Sea World

For those who do not know, we took our first little 'Family Vacation' to Sea World last month and had a GREAT time! We went for two days and saw tons of great stuff! We did 2 'behind-the-scenes' type tours and it was so neat to see everything up close and we really learned a lot. I can't even begin to remember everything, so I'll post some of the best pictures and explain some of what we did!

We were so excited to have Grandma and Grandpa Randy join us for our first day at Sea World!

Waiting for Pirates, a 4D Adventure to start -
There is a part where the bees come at you, RIGHT in your face, and your seat starts vibrating...Riley didn't like that much, so he ended up on my lap, but still stayed for the end of the movie and did good!

This was beginning of our 'Behind-The-Scenes Tour', where we went to the 'zoological' area of Sea World and got to see many of the animals up close! These are some bottlenosed dolphins.
In front of a California Sea Lion...if I remember correctly. (Riley knows all about seals and sea lions from all his 'shark studies')

THINKING about touching the sting ray. He wanted to SO BADLY, but I had to lean him over the water so much, I think that made him nervous. They were so smooth to the touch though. This was another part of our first tour.
Still 'thinking' about it! Ha ha ha.

Chris took a sardine between his fingers and fed one of the sting rays. Too cool!

A nurse shark during our first tour...this was neat because the only sharks you see in the park are in aquarium. Riley loved it. They also had a bull shark, but it was inside this main tank, in that separately caged area, and we never got to see it surface. :-(
Jaws from a Mako Shark. Riley thought it was pretty cool, and decided he wanted a shark tooth of his very own...which he, of course, got on our last day at the park!
We got to touch a LIVE Bamboo Shark. Yeah, yeah, yeah...it was only 3 feet long, but it was still neat to feel what shark skin was like!
Riley cooling off after our tour...you push a button and water just pours on you!
With Grandpa Randy and Grandma - He LOVED having them join us!
Letting off some steam after a LONG lunch
Waiting to see one of the Sea Lion shows...but we were basically attacked and hunted by bees the entire time, so we just left! They were even swarming Riley's mouth because he had juice from a Strawberry Juice all over his face!
Day #2 - Started out at the Clydesdale Horses
Dolphin Cove - you can touch them if they ever come close enough (they didn't for us, as we weren't there during a feeding time)

Riley's favorte part - The Coral Reef (indoor aquarium) - with a HUUUUUGE shark population! All the sharks are on video, but it was so dark, pictures & video were hard to get. He's looking at some coral and fish here.

Back to try the Sea Lion show again...no bees this time! (and no strawberry chills!)

I've been to Sea World several times in my lifetime...and this is BY FAR my favorite show!!!

Looks like Riley is enjoying it as well! I think this was his 2nd favorite...right behind the sharks!

Looking at the Sea Lions in their little 'cove' area after the show.

Cooling off at a splash pad...we were prepared with his swimsuit this time!

The 'Viva' Show - with Beluga Whales and dolphins (it's very 'Cirque De Soleil')

Our tour the 2nd day was 'Viva: Up Close & Personal'. Here is one of the Beluga Whales from the show. The tour gave us preferred seating during the show, then we went 'back stage' and saw the 'performers'!

I believe this is a Pacific Bottlenosed Dolphin - but I'm not quite sure because I received a phone call from my sister-in-law during this section regarding my non-working a/c...ugh! I was off a little ways on my own and he just jumped up there and started showing off for me!

We finished the 2nd day at the water park...but used our waterproof camera to take pictures. It was a blast, a wonderful family trip for us all!