Today Scotty and I took Kayden to Sea World for the first time. We are season ticket holders for The Wild Animal Park and The Zoo, but we’ve always had a secret desire to have season tickets to Sea World. We both like sea animals and were really just waiting for the point where we knew Kayden would appreciate going to the park. Well yesterday Maica and Kris asked if we wanted to go to Sea World with them because they had just bought 2 year passes (1 year pass  = $109; 2 year pass = $159)–> bargains shoppers! Anyway, this was a little too spontaneous for me, so I suggested we get up early (ha!) and go for the day today. Luckily they accepted my plan and we headed out to the park at 9:30 this morning! Wow, what troopers!!

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The ride to the park went perfectly. Eli took is morning nap in the car and Kayden took a cat nap- about 15 minutes! No fussy babies, and two very excited daddies in the front seats!

Our first stop, once we got into the park, was the Shamu show. We were all so amazed at how interested the babies were!! Kayden was clapping her hands and yelling for the various Shamu tricks. Eli was very serious and wondering how such a large mammal was able to leap and twirl out of the water!

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After the Shamu show we hit up a few exhibits. First, we went to the hands-on starfish exhibit. I think Maica was the only one to touch the starfish! Kayden was not interested in putting her feet down any where near the water and Eli was content with just splashing in the water. Scotty and Kris wanted nothing to do with petting these less-than-impressive sea animals! Apparently they see far more interesting animals when they go surfing! 😉

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Next, we saw a dolphin encounter that seemed really cute, until one ornery dolphin splashed Scotty and Kayden. Luckily Scotty shielded Kayden and took the brunt of this dolphin’s splash! I was kind of surprised to see so many dolphins swimming around in 2-3 feet of water. The dolphins were clearly feeling feisty because they splashed many people innocently watching them swim.

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Next up were the seals! I was less than impressed at their begging skills! There were about 15 seals in a small encounter that were eagerly sitting at the glass waiting to be fed. I know their life is ‘good’ because they get fed ALL day, but I still felt horrible to watch these ‘wild’ animals beg for food! Ugh!

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At this point we have been at the park for 3 hours and Kayden has slept 15 minutes on our way in the park. I gave her some milk in her sippy cup and pulled the stroller shield down so that she would be blocked from all of the temptations of the park. Unfortunately, this chicky was not interested in any kind of nap while at the park! Here she is “resting”!

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After we hit up the exhibits, shows, lunch, and some awesome people watching, we headed for the exit. We all just knew that the babies needed a stuffed animal to mark their first trip to Sea World! Scotty and I decided to give Kayden every large stuffed animal in the shop and let her ‘choose’ one animal to take home. *NO WARNING NECESSARY* I completely know this is a bad idea and will only bite me in the butt if I chose to use the same technique when she is one second older than she is! This was just a funny idea and made for some cute pictures. I promise to never let her ‘choose’ from a bunch of souvenirs in the future!

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We had such a fun day today at Sea World! Thank you to Maica, Kris, and Eli for being such fun sea-life companions. I have to say, however, that Kris clearly was the most excited person on this day trip. He knew immediately what shows he wanted to see and what exhibits he wanted to visit ;). We had a great day filled with many firsts!! We’ll see you again soon Sea World!!

Click the image below to see Kayden enjoying the Shamu show!

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