A Christmas Celebration...

at Sea World! I may be twenty-six years old with four kids but yesterday was my first trip to Sea World. So not only were Bubba and Pooks extremely excited, their mama was too. We opted to buy a one year family membership so we can go again, didn't have to do everything in one day, blah blah blah...but I was dead-set intent on feeding a dolphin. The second we entered Sea World, we stopped for the obligatory photo in front of the fountain:

Then I made a beeline for the dolphin cove. It was 1:30 almost on the dot and that was dolphin feeding time! So we put up our $6 and got our tray of fish and went over to feed the little guys:

Bubba also fed them and Peanut tossed a fish into the water for them (he didn't like their teeth)

And pooks? Well he did not feed the dolphins. In fact if he had it his way, I don't think he would have even looked at the dolphins. Keep in mind this is the child that when told he would get to go to Sea World said that he wanted to RIDE a dolphin. Apparently he was a little surprised at how big they were, how close they were and that he was encouraged to pet and/or feed them.

 

So as awesome as I found the dolphins to be, we didn't hang around. He started screaming at one point so we left the dolphin cove and headed over to the shark and coral reef aquarium. It was also feeding time there so we caught that as well. 

 Sweetcheeks slept through most of Sea World and the aquarium was no exception

After the dolphins and the sharks, Bubba and B rode one little roller coaster, then we decided to catch a show. Imagine Peanut's surprise when we chose "Sesame Street Christmas Celebration":

 

 Bubba and Peanut decided to dance up front...Pooks hung back and ate popcorn and turkey leg with B

 Not only was this pretty cool for the kids but it was nice that we got a "Sesame Street LIVE!" experience from our Sea World membership. I *puffy heart* being a family of six but being a large family makes things like Sesame Street Live really expensive (think $35-$70 PER ticket) so it was a great surprise!

And all this commotion woke up Sissy, even if for just a bit (long enough to look around, decide she was hungry, give a few smiles, get a diaper change and right back to sleep she went). 

After Sesame Street we soon meet the fate of first time Sea World visitors....we hadn't really paid attention to what time the other shows started. So after Elmo, we stopped ate some yummy amusement park food then started walking to the Sea Lion area. We commented on how dead everything was...turns out immediately after Elmo, we should have head over to the Beluga Stadium for the dolphin show. Well, we didn't know that. So we wondered down to the penguin exhibit, walked through there and got to the Sea Lion Stadium as soon as a show got out. This is when I had my ''Hey...it wasn't dead; people were watching the shows!" moment and we found our crumpled up map, flipped it over and checked out the show schedule. It was now a little past 4pm and we had just missed every.single.show until 6pm. UGH! So we went ahead and just watched the Sea Lions feeding and barking:

We opted to stop for an early dinner, in a cafeteria style restaurant that was pretty good. We then headed over to the next shows stadium (almost an hour early). We used the restrooms, fed Sissy again, and hit up the gift shop where each little guy picked out a treasure:

They opened seating for the show a half hour before it started so we went in and picked our seats...Sweetcheeks was actually awake during this time as well so she was all grins and giggles.

 The actual show was really cool. Very acrobatic and colorful...performers jumping from the rafters into the water, dolphins, parrots, and lights...the boys loved it!

 

After the dolphin show it was time to pull out the big guns. By this time it was 6:40pm, Peanut was tired, the place was crowded, it was getting dark, the temp had dropped and in less than one hour Shamu's ''Christmas Celebration'' show was starting. We debated leaving...just saving that for another visit. But I knew we wouldn't visit again while the Christmas show, plus it was night-time and it would look really cool with all the lights so we trudged on. It was 100% worth it! Peanut settled down once we had our seats, the boys loved it. I mean LOVED it. Pooks was super excited {and it helps that he was hopped up on cotton candy, pepsi and popcorn}

 SHAMU!

 The show was awesome...its just amazing that they can train animals to even do that! He (she?) is so big and the show was flawless. The kids loved it, B and I loved it, and I was pretty impressed with the pics I caught too.

 

 Peanut said ''Whoa..big fishy!" when he splashed our side (we were not in the splash zone, thankfully!)

 

 Grand Finale

Overall, it was a much longer day than I have originally thought. We got to the park around 1ish and didn't leave until 8pm. But for having 4 kids, 4 it went so smoothly there was never a point where we felt we should call it a loss and leave. Sissy did wonderful, I wore her in my Ergo the entire time and she never fussed. Bubba walked the entire park. Never once was carried. Pooks complained (often) of his legs being tired. Really he just wanted worn in a carrier too. Luckily this mama was thinking ahead and even though I was wearing the Ergo, we had taken the stroller for peanut...I threw my Babyhawk carrier in the stroller basket 'just in case' we need to wear one of the older boys. Now granted, I have 3 Babyhawks...what possessed me to toss in the bright pink one {over the black or the pumpkin orange} one, I don't know but when Pooks got tired, B rocked the pink. And floral print. And he didn't even complain.

 

Yep, it was a great day...odd hearing Christmas music while wearing flip flops. Seeing decorated Christmas trees while my husband wore a short sleeve shirt..but I guess Texas does have an upside! {Apparently it was freezing cold and snowing 'back home' while we were enjoying 76 degrees!}.