Vacation Recap - Part 2

We went to Sea World the first day (with Mom, Dad, and Grammie). It was a good day but kind of difficult to figure out how to work this "group in a busy park" adventure. We certainly didn't have a very long list of what we had seen/ridden on by the end of the day, but we did have fun. Even the first day was quite tiring (especially given we were battling the flu), so we checked into the All-Star Music Resort and took naps, going back to Sea World afterwards. The evening was really nice in that it wasn't busy at all. We walked through exhibits and didn't have to worry as much about keeping everybody accounted for. The kids went on the sea carousel (Lyndsey's "wish" item) and climbed with Bob on a huge "jungle gym" of rope ladders, tunnels, and slides. Lyndsey's timidity over it subsided as Daddy went with her and encouraged her. My hip was doing well, but I just didn't have the energy to go on it too. I'm sure part of it was the influence of not feeling great. I decided that it was best not to push it.
The kids were definitely interested in seeing the sea animals and had lots of questions. We saw the Shamu show, but it wasn't all that great since the trainers now don't get in the water with the whales. The kids didn't know what they were missing, which was good. They liked going to the dolphin nursery, and Anderson decided early on that he wanted to feed the dolphins. (It happened our last day at Sea World and was really neat. We got to touch them! Well, Anderson and I did as Lyndsey didn't want to. Bob and Ethan were videoing.) It seemed that the kids liked the moving walkway in the shark tunnel more than being able to look all around at sharks swimming above and below. Go figure! Ethan took it all in though. Our second day back to Sea World (day 6 of our Orlando adventure) was much more eventful. We saw some GREAT shows (dolphins, sea lions, Jack Hanna!), rode the Manta (GREAT rollercoaster - the adults went except from Grammie!), saw the penguins, manatee, and seals, etc. I think that part of the higher level of excitement that I sensed was probably due to good health and the kids understanding how the whole park "scene" works. Mom, Dad, and Grammie had to leave us a bit early to catch their plane, but the kids couldn't last much longer anyway. Day 6 maxed them (well, all of us) out. I was surprised that we didn't cover all of Sea World. But, that's the way it worked out. It was part of learning and accepting that we can't push too hard. I'm really glad that we went 2 days, especially since the kids like animals and sea life so much.