Take a Trip Tuesday: Sea World

Ever since Andrew has been into Octonauts, I've been dying to take him to Sea World. He loves learning about sea animals, and knows quite a few facts thanks to our efforts to teach him many hours of Octonauts viewing. He is at that fun age where things are very exciting to him, and we get so much joy out of watching him experience new and fun things. Although it would have been easier to go before we had Ben, there wasn't time, and so we just decided to brave a two-hour drive and a theme park with a 2-month-old and a 3-year-old.

It ended up being an amazing trip! Both Ben and Andrew did fabulously on the two hour drive, and everyone enjoyed the park. We started our day at the Shamu show (more like an ocean conservation show with killer whales mixed in) and Andrew's face was priceless the first time they jumped up in the air. Jonathan and I were so glad that we came when we saw his excitement!

Oh, the joy!!

Next time we might try to sit a little bit closer - Andrew kept saying he wanted to walk down there. I think he wanted to get in the water with them!

After the show Andrew said he wanted to see the sharks so we packed up and headed across the park to the shark/coral reef aquarium. Andrew loved this and kept running ahead to see what was next. If you ask him what his favorite animal at Sea World, he says the sharks. We were looking at a coral reef exhibit that had different varieties of eels, and Andrew looks at me and says "It's like Octonauts!" Haha! 

Piranhas!

After the aquarium we went to a dolphin tank where Andrew was most interested in playing with water! Then we ate lunch and Andrew wanted to ride a train ride that he'd seen. It was a little Shamu roller coaster for kids. We weren't sure if he would be able to, since their was a height requirement, but luckily he was just tall enough! He ended up loving it! He rode it once with Jonathan and once with me. I think he's going to love roller coasters when he gets older! Jonathan purchased the roller coaster picture from the booth after the ride, but it's not scanned in. Unfortunately Jonathan wasn't able to get a good picture of Andrew when we were riding because I had to sit on the right. But trust me, even though you can't see him, he was smiling the whole time!

We then rode the carousel, which he also loved. Don't mind his fake, closed-mouth smile. He does this when we tell him to smile now! Ugh!

After this we went to a little splash pad within the Sesame Street Bay of Play section of Sea World. This part of the park was definitely the favorite for Andrew, but was also the most difficult with Ben because it was really hot! I would like to go back and spend more time in the part with Andrew because he loved it so much! He enjoyed playing in the splash pad (and we only played in a very small one) and he loved all the kiddie rides - he ended up riding all of them! He also got to see part of the Elmo Rocks show, which he was very interested in. I can't wait to go back this summer so we can play more!

Watching the show through the fence...

Ben had the best seat in the house - comfy carseat, two fans, shade... it was great!

Daddy and Andrew on the fishy ride.

We ended up leaving after the rides at the Bay of Play. Although there was more we wanted to see and do, it seemed like a good time to leave. It ended up being perfect, and we were home in time to eat dinner and get Andrew to bed at a decent hour. We have season passes, so we look forward to going back and seeing and doing more at Sea World. It was a great adventure, and we are so glad that we went! And bonus... Andrew was so tired out from yesterday that he took a four hour nap today! That is unheard of around here! Great job, Sea World! We had a blast!