Farewell, Sea World!

And so the time has come to wrap up our Sea World sweat fest adventure. 

We headed in an hour or so after the park opened because we all clearly needed to sleep in a bit. The daytime Shamu show was first up on our agenda and it absolutely did not disappoint. Though we had seen what appeared to be a Baby Shamu the evening before, we officially met the little guy during "One Ocean."

There was more posing from the stars of the show...

...and much, Much, MUCH more splashing! There was water being shot from fountains and water hoses and the whales were really on fire, friends, when it came to the tail splashing.

They also did a little synchronized swimming...

...and, seriously, a LOT of getting folks wet...

Much to my child's dismay, we did not get wet at either Shamu show even though we were clearly sitting in the splash zone. Guess we have something to aspire to next time around...

Next up were the penguins...

...who have clearly learned to pose for the camera...

...as have their friends the puffins...

And here's where we get to the most interesting part of the little trip to SA. Three years ago I tried to get my then 8-year-old daughter to ride the Steel Eel rollercoaster with me. She hemmed and hawed and finally I promised to give her a dollar if she didn't like it because I just knew she would absolutely love it.

Well, I was wrong. REALLY wrong. She absolutely HATED it. So I gave her two dollars instead. And she has spent the last three years reminding me of this Mother of the Year moment. But the thing is that she's older now and had ridden (and enjoyed) the Superman at Fiesta Texas. She was still leery of the Steel Eel but decided to give it a go.

As soon as we got off she screamed, "I want to do it again!"

It was like sweet redemption. So we did it again. Then she got incredibly brave and decided to try the Great White, which does all kinds of loops and the coaster actually hangs from the track. 

And she loved it. So we did it a second time. I guess we can say Sea World is where my girl found her love for big rollercoasters. I, for one, am delighted since Tonto can't ride them anymore due to multiple concussions from bullriding.

And there you have it - our little trip to San Antonio. From beginning to end. :-)

Happy Wednesday!