Sea World Trip

On June 25-26 we took a quick family vacation to Sea World in San Antonio.  We left Thursday morning as early as we could - I think we made it out the door by 7:20.  We dodged traffic with the help of Google Maps.  It was nice to take a new route and have the map show that we just saved 30 - 60 min.  It still took us about 4 hours to get there.  We did take one stop at Buc-ee's.  I guess this is quite a famous convenience store in Texas.  It is pretty big for a pit stop place and there were a lot of unique things inside.  They had a bakery and a full counter of jerky you could buy by the pound, lots of souvenir things, and of course the normal snacks and stuff. 

I had packed a lunch so we ate that as we got closer to Sea World so we could start on full tummies.  We brought in snacks and water but I was nervous because they check your bags and it says you are not supposed to bring in coolers or lunches.  We were fine and it really was just a few granola bars and fruit snacks.  

Well when we got there we learned that one of the main shows was cancelled because the beluga whale had just had a baby.  That is nice and everything, but I really had wanted to see THAT show.  Oh well, I guess we'll just have to go again sometime.  So first off we saw the beluga whale swimming with the new baby (gray/brown thing to the right of momma).  It was pretty cool actually.  Then we walked around the park and the boys and I got in line for Rio Loco - it's the raft ride that's like your floating down a river.  Damon and I wore ponchos - I really didn't want to walk around drenched even though it was very hot.  Tyler got soaked by being the one to go under the waterfall at the end - but he didn't mind.  Chris stayed pretty dry and everyone liked it.  Doug stayed out with the girls - hard when you have kids at all different ages and height levels - Chris was barely tall enough to go.  

Next we looked at the penguins - they were so fun.  They started swimming as a group and it was so cool to see them go so fast and make laps in their pool.  There was another indoor exhibit nearby that had some snakes and insects.  It was nice to cool off - but Tyler was getting cold since he was wet.  

Next Tyler and Doug went on the STEEL EEL. It is a big roller coaster (150 feet high) and I don't think Tyler has even been on one before - but he was excited to go.  Well, turns out that he got pretty scared and really was fearing for his life.  Doug felt bad for him on the ride and I could tell when he got off that he was in shock a bit.  Well, he snapped out of it and later when asked what his favorite thing was he said going on the Steel Eel.  I don't know if it really was, or he just wanted to sound brave, but we'll see if he goes on another roller coaster in the future.

Next we found the play area for littlier kids and I wish I would have taken the girls here first.  I felt bad that up until now they really hadn't been able to do much.  Oh well, next time.  We played for a bit then went to go see the pet show.  It was really cute and fun.  They had dogs, cats, birds, geese, a pig, and a rat in the show.  They were well-trained and the kids all liked it.  It was nice to sit down and be in some air conditioning for awhile.  

We got to pet one of the dogs after the show. 

Another show was starting soon nearby so we just headed over there and ate some of our snacks.  This was the sea lion show and it was pretty fun too.  They brought out a huge walrus before the show and it was neat to see it do a few tricks. It had to roll into the water to get off of the platform - it was pretty funny to watch.

The girls were tall enough to go on one ride, the Shamu Express.  It was the little roller coaster. I sat with Kaylee and Damon sat with Jenna.  I don't think either of them liked it much - I didn't either.  It was very jerky and they both hit their heads on the seats.

It was around 5:00 and we were all getting tired.  We started heading over to the Shamu Theater to watch the final show with the killer whales.  We got there a bit early and had to wait for 10 minutes or so before they let us into the theater.  I was holding Kaylee for some of the time and we were all hot and sweaty.  Once we sat down it was ok.  They let the whales out before the show and they were doing laps in the pool, so it was cool to see them go in and out of the water.  Doug was a champion and treked back to the van to get a few more snacks and grab the strollers we had borrowed.  It was nice just being able to walk, but we had some little feet that were tired that we didn't want to carry.  Doug made it back just in time for the show.  It was pretty cool.  

After the show we just headed for the van and picked up some pizza.  I had kept some frozen Gatorades in the cooler in the van so we could have a cold drink when we were done.  Well, they stayed cold too well and were still frozen.  We all sipped them as they melted.  We found our hotel - Marriott Residence Inn and ate our pizza.  We were tired and hungry but the kids always get excited in hotels so they were all crazy again.  We did baths and got them settled for bed and I got things ready for the next day.  A fun but hot and tiring day.

Friday we were debating when to get to the park.  If we got there when it opened at 10 we thought that everyone would want to eat almost as soon as we would get there, so we decided to wait and go after lunch.  We didn't have to check out until 12 so we could stay and eat our leftover pizza and make sandwiches then I wouldn't have to pack up a lunch :).  The kids wanted to go swimming at the hotel so we went down to the pool around 9:00 am.  The water was pretty cool and the hot tub was really hot.  But they all had a good time. There were a lot of bubbles in the hot tub and the girls liked playing with those.

So after lunch we loaded up and headed back to Sea World.  Today we were going to the swimming part of the park.  It was busier today but I figured it would be being a Friday.  The water park was so much fun.  There were so many areas to play in.  We started in one that had a few little slides and everyone loved those.  The girls were really good to go down and Doug or I would catch them at the bottom.  They do really well with their puddle jumpers on.

Then we decided to go on one of the bigger slides together.  There was one where you could have up to 4 people in the tube.  The line was pretty long - I think we waited about 30 min. but the kids had good attitudes the whole time.  We had hoped that we could go all together, but then we were told the limit was 4.  So I went with Tyler and Kaylee and Doug took the rest.  We got going a lot faster than I thought we would.  It was pretty fun.  At the slide goes through a tunnel where you can see manta rays swimming, so that was really cool.  Kaylee loved it.  She said she wanted to go again when we got out.

After that we moved onto another area that had a bigger slide for Damon and Tyler, Chris wasn't tall enough, but there was a big wide slide that Chris and the girls had fun going down.  They could all sit next to each other and go down at the same time.  Sometimes it was tricky for me trying to catch them all.  Doug took the boys over to the wave pool and they all loved jumping the waves.

We gathered together and ate our snacks.  I brought in some Go-gurts and string cheeses along with some granola bars and crackers.  This was about the only time I had to take pictures since you can't really swim with your phone.  Tyler really liked this line of floating objects that you could jump across - he did it quite a few times.

We all got some sun, but no one really got burnt.  My neck and shoulders were pretty red, but they didn't peel and went tan.  We were all pretty tired from swimming all day.  Doug was great again and went to the van to get our clothes and the strollers.  I took the girls and we showered because there was so much sunscreen in their hair.  It took forever having to do both of them and then getting dressed myself.  It will be nice when they are a little more independent.

There was a McDonald's right outside of the park that we ate at and then we headed home to Houston.  The girls didn't last long, they were pretty tired.

The boys watched a movie and then they fell asleep.  We made better time on the way back but it still felt long.  The girls don't sleep well in their car seats so they would wake up whining because they couldn't get comfortable or because their legs were falling asleep.  It was good to get home and sleep in our own beds.

It was a fun trip.  I think we did the park as well as we could have.  I had read quite a few comments and tips from people online and it helped.  I'm glad we didn't have to buy any food there - it was so expensive.  The kids did great and they all had a fun time.  It was really cute, the other day Kaylee woke up in the night and I went to tuck her back in and she said, "I had fun at Sea World."  She keeps telling us that now, so that is fun that she remembers.

I think we will make another trip to San Antonio sometime to see the Alamo and other cool things that they have over there.  Maybe next year. :)  Sea World was great, but not something I'd want to do everyday - so exhausting.