Sea World

When Jeremy and I made the decision to bring the boys to Florida after Christmas, we immediately began talking theme parks. I researched ticket prices online for what seemed like hours. These places are ridiculously expensive! But...we were only an hour(ish) away from America's playground in Orlando. How could we resist?

Jeremy was all in for Disney World. I was not. The boys need to be older in my opinion. He kept telling me about our friends who do Disney with kids the same ages as the boys. Good point. But not good enough to convince me. I dragged my feet. And then I showed him the ticket prices. Yep...it was a no go. Mama wins :) Those prices will be worth it...one day. When my babies are no longer babies. Okay, let's be honest, they'll always be babies to me. But I need Jacob to at least be able to speak in entire sentences before we venture there. After all, for that kind of money, I want them to remember the experience!

We settled on Sea World. Who doesn't love a nice, child friendly environment full of animals to ooohh and ahhh over? And Shamu! They have Shamu! Jacob ran around all morning while we got ready to leave, looking in every room of Grandma's house, hands in the air with shrugged shoulders, saying "Where Shamu go?" Dude...you haven't even seen him yet! Too. Stinking. Cute.

Oh, Shamu... You did NOT disappoint. I don't even know where to begin with these pictures.

The boys started out a bit apprehensive. I mean come on, these beasts are LARGE. But they soon warmed up to the whales and all the splashing. They clapped. They yelled. They waved. Hell, at one point I swear Jacob would have run down the aisle and jumped into the pool with our buddy, Shamu, had we let him.

21 month old swims with killer whale? I think not...

We continued on to the sea otters who, quite frankly, smelled horrendous. But they were so cute to watch! Lots of mama and baby sea otters in the man-made space built to replicate their natural habitat. A job well done, Sea World.

We made our way through aquariums, and shark tunnels, and a visit with the dolphins and the penguins.

And then we found the playground. I can honestly say that climbing my way through massive nets, on an incline, to get to multiple tunnels to crawl through to more nets was never really on my bucket list. But hey, I've done it now! Good thing I'm such a fan of crossing things off that list...

And then my little buddy, who I swear has become more brave than I thought possible in the last few days, wanted to ride a roller coaster. And when he looked at me with those big eyes, and darling dimples, and said "Mama, will you ride the roller coaster with me please?" I nearly melted. I was a roller coaster fanatic growing up. Loved every minute of them. But then in my mid twenties I tried riding one again and ended up with a horrible case of nausea for the remainder of the day. So I had sort of vowed to never ride one again. But that was before I had kids. And honestly, how can I say no when the world's sweetest 4 year old wants to experience his first roller coaster, a true rite of passage, with no one else but his mama?

We started him off slow...on a kiddie coaster :) But I have to say, this thing did move. It had speed, it had rotation, and it cleared some serious air. And he had an absolute blast.

We finished the day off with "A Very Sesame Christmas". Jacob was a mess. He'd barely napped, save for the hour(ish) he spent in G-Nan's lap, and he was melting. But then the lights dimmed, and out came Bert and Ernie. And then Big Bird. And Elmo ran through the audience and jumped on the stage. And the rest of the gang filed in...Cookie Monster, Abby Cadabby, Zoe. He was in complete awe. Homeboy didn't even know what hit him.

As we made our way out of the park tonight, I smiled to myself thinking about what a wonderful day we'd just had. Jeremy and I laughed so hard at things the boys were saying and doing. The boys had a blast. Their eyes so wide and their smiles so big.

My goodness gracious there is just nothing better than being a parent...

We made our final stop on the way out for a quick family photo op, and as soon as we were done I strapped the boys in the strollers, did a head count for my inlaws, and started out of the gates. And I realized I didn't have Jeremy. I scanned the crowd and found him just a few feet away. I didn't even stop to think what he was doing. I just yelled to him that we were moving, and we'd meet him outside the gates. I heard an "Okay!" and on we went.

A few minutes later I heard his voice, and I turned to tell him something, and then I saw it. I saw what was holding him up. And I fell a little bit more in love with my husband, walking toward me, arms full of three Shamu stuffed animals. One for Lukey, one for baby Jacob, and one for Ada Grace.

Amidst pure squeals of delight, and Jacob screaming "SHAMU! SHAMU!" I smiled lovingly at my husband.

"Babe, come on. You can't go to Sea World and leave without Shamu."

Today, my friends, was a good day. Today was a really good day...