Family Visit - Part 2

I first want to say another happy birthday to Katie!! Yesterday was her birthday and I'm so glad we got to have a little early celebration with them while they were here. As an early birthday gift, we all went to SeaWorld! This is something that was on my bucket list while living here, since it's less than 2 miles from where we live. We would always pass by it on SeaWorld Drive, so I'm very thankful we all got a chance to go!



When we first walked in, they had a few different areas where you could touch various sea creatures (horseshoe crabs, small sharks, etc). The little girls still needed some time to warm up to this idea.



Then we headed over to the Sesame Street area where Eleanor and I got to go on some rides together.



I think one of their favorite activities were the areas that they could run and bounce around.





We got to see their amazing dolphin show which featured various types of dolphins.







After that we saw sea turtles and lots of fish.



A tunnel where various sea life was swimming all around and over you.



And even a comedy spin-off of SNL - Sea Lions Live (SLL).





Chris and I got to ride a roller coaster and Katie and I went on a rapids ride (which they sadly turned Eleanor away from for not being tall enough).





We all got to take a ride on the skytram that went over Mission Bay. It was cool to see another perspective of this beautiful place that we get to call home for a while!



Eleanor thought it was pretty cool too.





We went back home so the girls could take naps and then headed back later in the afternoon. The girls were so excited and even Jane got in on some of the rides.



We got to see some beluga whales.



And a walrus - they're huge!



The girls pretended to be polar bears climbing through an igloo.





Then Katie, Chris, and I went to get in line for the other roller coaster-type ride they had. The line ended up moving a lot slower than we anticipated so Katie jumped out to meet up with the girls to see the Orca Show. Chris and I finally made it on the ride which was a lot of fun, despite the setbacks.



We made it just in time for the end of the new Orca show, which it sounds like was a really good one. They've made a lot of modifications to the show and are slowly phasing them out so I think I'll have to go back to see this one while I still can.



We saw some penguins and then later that night went to another show that featured lights, dancers, and very large inflatable sea creatures.





The girls were in such great spirits, especially for being up way past their bedtime! We decided we had to do one more ride together. We went up in a sky tower that gave us a 360 view of the bay.



It was really fun to see at night and mom didn't even get dizzy ;)



It was such a great day, and it's so nice the park is close enough to our apartment that we could leave and come back in the middle of the day. Last up - our final day before family had to take off!