Our Beach Vacation - Day 3

An expensive lesson learned: Do not tease your 5-year-old daughter with super-fun play time with cousins and friends and then take her to Sea World the next day without them.

We were sure that Stella would LOVE Sea World, but she complained most of the day and just wanted to go back to the beach. We kept telling her that no one else was there and that they were all doing their own thing too, but really they just did their stuff for half of the day and beached the rest of the day. Jealous.

Flamingos run funny.

It was hot and our sunscreen kept melting into our eyes, thus making it nearly impossible to see the shows. The shows . . . sort of disappointing honestly. We started at the dog, cat, duck, and pig show . . . whatever it was called. Isn't this Sea World?

Pre-melting.

She just has to touch everything!

I didn't really read any of the plaques while I was there, but don't penguins need to live in the cold? It was hot out there.

Penny and Pete the Penguins.

Stella may or may not have been terrified of the shark tunnel.

She was entirely too tense to pose for a picture on the moving sidewalk, but was happy to pose in a dead shark's mouth.

We sort of wanted to eat here at Mama Stella's, but they weren't open.

I think the Sea Lions may have been my favorite this time.

I think Stella liked them too.

I remember Shamu being spectacular, but now the trainers don't get in the water with them anymore. The thought also ran across my mind that they don't ever really say "killer whales" . . . well, that's what they are.

However, Shamu (or whatever it's name was) swam by us while we were almost the only ones left and even smiled at us.

Stella got a little happy after lunch and started posing by everything and asking me to take her picture.

Did you know that Sea Turtles can't stick their heads in their shells? These Sea Turtles were all sleeping, but Stella thought they were dead. She's sweating.

Did you know that flamingos are pink because they eat shrimp? It's true . . . unless that kid with the microphone was full of crap.

I remember the dolphin show as being my absolute favorite! I was really disappointed. The dolphins swam and jumped around 4 times and then the rest of it was people in tights flying around like birds.

Since Stella was bored and my buck teeth stick out when I'm squinting into the sun, we had a challenge to see who could have buck teeth the longest. Stella won.

The Cirque de la Mer was a new attraction, but sort of hard to see even if you were sitting close. These guys were not human. Who does that? After the other disappointments, I thought for sure that this one would be Stella's favorite due to her interest in gymnastics . . .

. . . as you can tell, she's thrilled.

We stopped in to harrass some of the starfish. Of course, I asked the lady with the microphone how the starfish reproduce, because that's how I am. Interestingly enough, they reproduce in the same way that some girls in college thought they got pregnant.

Stella is about the same size as a tuna fish.

Stella was ready to go back to the beach, but another churro would tide her over until it was time to go.

"Hey Stella, it's time to go back to the beach!"

The kids were perfectly happy to sit in the van and watch a movie together until bedtime.

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