Disney and Sea World Part 3

On our last full day in Orlando, we decided to take the boys to Sea World.  Since William was still so young and couldn't walk yet, we thought this would be a great place that both boys could see and experience a lot.  We had such a wonderful time and the weather was absolutely perfect.  It was even warm enough that the boys were able to splash around in the water area.  This summer-like weather was very welcome to the New Englanders in December.  :)

Now let's see some sea creatures!

Dun dun....

Dun dun.....

What's that over there in the water, Joseph and Alex?  Watch out!!!!

It's dolphin feeding time!!!  :)
This was definitely the highlight of our trip last time we were here, so
we made sure to get in line first thing that morning.  We got two
trays of fish (which were about 8 little sardines) and got ready to feed the dolphins.

Here's Alex and Joseph holding a fish and luring a very hungry dolphin.

Gulp!

Alex (and Joseph) loved this!

The dolphins were so sweet and friendly.

Me and the boys by the dolphin feeding area.

Joseph and Alex feeding the dolphins.

One more shot of the adorable dolphins during feeding time.
They were such characters!

Me, Alex, and William at Orlando's Sea World in front of the dolphin area.

Sea squirrel!!  (Or at least that's what we told Alex they were called.)
We're terrible.

Terribly funny that is.  ;)

Alex, greeting the "sea squirrel."

After that, we went to the stingray touch tank.  There were dozens of them swimming around and around.  They're very friendly and gentle.

Alex was very adventurous and loved
touching the stingrays.

Joseph and Alex petting the stingrays.

There was one particularly large one that went by Alex
and soaked the front of his shirt.  :)

William's turn!

After a quick snuggle with his daddy.  :)

He couldn't really touch the stingrays,
but enjoyed splashing the water.

Next up on our adventure, we went to Turtle Trek.  There were a couple of tanks of sea creatures to look at while we were waiting to get into the 3D adventure.  The movie takes you on a journey from the perspective of a sea turtle from hatching out of the egg to surviving many obstacles while at sea.  It's really neat.

Me and the boys checking out some fish and manatees.

The manatees were HUGE and Alex was quite
in awe/tickled by how big they were.

William loved seeing the fish up close.  Plus, since it was the first
week of December, it wasn't crowded at all.  So, we were first in
line for pretty much every attraction.  The boys were able to take their
time and enjoy each exhibit without being trampled by other kids
that were bigger than them.

A darling sea turtle. 

Alex loved this.

Alex, checking out the sea creatures.

Our big guy wearing the 3D glasses.
There were definitely some scary moments in the movie
but the rest of it was like being underwater yourself.

Here's Alex looking at the turtles from above.  We were
reminiscing about the time when we took Alex here a year before
and all he could say was, "Wook, wook (look, look), down deah
(there) a tuh-tle (turtle)."  *sigh*  He's grown so much in a year and a half!

Me and the boys by a manatee sculpture.

Lunch time!!  We wanted a decent lunch, instead of just picking up some fast food at a food stand.  So, we went to the Sharks Underwater Grill.  It's an awesome restaurant that gives you a spectacular view of a large shark and fish tank.  Thankfully, we were seated right by the glass and got an unobstructed view of fish and shark the entire time we ate.  They came right up to the glass! 

Alex, with a large fish photobombing him in the background.

Joseph and William at the restaurant.

SHARK!!!  Alex loved this.

Me and the boys at the restaurant.

Joseph and William at the Shark Grill.

Alex at the restaurant.

The fish and sharks were pretty amazing.

The restaurant had some beautiful blue fish
in their lobby, so we had to stop by this, too.

While we were walking around and getting ready to see the next show, we stopped by and picked up some free samples.

William's first taste of kettle corn and he loved it!

 This kept the kids quiet and content
for 5 minutes.  :)  I'll take it!

After that, we made our way to the Manta Aquarium.

Alex and Joseph by a beautiful waterfall.

The aquariums were absolutely beautiful.

