Sea World!!

Saturday morning we loaded the car up, stopped at Chick-fil-a for breakfast (when we pull into the parking lot Asher yells 'hashbrowns'), and then drove 2.5 hours to Orlando to go to Sea World.  In December we bought year passes because they were BOGO!  Can't beat that- and the kids are free!  We arrived at about 11:30am.  We first saw all things dolphins: the underwater viewing area at Dolphin Cove, the dolphin show and then we fed the dolphins.

Dolphin Show

                       Entertaining him while we waited for the show                          to start- love those lips!

"Touch stingray" Asher says

The kids started out really well, but by the time we were waiting in line to feed the dolphins, Asher was having a hard time.  He kept melting down or being ornery, which is not really like him.  Hannah was hot and freaked out when the dolphins started coming up for food (as you can see in the picture above on the left)!  I started to panic, thinking "was this pass thing a mistake?" but then we decided to cool off (it was in the mid 80's) by watching the indoor Pets Ahoy show, and this is what happened before it even started:

Unheard of for this little guy, but his 25 minute nap powered him through the rest of the day.  Hannah did great- she was really aware of what was going on around her the whole time, and loved to clap and giggle, especially when her brother did.  She slept for about 30 minutes before we arrived and didn't nap the whole rest of the day!
After the Pets Ahoy show we went over to the Shamu stadium and watched the Shamu show.  This was really fun because Asher kind of came alive during this show.  Previous to this, he took everything in his usual somewhat stoic way, but during this show he started smiling and clapping and really seemed to enjoy himself.  It was fun! We got a snack before the show, and Hannah really loved the ice cream bar I got!

After the Shamu show we went over to check out the Polar Express ride.  We didn't do the ride part, but enjoyed the "non motion" movie part, then went through the beluga whale, walrus and seal exhibits, but not without stopping to take a quick picture with Santa.  Asher was a bit hesitant but tolerated the picture well.  He is still talking about Santa: "Santa's nice....see picture Santa? Don't be scared Santa."
One of the walruses is particularly large, and it caught Asher off guard, but he talked himself through it saying "don't be scared walrus, don't be scared walrus."

The decorations were really pretty throughout the park, including inside the ride.

                 Asher said "presents?"

"Big walrus!"

After the Polar Express experience we called it a night.  We stopped and ate dinner in the park, took a look around at some of the really pretty lights and decorations, then found our hotel, the Floridays Resort.  It had lots of space, was easy to check into, and was clean- win!  I put Hannah down in one room, then laid down with Asher.  He slept from 915pm-745am.  Before he went to sleep he talked for just a minute.  He said "feeding dolphins....feeding dolphins fish...whales jumping....dolphins swimming....dolphins jumping"  it was very sweet.  The day made quite an impression on him.

Sea of Trees

Oh and if you ever wondered how to keep a two year old busy in line, give him some stickers! :)