Day 3-Sea World!

We had SO much fun at Sea World! I'm so glad we put it on our itenerary! Katelyn loves animals and actually wants to be a Vet when she grows up! (K-state-maybe:)Right after we entered the park we saw a caricature artist booth, so of course we had Katelyn's picture done. (It's awesome, you'll have to stop by if you want to see it!)Next, we went to the Manta Ray exhibit and bought food so Katelyn could feed them. Have you ever touched a Manta Ray? Their skin feels like silk! Then it was off to the Dolphins! We watched the dolphins play as their trainer threw balls for them to fetch and return. Dolphins are such smart animals! The silhouette picture(above)of Katelyn is one of my favorites from the whole trip. They have an underground exhibit and she is watching the dolphins swim! There is classical music playing; so peaceful. We stayed there a long time. (Plus it was air-conditioned).

We made our way around the park visiting the manatees, the alligators, and the penguins. The Sea Lion exhibit was one of our favorites too. Ask Katelyn to do her sea lion impression sometime-she's good! We let her feed the sea lions too! Of course the best part of Sea World is the SHAMU show which was the last thing we did that day! The whole theme of the show is believing in your dreams and making them come true. If you EVER get the chance to take your children to Sea World, please take them to this show! Katelyn was absolutely blown away! Before the show began, they asked any current or past service men/women to stand and we all applauded them-brought tears to my eyes(of course, you know me!) Anyway, the theme of the show centers around a young boy who dreams of swimming with a killer whale. Then it's revealed that one of the marine bioligists in our show is that boy and he does in fact swim with SHAMU. He then picks a young boy from the audience & asks him what he dreams of becoming when he grows up(an actor). He gives him a special necklace that he's been wearing(a wooden replica of Shamu's tale) to remind the boy to keep his dream alive! (again, I'm crying...) I can't accurately describe it for you, but it's powerful-you need to see it for yourself! (And of course we bought Katelyn her own shamu necklace at a gift shop to remind her to keep her dream alive too-perfect souvenier!)

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and we're going to Cocoa Beach-Katelyn's first trip to the ocean!!!