A Day at SeaWorld

On Tuesday, November 17, we decided to go to SeaWorld, as you probably already guessed from the title of this post. Kiera blends in nicely with the flamingos

I had to look these up because I couldn't remember what type of bird this is. I think these are pelicans.

The first show we saw was the "Blue Horizons Dolphin Show." They are being pushed by dolphins. Again, I really appreciated the astounding beauty everywhere! All of the parks were amazing that way! Kiera went on Journey To Atlantis by herself and I went on it later. Blake and I were going to join her but right before the ride started, Blake heard that there was a 60-foot drop and promptly changed his mind, so I had to walk him back out.

Walking through "Antarctica" while it was +30 degrees outside!

The next show we saw was the "Clyde & Seamore Sea Lion High" show. We all had ribs for lunch which was SO good! We ate incredibly well most of our trip! Here is the outside of the place where we had lunch. The "Pets Ahoy" animal show was right by where we ate lunch, so we timed that well. The last show we saw that day was the "One Ocean Shamu Show." I sat in row 5 of the splash zone, so I got some really nice close-up pictures and videos, but unfortunately, I stayed dry. If we plant shrubs in our yard, I want them to be shaped like Shamu. We discovered a kids rides area (Shamu's Happy Harbor) that we didn't know existed so that was a nice surprise! This is the kids' favorite type of ride at every park. Also, this is where we met another family from back home! I used to work with her and he was in my group of friends at a church I used to go to, so it was nice seeing someone we knew after being gone for 12 days at that point. The 5 of us went on this train and we were the only ones. Jared and I were just laughing the whole time, pretending that it was a super exciting ride while we went slowly around the track. We let the kids play on this gigantic Net Climb for a while before we left the area. I was just thankful I didn't have to climb up there and get them when it was time to leave! I loved the Christmas decorations everywhere, although it still did NOT feel like Christmas!

Up close and personal with the stingrays.

A manatee (makes me think of the Veggie Tales song "Barbara Manatee...manatee....manatee...you're the one for me...one for me...one for me...") I got a nice close-up of a big sea turtle I did much Googling to try to figure out what this fish is. It's possible that it's a yellow eye kole tang but I'm not positive. Whatever it is, it looks cool! We asked Blake if he wanted to get closer to the alligator and he said no. I shared his sentiment. Back in Antarctica, we went on the one ride that had a line-up that day. We had to wait for about 10 minutes. Once the ride was over, we got to see the penguins. The problem was, I had just gotten soaking wet on Journey To Atlantis and the penguin room was 0 degrees Celcius (30 Fahrenheit)! All of the staff working in there were wearing snow suits and there I was, in a wet tank top and shorts. I beelined it out of there as soon as I had gotten a photo.

I'm glad that we took the kids to SeaWorld, although it wasn't my favorite park. I think it's because we went 8 years ago and most things were the same, except for the new Manta roller coaster, where you face the ground and fly like Superman, which was pretty fun! I'm still glad we went and it was a fun day. We ended up going to Cici's Pizza Buffet for supper, which has all-you-can-eat pizza, salad and dessert for about $8. We were given a 20% off coupon for the attached gift shop, so Blake bought a Darth Vader beach towel and I found a Rapunzel t-shirt for my niece's Christmas gift. It was nice because most of the gift shops had the same pricing, so we saved some money vs. buying those things elsewhere. More fun in the sun to come!

The Kids' First Time at the Ocean

We checked into our resort on Sunday evening (the 15th). When we got there, we were very surprised to see that we had 2 suites that shared an adjoining door (like 2 hotel rooms). One suite had a master bedroom with an open ensuite and the other suite had a bedroom with 2 double beds plus a bathroom and a living room/kitchenette. The shared door was one of those kinds that automatically close, so I had to keep it propped open all week with my heavy suitcase so that we could keep an eye on the kids. This was the kids' living room/kitchenette. We couldn't hear them at all when they were in this room, so we let them watch cartoons in their living room in the mornings while Jared and I slept in. One morning, I slept until 8:30 and one morning I slept in until 9 a.m.! I can't remember the last time I was able to sleep that late, so that was an extra treat on our vacation! This was the main area in our suite Our kitchen The master bedroom I loved our big ensuites at both resorts we were at! The view from our balcony. The pond was in the shape of a star and the resort we were at was Star Island. We had no plans on Monday, the 16th, so we decided to drive over an hour to the east coast and go to the ocean at Cocoa Beach! Unfortunately, an accident on the freeway slowed us down by at least half an hour and then later on in the afternoon it got cloudy and windy, so we only ended up staying for a couple of hours. We enjoyed every minute of it! We got to see a HUGE Disney Cruise ship which I thought was incredible! I don't think I've seen a ship that big since I went to visit my uncle on a YWAM Mercy ship in North Carolina when I was 10 years old! I told Jared he should transfer to this Century 21 in Cocoa Beach, ha ha! First time in the ocean!! I was SO excited for them and they were pretty pumped as well! There were at least 3 jellyfish that washed up on shore and the kids covered the first one with sand. I told them not to because then someone could step on it, so they carefully took most of the sand off and then wrote a sign in the sand, ha ha! I LOVED watching them jump in the waves! It seemed they never got tired of it! A clearer picture of one of the jellyfish. I had never seen an actual jellyfish by the ocean before! I wanted to document that we had been there. :) I also LOVED watching Haley chase seagulls by the ocean! That girl makes me laugh! This is pretty much sums up how I felt about our afternoon at the ocean, except when Haley stepped on a jellyfish. Thankfully she didn't puncture it and it was all ok! This is where I would choose to have my family gathering, too. These birds have the right idea! I REALLY liked the colors of these buildings in Cocoa Beach! One last look at the Disney Cruise liner as we were leaving. The sunset back in Orlando was incredible! Jared suggested we go to the Cheesecake Factory for supper! I was SOOOO PUMPED!! I think it is my absolute favorite restaurant in the whole world and I've only been to it 3 times, so it is DEFINITELY a treat!! The restaurant was at the Mall at Millenia and there was a huge Christmas tree in the mall entrance. I ordered a lemon herb 1/2 rotisserie chicken dinner. It was excellent! Jared got 1/2 of 2 different meals. He ordered the Chicken Madeira and steak medallions (I think). I have to get cheesecake every time I go there and I wanted to try something different, so I ordered Chris' Outrageous Cheesecake. It was layers of chocolate cake, brownie, toasted coconut-pecan frosting and chocolate chip coconut cheesecake. I managed to finish about half of it and then got the rest boxed up. The next day, I had part of it for dessert at lunch but couldn't even finish it because it was SO rich, so Jared ended up finishing it! The other 2 kids didn't behave well that meal, so Haley is the only one who got to have dessert. Of course, she didn't finish her ice cream, so I had to help her out.

Jared got the pumpkin pecan cheesecake.

I think it would be nice if our mall parking lots looked like this, too! ;)

I figured my first post in 2016 would be about one of my most favorite days in 2015. Happy new year everyone!