This past weekend we went on a birthday vacation to Sea World - San Antonio. It was a great trip. Katie loved seeing all the animals especially Shamu. Here are the highlights from the trip:
On the drive out there we asked Katie if she wanted to eat at McDonald's and this was her response, "McDonald's, fries, ice cream!" She then pretended to chew and said, ummm yummy!"
We love to eat at Cracker Barrel and so we did every morning. It is Katie's favorite place for pancakes. She calls it Cracka Bear, lol.
When we went into the penguin exhibit Katie shouted, "HAPPY FEET!" Another funny thing from the penguins was that it was their mating season and well, there was a pair doing just that. A lady who spotted them said, "Surely they're not!?!" Ken's response, "Surely they are." lol
We stayed at the park until Katie was ready for a nap. But by the time we ate a little snack and got back to the hotel to take a nap Katie was beyond tired and could not settle down to sleep. So we got back up and decided to head downtown to try out a Mexican restaurant that was recommend to us by Ken's co-worker. Of course Katie fell asleep within five minutes of driving, lol.
The restaurant was a total bust. We waited over an hour to be seated. (Katie was asleep the whole time thankfully.) Once we got seated we were given chips but no salsa. The waiter said maybe 10 words to us the whole night and barely ever came back to our table to check in on us. We were seated outside and there was a stage located right next to us with some guy blaring very bad music into the next state! We all put rolled up napkins into our ears so it wouldn't hurt as bad. (See the picture of Katie in her stroller with her sweatshirt around her head.) The food was just ok, definitely not what we had expected considering the long wait and recommendation. The only good thing from that experience was the fried ice cream.
We watched the Shamu show three times during our visit. 2 regular day shows (one each morning) and 1 special Halloween themed show at night. The night show was the best because they played fast paced fun music and it was much faster paced. Katie loved it! She was clapped along with everyone and couldn't keep her eyes off the show. That was Ken and I's favorite memory from this trip...seeing how much Katie was enjoying herself.
Right now, Sea World has their fright nights going on (hence the night Shamu show) and we went through the scary fun house. It was pretty fun and not too scary...we even brought Katie in with us since she likes being scared. She held on to me extremely tight but enjoyed herself.
We took turns riding the roller coaster which had a HUGE drop at the very beginning. It was so big that it took your breath away. It was a great ride!
Our favorite show was Azul, it was awesome! It combined dolphins, whales, birds and acrobatic performers. That is the show at the end of the video. We were able to see this show twice. We weren't planning on it the second time around but when we walked by the arena Katie begged, "SHOW?". How could we tell her no, lol.
We really enjoyed seeing the dolphins up close and seeing all the tricks they can do. They are amazing!
Katie picked out a cute pink baseball hat with a beluga whale on it and I couldn't resit buying her a stuffed Shamu.
On the drive home Katie sang for over an hour to herself. It was so sweet! She even made up a song about the trip. The words we understood were, Happy Feet, Seal Word, TODAY. So cute!!!!
We had a great time experiencing Sea World through Katie's eyes. There were a lot of laughs, splashes and yummy popcorn. It was a much needed family vacation! We now have season passes and we are looking forward to going back next year.
