April 22nd

Today we slept in a bit! When I say “we” I really mean them, as I have been up by 7am everyday on this holiday. The bed gets uncomfortable by then on my back, so I get up!

We left the hotel around 8am and drove across the road to have breakfast at Ponderosa’s all you can eat buffet. It was only 4.99, but we only ate 1 plate each. We checked out a discount gift shop next door and then hit the road for SeaWorld, which was only 10 minutes away!

It was very busy at the ticket lines and at security as well. This is the first park where we’ve encountered waiting in line so I guess their process could use a little improvement.

First on our tour was visiting the dolphin nursery. There were about eight small dolphins swimming around all of them born in 2005, so they were not really babies (toddlers maybe!) They were awesome and I could have stayed there all day just watching them.

We then headed to the Seaport Theatre, where we watched a show called “Pets Ahoy”. It had performing cats, dogs, ducks, doves, geese, a pot-bellied pig and even a skunk. The trainers said they get all their “talent” at local human societies. It was a cute show!

We then walked along the water on our way over to Shamu’s Stadium. It was already quite packed by the time we got there so we were up quite high…but at least it was in the shade..another hot day!

The killer whale show was really cool and they had two babies who stayed pretty close to their moms. We weren’t in the soak zone, so we didn’t get wet like quite a few people did, thanks to Shamu!

We went to the Wild Arctic next, where you ride a on a helicopter simulator to the Arctic. Your seat, the floor and whole theatre move while you watch a movie. It’s pretty lifelike and I have to admit I screamed a few times, much to the delight of Keturah!

When you came out of the ride, there were some animals to check out such as beluga whales, polar bears and walruses. They also had underwater viewing as well, so you could get a real close up look.

We then went to Shamu’s Happy Habor where Brooke and Kevin rode on the Shamu Express, which was a kiddie roller coaster.

Keturah and Brooke then went through this climbing type gym structure, went on a giant boat and got wet on the splash pad. It was really a section for younger children, but they seemed to have fun.

We then went through the Clydesdale Hamlet and checked out the big horses and took lots of pictures for Keturah (the horse lover).

We then went to the Nautilus Theatre where we saw a show called “Odyssea” which is a non-traditional circus show that defies gravity. It did include extortionists, high-wire acts and gymnasts. We were not allowed to take pictures in there though, but it was pretty cool.

Shark Encounters was next on the list and there was a big pond where you could view about 3 kinds of sharks, big fish and stingrays.

We bought food, (dead fish) to feed to the sharks, but they were pretty full, from being fed all day, but the fish and the rays ate it.

Inside this building there were more sharks. We traveled through the aquarium and the sharks and fish swam over and beside us…it was pretty cool. They also had other types of fish in here like lionfish, barracuda, dragonfish, which looked like leaves stuck together!

We then ate a late lunch at the Spice Mill Café. Brooke, Kevin and I had the chicken finger dinner and Keturah had a chicken garden salad. It was pretty yummy!

We then went to see the penguins. They had 2 different kinds in their display along with puffins and a duck-type bird called marres.

Brooke and Kevin went on the Journey to Atlantis which is a log (flume) ride, while Keturah and I hit the gift shop. We did end up catching them as they came down the big hill. They got a bit wet.

We also stopped at Oyster’s Secret, where they have divers diving for shells and then you can buy a shell for 14.99 and you are guaranteed to get at least 1 pearl inside it. It was pretty cool but too expensive for me!

We viewed some alligators which were small ones, one our way to see the manatee rescue area.

We spent quite awhile talking to the keeper and watching the manatees eat and float around. She said a couple of them on display were injured by boats and some of them were orphaned. We also viewed them underwater as well.

We saw dolphins splashing around and viewed them underwater too. We wanted to pet them, but they weren’t coming over to the edge..they were probably tired of the crowds…we were!

We then went to the stingray lagoon where we did get to pet a stingray as they went swimming by. They feel pretty slimy. We all enjoyed this very much!

We saw a lot of flamingos and took lots of pictures. The first ones were really dark pink (peachy) and the other ones where lighter pink..pretty cool!

We headed out at 10 to 7, as the park was closing at 7pm.

Headed back to the hotel and here I am sitting by the pool as I write this. It’s getting cold out though—it must be 76 now! The kids are swimming away with not a care in the world and Kevin is down posting a couple more of our daily adventures! As mentioned, we have to go down to the lobby to use the wireless internet, which is the only thing that sucks about this hotel!

It was another hot, sunny day. I think it is supposed to be around 80 degrees today, but it felt hotter than that!

This was a good way to spend earth day today---at SeaWorld.

Kevin and I were both really surprised that the USA (Florida anyway) doesn’t do a lot of recycling.

At the Disney parks they had a few recycling bins, here and there, but you had to really look for them.

We didn’t see any at Cypress Gardens and I think we saw one today.

I was having a hard time throwing my plastic bottles in the regular garbage!

Even at our hotel, we have to garbage cans in our room, but no blue boxes, so I’ve been using one for recycling items, but I’m sure our maid just garbages them all, but it makes me feel better!

Well, more tomorrow!