Disney World #2

We woke up Monday morning at slathered up with sunscreen, grabbed our hats, and headed to Sea World! I was excited about this park. Jess and I have great memories of a trip here just before we had kids. And I love roller coasters. I really really really love them. I grew up riding the Zippen Pippen, the 1920's wooden roller coaster (Elvis's favorite, so I read) at Libertyland.

I remember my first "upside down coaster" and how it boxed my ears. And I remember riding the one with my mom at a small theme park in Oklahoma. And I remember riding the Kraken at Sea World over and over with Jess during that visit 7 years ago. So I was ecstatic to learn that this was up and running at Sea World:

Well, I'll just tell you now, I didn't get to ride. And that was maybe the only disappointment of my trip. And I tried very hard not to pout and whine too much.

My kids, however, had a wonderful morning. Although I'm sure they were a bit disappointed they didn't get to see their mama ride a coaster that you actually SPLASH into the water during a descent. Can you tell I'm not giving this up easily?

We saw the dolphins:


And just about every other creature of the sea. And around the sea:

We laughed at the clyde and seymore sea lion show and ooohed and ahhed at the shamu show. Then we ran for cover as the skies opened up and we were drenched! We had enjoyed a fun morning, so Jess and I made the decision to leave the park and have a nice lunch somewhere. I think it helped that the park was free to military and family, so we didn't feel like we were wasting money.

Josiah kept requesting the dinosaur restaurant. The one he HATED when we went in February. We had to drag him in then, terrified, and hold him tight every time the animated dinosaurs acted up. But hey, he's almost 3 now, he says he can do it, let's give it a try.

I bet you think he cried anyway.

You'd be wrong. He loved it. (The Winnie the Pooh ride tomorrow, though, now that's a different story!)

The big kids loved it too.

Except every once in a while, when the restaurant went dark and the animals start moving and roaring. This is Ella about 30 seconds after the picture above:

all better (and beautiful!)

They were excited to hear there's a T-Rex restaurant a few minutes away from our new home in KC, KS. They better start saving their birthday money now!

The ONLY picture this week of the four kids together.

More Legos!