It looks like the rays are smiling :)

Joseph, holding up Alex while looking at the rays overhead.

Alex really loved having this special time with Joseph.

Peek-a-boo!!  Here's Alex checking out some
clown fish and anemone.

He thought this was so awesome.

While we were walking around, we spotted our little friend that can count by twos and tie his shoes!  It was Franklin!!  (He's got a children's book series as well as a television show.)

Franklin was petting Alex's head...kind of like how Joseph does to the boys.  LOL!

Franklin was very friendly.  :)

Me (with William in the baby carrier), Franklin and Alex at Sea World!

Then we headed over to the Shark Encounter!

Me and the boys at one of the aquariums.

Our big boy Alex :)

Alex was SO amused when he was looking through the shark's jaws.

"ROAAAAARRRRR!"

Our goofy guy :)

There's a cute little smile :)

Me and the boys on the moving walkway with sharks and fish swimming
over our heads.  It was pretty awesome!

The boys loved it.  :)

Joseph, holding up Alex, with sharks floating over their heads.

After lots of sight-seeing, it was time to cool off at the splash park!

At first, William was ambivalent and just wanted to get his toes wet.

Alex was all about it and ran to start squirting other kids.

Go get 'em, tiger!

William enjoyed the water, but definitely wanted to keep me close by.
However, in the background, Alex was still really into hosing down this one kid.
Heaven forbid the other kid have a turn.  Alex doesn't like getting wet.  Go figure :)

Having fun in the splash park!

William finally got into it!

But still had to have me close by.  :)

As we were playing, I glanced over and saw a sign and was slightly horrified.
The sign read, "Please do not swallow the water, it is recirculated. 
Do not use fountain if you are ill with diarrhea.  Thank you."

1.  Okay, at least they were thoughtful enough to put up a sign.
2.  Apparently there were enough instances of kids with diarrhea that
used the fountain that necessitated the sign.
3.  Dis.gus.ting.  The germaphobe in me wanted to rip our children out
of the water right away and have them, with myself included, take a bath
in anti-bacterial solution.

Oh well.  We still had lots of fun!  :)

Shortly after that, the boys were ready to ride some rides!  Unfortunately William was too small to ride them, but Alex and Joseph had a great time getting on the rides together.

Joseph and Alex on a ride.

Joseph and Alex on the "Ocean Commotion" ride.

Joseph and Alex, ready to shoot up into the sky.

Joseph and Alex, ready to ride "Swishy Fishies."

Alex, William, and Joseph with a Shamu statue.

We had such a wonderful time at Sea World.  The weather was warm, we got to play in the water, ride some rides, have great interactions with the animals, and enjoyed this family time together.  What a great way to end our quick get away vacation.  :)

Our last night we were there, we went to Benihana's because it was right by our hotel and we thought the boys would enjoy the show.

Alex looooooves him some Benihana's!

That next morning, William was being extra fussy, and for some reason, the hotel box of soap (with the soap in it) entertained him.  As we were packing up the car and double-checking to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything, I took a quick look to see what William was doing.  He was eerily silent, and if you have children and they're silent, it usually means something bad has either happened or is happening.  Sure enough, I looked at William and he was taking a big ol' bite out of the bar of soap that he had Macgyver'd out of the box. 

Exhibit A - Bar of soap with teeth marks.

William - 1
Parents - 0

There's our naughty little guy.  He was
quite proud of himself.

Alex and Joseph on the monorail going
to our terminal at the Orlando airport.

Our cheeky little panda was ready to go home.

*Sigh*  What a wonderful trip!  It was so nice to see family and friends during the first leg of the trip.  Then, it was so lovely to cap it off with a quick trip to the happiest place on earth with our own little family.  It's so much fun having the boys be this age and seeing them experience these things for the first, or second time.  Both Joseph and I truly yield so much joy from seeing our boys so happy and excited.  All of our happy tanks were filled. :) 
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki