Day 2: Sea World (Fri)

The main reason we went to San Diego was to go to Sea World. Ryker has been looking forward to it for months now. He remembers  going when he was a year and a half and has been asking me to go back. So we were so excited to get there.

 

Aunt Mel and her daughter Sarah met Heidi, Christian, the boys and I at our hotel in the morning and then we caravanned over to Sea World. And it turns out San Diego was having a rare warm day for this time of year. It was about 75 degrees that day. Which for us Utahns feels like heaven. We were thrilled to see blue skies and feel the sun on our faces.

 

Of course our first stop at Sea World was the Shark tank (Ryker's request). He went through twice.

 



Then we went to the Sea Turtle Exhibit. This is a new thing since the last time I have been to Sea World. The Manatees used to be in this one, but they have been replaced by the Sea Turtles. I thought it was so cool. There were so many of them. I loved that Cy just stood at the glass and stared at them.

Ryker got to feed the Sea Lions. He got four fish to feed them, but only two of them made it into a Sea Lions mouth. The other two were gobbled up by birds that flew in and snatched it right out of Ryker's hand.

This Sea Lion was all ready to get a fish, but a bird got it instead. Darn Birds.

We headed over to the Bat Rays. Ryker was really worried at first and wouldn't touch them. But this little girl was right by him listening to Ryker. I guess Ryker was asking if they had teeth and if they were scarry. But the little girl said to Ryker 'They wouldn't let little kids touch them if it wasn't safe."

After that Ryker was all about it. His little girlfriend gave him the confidence and they were touching ther rays over and over again. Just giggling the whole time.

Cy was the total opposite. Right off the bat he wanted to touch them. I was actually afraid he would go head first in. haha

Every time a ray would come by, Cy and I would touch it and he would laugh so hard. It gave me sos much joy to see him enjoying that. I was so proud of him for being so brave. After awhile we got him to feed them. I would help him hold the fish in his hand, because if I didn't he would just drop it in the water. He even giggled when the ray came up and sucked it out of our hands. It was totally surprising to me how brave and excited about it he was. I personally was kinda weary of them at first, but I had to be brave so Cy would be brave. Then I was totally comfortable.

After the rays we went over the the Dolphin Show. Ryker's little girlfriend followed him and sat with him at the show. They sat in the row in front of the rest of us. The little girl was sharing her treats with Ryker. I'm telling ya... He's a lady's man.

During the show Cy wanted to go sit with Ryker. And before we know it Cyrus was getting friendly with his neighbor...

He put his hand so gently on this older man next to him and was looking up at him. The older man just looked down at Cy and just smiled at him. The adults were just cracking up. It was sooo funny. And just so darn cute.

Here is a shot of one of the very few dolphin jumps in the 25 minute show. The dolphin show was kinda lame this year. It was mostly people dressed up as birds flying around over the water. It was super cheesy and over the top. I kept thinking I am at Sea World and I am watching humans flipping around dressed as birds? Don't we go to Sea World to see the Marine animals?

Heidi told Ryker that he could pick something as a souvineer from Sea World. And of course he picked a shark.

When we first were parking in Sea World we noticed that the Shamu Show was canceled. And we were really sad. But just to clarify why we asked the  guy we paid for parking why the shamu show was canceled. And he said it was because a baby killer whale was born the day before. Awe, ok. That's a good excuse. I could live with that.

There were two chances where you could go see the baby for 10 minutes. So we went to see it. And it was the cutest thing I have ever seen. How often do you get to see a killer whale that is only a day old?

It stayed right by it's mama the whole time. Swimming in a circle around the tank. Then the trainers came out and talked to us. They told us that the mom was pregnant for 18 months. Can you believe that? 18 MONTHS? That's incredible.

Also I guess the baby can't stop swimming for about a week or else it'll die. So that means mama has to keep moving that long as well. Can you imagine being pregnant for 18 months and then not being able to even sleep for a week straight? That's just amazing.

So as mama and baby were swimming around, mama would stop by the trainers, quickly open her mouth and the trainers would through a big handful of fish. But she had to keep going to make sure baby wouldn't stop. It was so cool to watch. I was completely amazed by the whole thing.

It took me SEVERAL times to get a good picture of mama and baby together. And I finally got this one. Look how cute and little the baby is. hehe

The Sea Lion show was really cute and very funny.

Ryker was totally into it. Laughing the whole time and just fascinated by the whole thing (Take note of his soaking wet shirt. We had gone back to the rays again and he was got totally drenched from leaning over into the water).

Our last stop before the park was closed, was the penguins.

The funniest thing ever was Cyrus. He didn't care about the penguins AT ALL. He was was more interested in the moving floor he was standing on.... haha

My cute little pengun boys. Love them.

When we left Sea World, Aunt Mel and Sarah went home. Heidi, Christian and the boys and I went to dinner. Then once we got back to the hotel the boys crashed. We had worn them out. They slept so good that night.