When Something is Cancelled...

...we kick up our heels anyway and make the best of a blustery, rainy day!!  {At Sea World instead of on a boat whale watching!}  From L to R:  Braeden, Ella, Damian, and Lexi watching the dolphins!

Tuesday, May 17th, we had planned for the kids to skip school and go whale watching since it was Damian's first day off in 11 days.  But wouldn't you know it... the captain canceled the trip because of the nasty weather.  The waves were too high to venture out, and no one was showing up for their reservations, so they called us just as we were leaving to head up to Newport for our adventure.  Boo.  But Damian said... "just keep driving, we can go somewhere else!"  So... even though we did have to go back for a couple of things, we were able to spend a day at Sea World and only pay admission for Ella thanks to the "Here's to the Heroes" promotion that they are still running for members of the military and up to 3 dependents!  Yay!
We started out at the dolphin show!  Made it just in time!

After the dolphin show we headed over to the other dolphin pool where they can feed them and touch them.  We did NOT feed them this time, but we hung around for quite some time and we got to pet them and have fun with them!  I thought we may not ever be able to get the kids to leave!

Ella wants to touch them... and then she doesn't... and then she does... and then she doesn't... Little Miss FICKLE is her name!

Notice we still have on coats and rain covers?  Yes...  you may not be able to tell just by the pictures, but it RAINED and RAINED... and we were soaked!

And since only my video camera is water proof this was the only good still picture I got of actual touching of the creatures!  Braeden wasn't even paying attention and it just came up and rested its head there... and literally WAITED for him to take notice!!  So FUN!!  It was such a treat for them all to be able to interact and feel them!  LOVED IT!!

Thankfully by the time we were done with the dolphins and a couple of other things... including the bathroom... it had stopped raining!  It was still sprinkling a little, but not so painfully so.  We headed to see the sea stars!  We love to TOUCH things!!

Braeden and Ella

Lexi-Lou... who I must say just might be a marine biologist when she grows up.  I know she wants to be an artist, but... she can do that on her free time!  She LOVES the sea creatures.  {Well... I guess she really loves ALL creatures... so maybe a vet...??}  What's sad to me is that she no longer wants to be "a professional flower smeller!"

Braeden was so good to help Ella not be scared and then give her one to touch!

His face!  He cracks me up!  He found a sea star with SIX legs!!!

And here it is!  Count them... there are SIX!!  Made me giggle!  They thought it was the greatest discovery!

Still not super sure about it all!

And you can tell by her common pain face.  ;o)

So cute!  I love them all... and am soooo happy to have Damian with us!  It's a rarity so I totally treasure it when it can happen!  Yay!!!

Can I just say that I love the Clyde and Seamore show??  I do!  I know it's totally hokey and silly, but I just love it!  {Clyde and Seamore are sea lions!  But... didn't Seamore used to be a walrus???  Am I losing it??  I totally remember one of them being a giant walrus...  maybe not??}

"When's it going to start, Daddy???  WHEN?"

We were very lucky!  We got to see all the shows that day even though they weren't open very long and we had to rush from one right to another (sea lions to Shamu).  We got to see everything we wanted, but Lexi was disappointed that she couldn't spend some quality time with the manta rays... because there was construction... again... and basically the entire middle of the park was unavailable.  No rays... and no eels!  {Eels totally CREEP me out and I usually have bad dreams after seeing them.  I'm serious.}

Killer whales... are... so... BIG!  I would NEVER get in the water with one.  {And... none of the trainers do for the shows anymore either, but still... I would NEVER!}

Really?  Even after that amazingly entertaining show?  How can you be bored??  ;o)

This is my FAVORITE part!  Seeing the pure JOY and excitement on their faces!!

We were at the top of the "Soak Zone" so Lexi was using her brother as a shield.  Nice.

Yikes... here it comes!

Wow... that goes a long way up!

That is a seriously scary mouth!  :o)

They get the crowd involved to make the whales SPLASH and this is the sign you make as you move your arms up and down!  Silly!

Off to visit all the aquariums!

This is totally how I feel somedays.  I just want to pull something over my head, take a nap, and forget about reality!  ;o)

Can I just say it???  Fish are REALLY ugly {not their bodies and color... just their faces...}!

I think anemones are so pretty!

Awww!

This is TOTALLY RANDOM right in the middle of our visit with all the sea creatures, but we had to take a potty break, and as Lexi and I were sitting there I remembered that I hadn't mentioned that she had to have another two teeth pulled... that's four teeth pulled... 12 total gone so far.  Poor girl.  Just buying time!  She was super brave, though... even though these two did some bleeding for quite some time...  Poor girl.  I didn't even make her go back to school.  Her mouth was numb until like 1:30 and then just in pain, so I let her play hooky.  {There are worse things, right??}

Soaking up the sun!  My favorite saying for us as a family is that "we're off like a herd of turtles!"  Sometimes we just are that slow!  Oh, well!

This teeny little frog is super cute... and super poisonous!  Eeek!

SHARKS!

The background is exactly why I do NOT like deep water.  EEK!  But my kids think they LOVE sharks.  THINK.  I'm sure they might change their mind if ever they really came in contact with one.

We did give in and buy super expensive fish to feed the sea lions!  They are so funny and LOUD!

Braeden is helping Ella see better... not throwing her over the edge!  ;o)

Notice that Damian has a close eye on that gull that REALLY wants the fish??  He had to swat them away a couple of times!

Eeeewww!  But isn't he so cute about it??

I should have dare him to just pop it into his own mouth, huh?

Ella is very obviously CONFUSED about what the tube is for!  Haha!

This actually made me laugh right out loud!

Um... I think Ella is scared!  {Or... she's just sick of me taking pictures and asking her to smile!}

Leaving our prints on the wall of ice!

Why... oh, WHY does Ella always look frightened??  Seriously??  My kiddos in a polar cave!  It doesn't look very hospitable, does it??

Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea....

And just before the park closed, the older 2 headed with Damian to the Atlantis ride, and Ella and I went on the sky tower ride.  (She's not tall enough for the other, and was super upset about it.)  And after a COLD, rainy, and windy start... it turned out nice and sunny... not too hot and not too cold... and NOT TOO MANY PEOPLE!  Yay!