Sea World 2010

Sea World is more than three hours from the Wallace's home in Houston. We decided to make a one-day round trip. I wasn't worried about entertainment. We have a small lap top loaded with DVDs. But we totally didn't need it!

Laynie was totally hamming it up in the car! It's not quite the same as Grandma Ardy's gummy worm boogers, but nearly as comical.

Between her and the awesome '80s rock station, the drive was a breeze!

The 4-D Pirate Movie was our first stop. The movie itself is in 3-D, but the theater is equipped with water cannons, air puffers (I'm sure that's the technical term) and vibrating seats.

It was a little intense for Laynie. Bats came flying at her while the air puffers were doing their job. She screamed hysterically and began sobbing. I had to take her out.

Next stop: The Killer Whale show called "Believe." The trainers aren't allowed to swim with the animals as a result of the incident in Florida (if you don't know, google it). Laynie posed with the Shamu statue. Gavin was...being Gavin. No posing for him.

The kids were really excited for the show to start.

But we had to wait for such a long time that I was afraid they would fall asleep and miss the show. It came close.

But then the whales started jumping and they perked right up!

I got some great shots of the orca in action.

We were sitting six rows from the pool and got drenched. Laynie got a Shamu-created wave to the face and screamed and cried hysterically. Again.

My blue-eyed boys.

All Laynie's crying resulted in a emotionally-induced slumber. So she missed the dolphin feeding. I didn't mind so much...I got to feed her tray of smelly fish to the dolphins. If I had the money, I would do nothing but hang out at the dolphin alcove all day.

Laynie slept through most of the aquarium fish-feeding time. It was pretty incredible. A scuba diver hand fed all the sting rays. Their barbs were only a few inches from his head. It made me wonder what happened with the crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin.

Rain threatened the entire day. But we still managed to get to the kiddie pool before the rain started. Jamie didn't bring a swimsuit and was on camera duty. Darn. He didn't get any shots of me in my suit. I'm sure you will all feel sad about that.

The management closed the pools because the rain finally broke through. It was pouring too hard to see the water. While we waited for the deluge to end, we grabbed some snacks. Strangely enough, there was a stage show with all the Sea World mascots.

At the end, they invited all the kids to come up and dance. Laynie thought that meant on the stage. She was almost there before one of the "human" dancers pulled her back to the floor. I think she was a little offended that she didn't get to be the star of the show.

She recovered enough to pose with Sandy the Shark.

Jamie doesn't get to go to Utah with us this summer, so at least we got some quality family time. Sea World was awesome and we hope to come back soon!