Texas Vacation - San Antonio, Day 6

I had been especially looking forward to our Friday activity -- sharing Sea World with my family.  We had done a fair bit of preparation, so we had a game plan to hit the park.  We got there early in the morning about 30 minutes before the gates opened.  Enough time to take pictures and be SECOND in line for Sea World.

Our first stop was the morning dolphin feeding!  The dolphins were anxious to get their breakfast and were showing off for all of the guests.  Ledger was still a little too nervous to touch the dolphins, but he helped feed them and Mommy and Daddy got to pet the dolphins.  Afterwards, we stopped by the shark tank so Ledger and Daddy could check out the SHARKS!

Check out this show-off dolphin!

On our way to the first show of the day, the Clyde and Seymore sealion show, we found Shamu and took a family picture!

The walrus is always the star of this show...

Next up... SHAMU!  I could not have been more excited for Ledger to see a killer whale.  In the interest of total honesty, as the show started, I started crying.  Not a pretty cry either -- an ugly, can't-make-it-stop kind of cry.  That's how much I loved the show.  We donned our ponchos and sat right in the middle of the arena about 20 rows up -- just inside the splash zone.  Ledger loved the whales.  Even Locke pointed at them in the front and center.  They also brought out baby Shamu, which was pretty cool.  We didn't get much of a splash -- but we really enjoyed the show.

The next show was the dolphin and beluga whale show.  It is a combination of a cirque du soleil type acrobatics/diving/synchronized swimming with the animals performing as well.  It's a good show, but after Shamu, it didn't shine. After dragging the kids to all of the shows, we finally stopped in the kids area.  We took pictures with some of our favorite Sesame Street characters and then Daddy got Ledger on the Shamu kids roller coaster.  We had to carry him onto the coaster because he didn't want to go, but after his first ride, he RAN back to the entrance and was ready to ride again.  So sweet!

So we finally slowed down enough to stop for lunch.  But then we were off again!  We visited the penguins, the crocodiles, and the education animals.  Chris got to ride one of the big-kid roller coasters.  Locke passed out in the incredibly uncomfortable plastic rented stroller.  We bought a souvenir magnet.  And then, by unanimous family vote, we hit the last Shamu show of the day!  This time, we sat in the FRONT ROW splash zone.  Yes, it took a little convincing to get the husband to stay knowing he was going to get soaked, but we had our ponchos and were prepared.  We got a few great pictures before the camera had to be put back into the "dry" bag to avoid ruining our electronics!  BOY DID WE GET WET.  Seriously soaked.