Sea World Trip

The last weekend of summer, we were planning a trip to Austin for Derek's grandma's 93rd birthday party.  Then, Hettie had a great idea!  We could head up a few days early and her & I could take the kiddos to Sea World.  The kids LOVED it!  It was an awesome, tiring & long at times, but totally awesome day.  I didn't want to lug around my big camera & risk getting it stolen or damaged, so I only took my little flip video camera with me.  So...not the best quality, but I did get some cute pics & videos throughout the day.  Dawson wanted me video EVERYTHING, so I ended up with tons of videos.  I just selected some of my faves to put on here.

 Hettie, Dawson & Andi with 'Shamu'

The biggest challenge of visiting Sea World during the summer, is what to WEAR.  Some of the rides get you a little wet...some get you VERY wet, and they have a HUGE water park that would take an entire day to explore, on top of all the other attractions.  We wore our swimsuits & water shoes most of the day, and then changed into dry clothes in the late afternoon when we were done feeling soggy.  However, cooling off in the wave pool was the only way we survived the 100+ degree heat in August.

 Kiddos posing with the Shamu car

We were able to see the sea lion show, two different killer whale shows, and the beluga whale show 'Azul'. I didn't end up getting any pics or videos from the sea lion show because we sat in the splash zone...and that show ended up being the kiddos favorite!

Here is a video from the Shamu rocks show:

Throughout the day, they posed with several Sea World buddies

We also got to feed the dolphins!  This was such a fun experience!

 Then, we visited the shark aquarium.  Wow!  This place was so amazing...it was so calm, peaceful & beautiful that I could have stayed in there all day long.  The sunlight streaking through the water was so amazing looking.  I even got some cool sharks on video!

The beluga whale show called 'Azul' was quite amazing too.  It had a very interesting mix of dolphins, beluga whales, birds, high divers, acrobats & aerialists.  It seemed like a show you would see in Vegas.  It was really entertaining though. The first video from that show, shows the trainers riding on the whales.  I am just totally amazed by this every time I see it.

And, this last video shows some of the birds & the aerialist.

We had such a great time there & the kids have been begging us to take them back.  Andi will just whisper to me out of the blue 'Mom, I really miss Sea World.'  Next time we go back, we will have to take Derek with us!