the BIG day of days has finally arrived and here we are at sea world in san antonio. the girls had been anticipating it for days--weeks really! here in texas, the school kids get a day off school so they can attend the state fair of texas (only in texas, i tell ya.) so, instead, we went to san antonio for the weekend and abby only had to miss one day of school (not that it matters because kindergarten is optional in texas!) we were able to take a MUCH needed break and mini-family vacation. what a great time we all had. sea world was an awesome experience!
the very first thing we did was make our way to see "shamu!" not just because this is THE thing to do when one goes to sea world, but also because it was a fun start to our day. we wanted to make sure and get this one in before moving on to other things! we chose our spot on purpose. as you can see, we are definitely sitting in the splash zone! you can see start of the wording next to micah, "zona de...." i guess the whales speak spanish.
micah w/ the girls--very anxious for the show to start!
the show is starting! you can kind of see "shamu" just beneath the surface of the water.
he is surfacing following the sign/command of the trainer. i don't know if splashing him was part of the command.
surfacing even higher (splashing even higher too).
the trainer gave some sort of sign that indicated to the animal to completely surface along the side. what an amazing creature (the whale).
you never knew where one of the orkas would "pop" up next; it was always a surprise. i found myself watching the signs the trainers would give, probably to each other and the whales to try to figure out what would happen next!
i could not have guessed this "move"--when one of the female trainers surfaced while riding atop one of the whales. what trust they must have to develop between them.
more of the "routine" they performed together
the relationship between trainer and animal is amazing. you can see here a kiss between the 2. (it is enlarged on the big screen).
another shot of the duet between trainer and whale (i don't remember all of their names--the whales' names, that is.)
the first picture (see above) was better; however, this is still a great moment!
this was the "sign" the trainers taught the audience to use when trying to communicate to shamu to splash us! kind of like the same hand/arm motion you use when doing what is commonly called "the wave."
more signaling to get splashed
and splash us he did! micah and avery got the brunt of it, and avery was not happy with the surprise!
no worries--she recovered just fine
next was the VIVA! show performed in beluga stadium. wow, i had no idea there were people who did these kinds of crazy tricks and acrobats for a living (well, who knows? maybe they have a nine to fiver during the week.) it was great fun to watch! in this picture that thing in the middle that looks like fabric floating is actually a girl acrobat suspended by some bungee-thingy.
what a stage, huh? what a get-up, eh? well, that man in yellow doing a half jack-knife move did all kinds of flips and turns off of the swing below him. pretty impressive!
avery is doing much better now that she is drying off!
you probably think i'm posting a bunch of pictures that look the same. i'm just not good at cropping and photo editing. anyway on the right-hand side of this image if you can somehow zoom in you will see about 4 dolphins mid-air, jumping in sync. it is amazing how well-trained these animals were!
another view of the "stage" and the performers. this was the finale--what a lot of fun!
this was "pete's pinwheel" ride--me w/ the girls. abby on the left and avery on the right.
there was this enormous playground area; this feature attraction was a giant net "spider-web" like that the girls got to climb on. further on up were additional tunnels, tubes, rope ladders etc. avery made it about as far as you see her here before wanting to come back to mommy; abby went on w/ micah!
at "alligator alley" we had the opportunity to see and pet a miniature (?) alligator.
abby and avery (behind her) feeding the sea lions!
a very lucky sea lion!
avery practicing her "balancing"
oops!
abigail and avery got a big kick out of watching the dolphins (well, it's not like micah & i fell asleep or anything--it was fun). the big tourist thing to do is feed them and pet them simultaneously. the food window opens only every 1/2 hour for a half an hour. so in this picture the girls are waiting and watching.
abby reaching for the dolphins to pet them! it was much easier once they opened the window to sell dolphin food (small fish). she actually got to pet one then.
avery trying to pet the dolphins.
we attempted watching the 4-D movie about some pilaging pirates. not only was it 4-D, there were also wind, water, air, etc. type effects. needless to say, avery lasted about 5 minutes and i think abby lasted 6 or 7. it was still fun to see a sampling (it was only 16 minutes long in the first place.)
we visited with our friends, the holland family, who had lived in our ward when we first moved to sunnyvale. they have lived in san antonio for a little over 2 years now. left to right: avery, becca, veronica, abigail & ruthie.
we took a riverboat tour that traveled along the riverwalk & gave us a nice evening view of downtown san antonio.
abby and mommy
micah and the girls
the girls back at the hotel, all tuckered out w/ "shamu" by their sides.
1 comment:
when you left your message on my voice mail and said you saw Shamoo and thought of me, I could only assume it was because of my size... :) and then we talked and you clarified that it was because we see killer whales near our property in Brinnon... but it was funny at first. I was like "oh, you saw shamoo and thought of me. nice."
:) looks like you had fun.
-Britney
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