamu Show, which was in the "smaller" arena (off season and all). Man, those are some big whales. Then we hustled over to the Seal comedy show, which was predictably mild, but the pre-show comedy bit was one of the only things Bella stated as her favorite bits of the day...

We visited Penguins, Walruses, Manatees... All SOOO cute. Bella and Jenny were a bit crabby for the day, but whenever we entered an aquarium area, they were RAPT - they loved the fish... except for the sharks. Bella hollered that she didn't want to see any sharks, she doesn't like them, she doesn't even want to see them... until the very end, when she DEMANDED to be brought back in for another look.... Another moment was when she was exploring the "Polar Bear Cave", and a recorded ROAR filled the cave - her eyes widened and she bolted for mom (she just retold me that story at bedtime tonight)

They had a Pets show with dogs, cats, geese, pigs, etc. That was impossibly charming... with trained Cats? I honestly had no idea that could be done, but here they were all running around climbing stuff on cue! All I could think was that there were a LOT of treats hidden around for them - I can't imagine them doing it for love like the dogs do. Nothing against cats - I just don't think of them as able to be motivated in the same way as dogs.

Bella also pet a starfish, a Dolphin, and gave a good college try at petting a Manta, but the water was a bit too deep for her (but I did pet the Rays - LOTS). We also saw the Dolphin show, which was just great for a few reasons, two of which were PILOT WHALES - it was just amazing to see those big whales in the same ring as the Dolphins! Also, they TOTALLY fooled us with a gag - they had a family sitting to the side in "honors" seats, and the "Dad" leaned out to take a picture and fell in... to be nosed around by dolphins and a pilot whale... turns out he was a trainer in disguise, but they had us hooked!

The food was very good for lunch - the Annheiser Busch people have a flagship area (with Clydesdales wandering around, including a baby!), with a surprisingly good kitchen and beer tasting. I enjoyed tasters of a Lager and a Stout, which I had no idea the Bud people were selling, but hey, they were great. Went well with the beer brat!

By the end of the day, the girls were ready to chill out... so we caught the bus back to the Dana, and did room service, and the girls watched Chicken Little (which I sure wonder how that worked for them - it was all sight and reference gags and some surprisingly mean spirited revenge bits... but maybe that was only at our level - the girls thought parts were funny and it didn't damage their psyche).

The funny line from last night - Bella was being a bit pokey on finishing her mac and cheese, so we assumed she was done, and asked if she wanted dessert... She waved it off and said she wasn't done. 10 minutes later, she calls over to us: "HEY MOM: is THIS done enough for ya?" Holding up the empty mac and cheese bowl with a big grin... and then she took her dessert. Absolutely out of nowhere this was.

This morning came early - 6am wakeup, and a quick shower for me... and then the water main busted and the whole hotel was out of water. So Pamela had to wait until tonight to hose off! We did go to the hotel restaurant, where the Manager (Anna again) was determined to serve, water or no water: She filled up tons of water glasses and made a dozen pots of coffee right when she heard about the water troubles... so everyone got what they needed. She was getting worried about dishes, but told us "The people need to be fed - I will serve them on Paper Plates if I need to". Anna was a treasure.

A quick drive up to LAX, easy checkin, easy flight again. Bella was a real trouper AGAIN: I mean, 2 hours drive, the bustle of the airport, and a 4 hour flight, and she was still in a great mood... Nothing hilarious to report... though to kill the last hour, Bella and I read the SkyMall catalog from end to end. She liked the giant fake rocks you can use to hide unsightly septic plumbing - she thought they'd be good for protecting flowers from the rain.

When we got home, I bolted out to get a Burrito in that girl. It's 9pm now, and she's just winding down - but she is VERY excited about being home - she started dressing her dolls and setting up a "party", and was telling me what she liked about her week, and even asked when we get to go to Disney again!

And this ends the vacation BLOG - it was an amazing week, and we got SO much out of it - and I would have never expected we could have achieved so much with a 3 year old in tow, but she was really a great traveler, and always game for adventure!

Thanks to y'all for reading!